--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Welcome to Today Explained. I'm Sean Rameswaram.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: New electric vehicle owners have been finding out the hard way that extreme cold weather and their cars don’t mix very well. We reached out to Andrew Hawkins from The Verge to find out what's going on with America's electric vehicles this winter.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, it's a tough situation out there for the EV owners in this current weather environment that we have. Some Tesla drivers learned the hard way about how cold weather impacts their battery life.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: I've been here for over five hours at this point, and I still have not got to charge my car. Man, this is crazy. It's a disaster. And it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, and it's terrible.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: We've known this for a very long time, but I think that, you know, with more people buying electric cars and sort of the numbers increasing out on the road, it becomes a new story every time the weather turns cold.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Oh, we got a bunch of dead robots out here. Dead robots. People are sort of discovering for the first time that this is not exactly a perfect relationship between EVs and sub-zero temperatures.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Is this acceptable? No, not at all. I mean, premium price for these Teslas. And for all the people who have the traditional combustion engine and can't imagine what we're talking about here.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: What are we talking about here? What goes wrong with EVs when it's cold outside?
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: The battery in particular loses some of its charge in the cold. Functioning, but energy draining fast. It just starts to kind of sap its energy, its capacity, and charging also becomes very complicated as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They tell you the charges are fast. It takes two hours to charge a car. Bro, I can't even get in my Tesla. And it's terrible.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: The reason for this is that, you know, electric vehicle batteries are lithium ion batteries for the most part. They contain liquid electrolytes and liquid freezes in the cold.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And so, you know, when you go to turn on your car and you've got a freezing cold battery with frozen liquid inside of it, it's not going to perform in the same way that it would during normal temperatures or spring and summer temperatures.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So the battery needs to basically get nice and toasty warm before it starts to cooperate. And that takes a little bit of time.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: So I think what we're seeing out there right now is a lot of people who haven't allowed their battery to come to a proper temperature before attempting to charge it and then discovering sort of what problems that that actually entails when that happens.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: And how do they respond when they make this discovery? Well, they respond by freaking out and, you know, talking to various local reporters about their buyer's remorse in owning an electric vehicle.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: As far as the drive and everything, it's real nice, but not Chicago. Not Chicago. I can do it. It sucks.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: I totally get it. You buy a futuristic car like a Tesla, you expect to be having a certain ownership experience. And then when that sort of crashes into the reality of sub-zero temperatures, I can understand how that turns into a little bit of a rude awakening for a lot of people.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: But I think as we saw in Chicago, there was a lot of other factors that are going into this. It's not just people sort of without the proper education or understanding about how EVs operate in the cold.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: There's a lot of other things going on, too. What's going on in Chicago? A couple of things. First of all, there were a number of charging stations that were out of order, and that is a big problem.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: These cars are all dead batteries. That car is stranded. Here comes another one hoping for something good to happen here. All of these vehicles right here, all of them have dead batteries because of those charging stations.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: They're not working. It's a problem across the country. And, you know, EV chargers tend to break down sometimes.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We've seen the same with, you know, with the batteries in the cold. The charging equipment also tends to freeze as well.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So we were seeing some chargers that were breaking down and not working.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Has it been charging? No, not at all. It just isn't working? At all. It's just frozen.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: And so I'm now getting it told to the Tesla Cyrus Center because that's my only option at this point.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: It was just chaos.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: And I think another factor that was going on here, and I really want to shout out a number of outlets that did some really great reporting on this, Insight EVs and the Autopian and out-of-spec reviews, actually went down to Chicago and talked to people and checked out what was going on in the scene.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And it turned out that a lot of the vehicles that were running out of battery capacity were owned by rideshare drivers, Uber and Lyft drivers.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: What's interesting about that is that those are probably going to be the folks that are the least experienced with electric vehicles.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: I mean they operating under a number of different conditions Uber and Lyft the companies themselves are incentivizing drivers to switch to EVs by offering them more money for their trips if they drive in electric vehicles
