In Chicago, scores of Teslas are left cold and inoperable because, surprise surprise, Arrhenius acceleration is a law of chemistry and physics, and it takes a lot longer to charge, and you get a lot less useful range, when it's cold out. Bonus, for those who are concerned about the environment, is that it takes a lot more energy to charge the battery because so much of the energy is used to keep the battery warm while charging. So more or less, the efficiency of your Tesla goes down by half to three quarters when it's 20 below.
In contrast, my real cars, powered by readily available gasoline, start at 20 below with no problem (even the 1997 GMC with 270,000 miles), and they only lose about 20% of their mileage at that temperature. Who would have thought that a 26 year old 5.7 liter (350 CID) V-8 would be the ecologically sound alternative to a Tesla?
Besides me, of course. And other people who can actually do math and science.
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