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: There's also a lot of leasing programs for rideshare drivers that allows them to rent these cars for favorable rates.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: I rent this through Uber, and I'm really going to take this back and see if they got gas cars.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So you sort of have all of these factors coming to place. You had sort of the perfect storm where all these cars were breaking down. The charging equipment wasn't working and the local reporters were there to shine a light on the whole thing.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And obviously they don't really tend to mince words, you know, like they're talking about how the charging stations were turning into car graveyards.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: In Chicago, we have Tesla charging station graveyards because the cars can't charge in the very cold weather.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And that tends to sensationalize things a little bit.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: And I think it has the unfortunate side effect of probably turning a lot of people off to electric vehicles.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: When I think in reality, most people who are buying electric vehicles, they're just going to be doing most of their charging at home or at work.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: You know, I think if you can own an EV like I do myself and go, you know, for months on end without visiting a public charger, you're going to do fine.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: There's not going to be any problems with your car, especially in the cold weather.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: I want to jump in here and just ask you, I mean, it seems a little counterintuitive that rideshare drivers, people who live in their cars, are kind of surprised in the dead of Chicago winter to find out how the batteries function.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Also, this is not the first winter we've had with electric cars. Why are we seeing so many videos on social media of drivers discovering how their cars work in cold weather?
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, I think there's a number of things going on here. First of all, 2023 especially has been the year of the Tesla price cuts.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Over the last 12 months or more, Tesla has dramatically reduced the price of its cars to the point where it's become extremely affordable for a lot of people.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: And that's when you're going to start to see a lot more rideshare drivers deciding that EVs are going to be the right move for them.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They want to cut gas prices out of their cost equations, and they're ready to go full electric.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But I think that, you know, a lot of that adoption is kind of going ahead of where the charging infrastructure is.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And we're still dealing with a lot of problems with software, with availability, and with uptime, which is, you know, sort of like the amount of time that the charging station is actually operational.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Let's talk solutions. Like, how do we have a happy and safe and warm and functional, you know, winter 2025 in Chicago?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: If your car offers you the option to precondition the battery before you start charging and it's below freezing out there, that is the first thing that you need to do.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: You need to get that battery nice and toasty warm before it can start to accept any charge.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Another thing that people can do is try not to rely on the public charging network as much to do your charging.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: If you can charge at a slower charger, for example, like a level two charger, you can charge at work, you can charge at home.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You should definitely try to do that.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But otherwise, try to avoid those ultra-fast DC fast chargers during the wintertime because not only are the lines going to be long, but the charging is going to be really, really slow.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: But that's going to be a challenge, especially for the folks that live in dense cities.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So I know that that's not really going to be an option for a lot of people, especially for the folks that rely on their EVs for work like rideshare drivers.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And so I think maybe a solution there is that we need to start to see these rideshare companies start investing in the charging infrastructure as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Andrew Hawkins, transportation editor at TheVerge.com.
--:-- Sean Rameswara: You know who could help with this freezing EV crisis in the United States? China.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We'll Today Explained when we're back.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Frequently you just pay month after month you never get anything from it other than that roof over your head not anymore says built rewards built rewards says it lets you earn points on your rent by paying rent through built they say you can earn flexible points that can be redeemed toward hundreds of hotels and airlines perhaps a future rent payment your next lift ride and so much more your home isn't just where you sleep it's your community and built wants you to go out and do things in the community you can eat at your favorite local restaurants then earn more points You can get VIP treatment at certain fitness studios. You can enjoy exclusive experiences just for Built members every month. When you're ready to travel, they say Built points can be converted to miles or hotel points all around the world. You can earn points on rent and around your neighborhood wherever you call home by joining Built.com slash Explained.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T dot com slash Explained.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Support for this show comes from strawberry.me. Be honest. Are you happy with your job? Or are you stuck in one you've outgrown? Or never wanted in the first place?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Sure, you can probably list the reasons for staying, but are they actually just excuses for not leaving?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let a career coach from strawberry.me help you get unstuck.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Go to strawberry.me slash unstuck to claim a special offer.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explained.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Now you say, now France says. Today is the same. Good job.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We reached out to Andrew Hawkins from The Verge to find out what's going on with America's electric vehicles this winter.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, it's a tough situation out there for the EV owners in this current weather environment that we have.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Some Tesla drivers learned the hard way about how cold weather impacts their battery life.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: I've been here for over five hours at this point and I still have not got to charge my car.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Man, this is crazy. It's a disaster. And it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, and it's terrible.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: We've known this for a very long time, but I think that, you know, with more people buying electric cars and sort of the numbers increasing out on the road, it becomes a new story every time the weather turns cold.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Oh, we got a bunch of dead robots out here. Dead robots. People are sort of discovering for the first time that this is not exactly a perfect relationship between EVs and sub-zero temperatures.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Is this acceptable? No, not at all. I mean, premium price for these Teslas.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And for all the people who have the traditional combustion engine and can't imagine what we're talking about here.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: What are we talking about here? What goes wrong with EVs when it's cold outside?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The battery in particular loses some of its charge in the cold.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Functioning, but energy draining fast. It just starts to kind of sap its energy, its capacity, and charging also becomes very complicated as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They tell you the charges are fast. It takes two hours to charge a car.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: The reason for this is that, you know, electric vehicle batteries are lithium ion batteries for the most part.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They contain liquid electrolytes and liquid freezes in the cold.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So the battery needs to basically get nice and toasty warm before it starts to cooperate.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And that takes a little bit of time.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So I think what we're seeing out there right now is a lot of people who haven't allowed their battery to come to a proper temperature before attempting to charge it and then discovering sort of what problems that that actually entails when that happens.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And how do they respond when they make this discovery? Well, they respond by freaking out and, you know, talking to various local reporters about their buyer's remorse in owning an electric vehicle.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, I think there's a number of things going on here. First of all, 2023 especially has been the year of the Tesla price cuts.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Over the last 12 months or more, Tesla has dramatically reduced the price of its cars to the point where it's become extremely affordable for a lot of people.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: And that's when you're going to start to see a lot more rideshare drivers deciding that EVs are going to be the right move for them.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They want to cut gas prices out of their cost equations, and they're ready to go full electric.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But I think that, you know, a lot of that adoption is kind of going ahead of where the charging infrastructure is.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And we're still dealing with a lot of problems with software, with availability, and with uptime, which is, you know, sort of like the amount of time that the charging station is actually operational.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Let's talk solutions. Like, how do we have a happy and safe and warm and functional, you know, winter 2025 in Chicago?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: If your car offers you the option to precondition the battery before you start charging and it's below freezing out there, that is the first thing that you need to do.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: You need to get that battery nice and toasty warm before it can start to accept any charge.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Another thing that people can do is try not to rely on the public charging network as much to do your charging.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: If you can charge at a slower charger, for example, like a level two charger, you can charge at work, you can charge at home.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You should definitely try to do that.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But otherwise, try to avoid those ultra-fast DC fast chargers during the wintertime because not only are the lines going to be long, but the charging is going to be really, really slow.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: But that's going to be a challenge, especially for the folks that live in dense cities.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So I know that that's not really going to be an option for a lot of people, especially for the folks that rely on their EVs for work like rideshare drivers.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And so I think maybe a solution there is that we need to start to see these rideshare companies start investing in the charging infrastructure as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Andrew Hawkins, transportation editor at TheVerge.com.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You know who could help with this freezing EV crisis in the United States? China.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We'll Today Explained when we're back.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Support for Today, Explained comes from Adio. Adio is an AI-native customer relationship management platform that Adio says is built for the next era of companies.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: A powerful data structure adapts to your business model, sinks in all your contacts in minutes, and enriches your business with actionable data.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Adio says it also allows you to create those email sequences, those real-time reports, those powerful automations, which they claim can help you build what matters most, your company.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You can go to adio.com slash todayexplained to get 15% off your first year.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: That's A-T-T-I-O dot com slash todayexplained.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Support for this show comes from strawberry.me. Be honest. Are you happy with your job? Or are you stuck in one you've outgrown? Or never wanted in the first place?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Sure, you can probably list the reasons for staying, but are they actually just excuses for not leaving?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let a career coach from strawberry.me help you get unstuck.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Go to strawberry.me slash unstuck to claim a special offer.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explained.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Now you say, now France says. Today is the same. Good job.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We reached out to Andrew Hawkins from The Verge to find out what's going on with America's electric vehicles this winter.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, it's a tough situation out there for the EV owners in this current weather environment that we have.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Some Tesla drivers learned the hard way about how cold weather impacts their battery life.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: I've been here for over five hours at this point and I still have not got to charge my car.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Man, this is crazy. It's a disaster. And it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, and it's terrible.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: We've known this for a very long time, but I think that, you know, with more people buying electric cars and sort of the numbers increasing out on the road, it becomes a new story every time the weather turns cold.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Oh, we got a bunch of dead robots out here. Dead robots. People are sort of discovering for the first time that this is not exactly a perfect relationship between EVs and sub-zero temperatures.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Is this acceptable? No, not at all. I mean, premium price for these Teslas.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And for all the people who have the traditional combustion engine and can't imagine what we're talking about here.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: What are we talking about here? What goes wrong with EVs when it's cold outside?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The battery in particular loses some of its charge in the cold.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Functioning, but energy draining fast. It just starts to kind of sap its energy, its capacity, and charging also becomes very complicated as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They tell you the charges are fast. It takes two hours to charge a car.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: The reason for this is that, you know, electric vehicle batteries are lithium ion batteries for the most part.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They contain liquid electrolytes and liquid freezes in the cold.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So the battery needs to basically get nice and toasty warm before it starts to cooperate.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And that takes a little bit of time.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So I think what we're seeing out there right now is a lot of people who haven't allowed their battery to come to a proper temperature before attempting to charge it and then discovering sort of what problems that that actually entails when that happens.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And how do they respond when they make this discovery? Well, they respond by freaking out and, you know, talking to various local reporters about their buyer's remorse in owning an electric vehicle.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, I think there's a number of things going on here. First of all, 2023 especially has been the year of the Tesla price cuts.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Over the last 12 months or more, Tesla has dramatically reduced the price of its cars to the point where it's become extremely affordable for a lot of people.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: And that's when you're going to start to see a lot more rideshare drivers deciding that EVs are going to be the right move for them.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They want to cut gas prices out of their cost equations, and they're ready to go full electric.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But I think that, you know, a lot of that adoption is kind of going ahead of where the charging infrastructure is.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And we're still dealing with a lot of problems with software, with availability, and with uptime, which is, you know, sort of like the amount of time that the charging station is actually operational.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Let's talk solutions. Like, how do we have a happy and safe and warm and functional, you know, winter 2025 in Chicago?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: If your car offers you the option to precondition the battery before you start charging and it's below freezing out there, that is the first thing that you need to do.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: You need to get that battery nice and toasty warm before it can start to accept any charge.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Another thing that people can do is try not to rely on the public charging network as much to do your charging.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: If you can charge at a slower charger, for example, like a level two charger, you can charge at work, you can charge at home.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You should definitely try to do that.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But otherwise, try to avoid those ultra-fast DC fast chargers during the wintertime because not only are the lines going to be long, but the charging is going to be really, really slow.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: But that's going to be a challenge, especially for the folks that live in dense cities.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So I know that that's not really going to be an option for a lot of people, especially for the folks that rely on their EVs for work like rideshare drivers.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And so I think maybe a solution there is that we need to start to see these rideshare companies start investing in the charging infrastructure as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Andrew Hawkins, transportation editor at TheVerge.com.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You know who could help with this freezing EV crisis in the United States? China.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We'll Today Explained when we're back.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Support for Today, Explained comes from strawberry.me. Be honest. Are you happy with your job? Or are you stuck in one you've outgrown? Or never wanted in the first place?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Sure, you can probably list the reasons for staying, but are they actually just excuses for not leaving?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let a career coach from strawberry.me help you get unstuck.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Go to strawberry.me slash unstuck to claim a special offer.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explained.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Now you say, now France says. Today is the same. Good job.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We reached out to Andrew Hawkins from The Verge to find out what's going on with America's electric vehicles this winter.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, it's a tough situation out there for the EV owners in this current weather environment that we have.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Some Tesla drivers learned the hard way about how cold weather impacts their battery life.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: I've been here for over five hours at this point and I still have not got to charge my car.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Man, this is crazy. It's a disaster. And it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, and it's terrible.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: We've known this for a very long time, but I think that, you know, with more people buying electric cars and sort of the numbers increasing out on the road, it becomes a new story every time the weather turns cold.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Oh, we got a bunch of dead robots out here. Dead robots. People are sort of discovering for the first time that this is not exactly a perfect relationship between EVs and sub-zero temperatures.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Is this acceptable? No, not at all. I mean, premium price for these Teslas.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And for all the people who have the traditional combustion engine and can't imagine what we're talking about here.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: What are we talking about here? What goes wrong with EVs when it's cold outside?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The battery in particular loses some of its charge in the cold.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Functioning, but energy draining fast. It just starts to kind of sap its energy, its capacity, and charging also becomes very complicated as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They tell you the charges are fast. It takes two hours to charge a car.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: The reason for this is that, you know, electric vehicle batteries are lithium ion batteries for the most part.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They contain liquid electrolytes and liquid freezes in the cold.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So the battery needs to basically get nice and toasty warm before it starts to cooperate.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And that takes a little bit of time.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So I think what we're seeing out there right now is a lot of people who haven't allowed their battery to come to a proper temperature before attempting to charge it and then discovering sort of what problems that that actually entails when that happens.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And how do they respond when they make this discovery? Well, they respond by freaking out and, you know, talking to various local reporters about their buyer's remorse in owning an electric vehicle.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, I think there's a number of things going on here. First of all, 2023 especially has been the year of the Tesla price cuts.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Over the last 12 months or more, Tesla has dramatically reduced the price of its cars to the point where it's become extremely affordable for a lot of people.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: And that's when you're going to start to see a lot more rideshare drivers deciding that EVs are going to be the right move for them.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They want to cut gas prices out of their cost equations, and they're ready to go full electric.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But I think that, you know, a lot of that adoption is kind of going ahead of where the charging infrastructure is.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And we're still dealing with a lot of problems with software, with availability, and with uptime, which is, you know, sort of like the amount of time that the charging station is actually operational.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Let's talk solutions. Like, how do we have a happy and safe and warm and functional, you know, winter 2025 in Chicago?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: If your car offers you the option to precondition the battery before you start charging and it's below freezing out there, that is the first thing that you need to do.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: You need to get that battery nice and toasty warm before it can start to accept any charge.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Another thing that people can do is try not to rely on the public charging network as much to do your charging.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: If you can charge at a slower charger, for example, like a level two charger, you can charge at work, you can charge at home.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You should definitely try to do that.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But otherwise, try to avoid those ultra-fast DC fast chargers during the wintertime because not only are the lines going to be long, but the charging is going to be really, really slow.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: But that's going to be a challenge, especially for the folks that live in dense cities.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So I know that that's not really going to be an option for a lot of people, especially for the folks that rely on their EVs for work like rideshare drivers.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And so I think maybe a solution there is that we need to start to see these rideshare companies start investing in the charging infrastructure as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Andrew Hawkins, transportation editor at TheVerge.com.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You know who could help with this freezing EV crisis in the United States? China.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We'll Today Explained when we're back.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Support for Today, Explained comes from strawberry.me. Be honest. Are you happy with your job? Or are you stuck in one you've outgrown? Or never wanted in the first place?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Sure, you can probably list the reasons for staying, but are they actually just excuses for not leaving?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let a career coach from strawberry.me help you get unstuck.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Go to strawberry.me slash unstuck to claim a special offer.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explained.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Now you say, now France says. Today is the same. Good job.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We reached out to Andrew Hawkins from The Verge to find out what's going on with America's electric vehicles this winter.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, it's a tough situation out there for the EV owners in this current weather environment that we have.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Some Tesla drivers learned the hard way about how cold weather impacts their battery life.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: I've been here for over five hours at this point and I still have not got to charge my car.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Man, this is crazy. It's a disaster. And it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, it's a waiting game, and it's terrible.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: We've known this for a very long time, but I think that, you know, with more people buying electric cars and sort of the numbers increasing out on the road, it becomes a new story every time the weather turns cold.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Oh, we got a bunch of dead robots out here. Dead robots. People are sort of discovering for the first time that this is not exactly a perfect relationship between EVs and sub-zero temperatures.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Is this acceptable? No, not at all. I mean, premium price for these Teslas.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And for all the people who have the traditional combustion engine and can't imagine what we're talking about here.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: What are we talking about here? What goes wrong with EVs when it's cold outside?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The battery in particular loses some of its charge in the cold.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Functioning, but energy draining fast. It just starts to kind of sap its energy, its capacity, and charging also becomes very complicated as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They tell you the charges are fast. It takes two hours to charge a car.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: The reason for this is that, you know, electric vehicle batteries are lithium ion batteries for the most part.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They contain liquid electrolytes and liquid freezes in the cold.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So the battery needs to basically get nice and toasty warm before it starts to cooperate.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And that takes a little bit of time.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So I think what we're seeing out there right now is a lot of people who haven't allowed their battery to come to a proper temperature before attempting to charge it and then discovering sort of what problems that that actually entails when that happens.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And how do they respond when they make this discovery? Well, they respond by freaking out and, you know, talking to various local reporters about their buyer's remorse in owning an electric vehicle.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Yeah, I think there's a number of things going on here. First of all, 2023 especially has been the year of the Tesla price cuts.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Over the last 12 months or more, Tesla has dramatically reduced the price of its cars to the point where it's become extremely affordable for a lot of people.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: And that's when you're going to start to see a lot more rideshare drivers deciding that EVs are going to be the right move for them.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They want to cut gas prices out of their cost equations, and they're ready to go full electric.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But I think that, you know, a lot of that adoption is kind of going ahead of where the charging infrastructure is.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And we're still dealing with a lot of problems with software, with availability, and with uptime, which is, you know, sort of like the amount of time that the charging station is actually operational.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: Let's talk solutions. Like, how do we have a happy and safe and warm and functional, you know, winter 2025 in Chicago?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: If your car offers you the option to precondition the battery before you start charging and it's below freezing out there, that is the first thing that you need to do.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: You need to get that battery nice and toasty warm before it can start to accept any charge.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Another thing that people can do is try not to rely on the public charging network as much to do your charging.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: If you can charge at a slower charger, for example, like a level two charger, you can charge at work, you can charge at home.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You should definitely try to do that.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: But otherwise, try to avoid those ultra-fast DC fast chargers during the wintertime because not only are the lines going to be long, but the charging is going to be really, really slow.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: But that's going to be a challenge, especially for the folks that live in dense cities.
--:-- Andrew Hawkins: So I know that that's not really going to be an option for a lot of people, especially for the folks that rely on their EVs for work like rideshare drivers.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And so I think maybe a solution there is that we need to start to see these rideshare companies start investing in the charging infrastructure as well.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Andrew Hawkins, transportation editor at TheVerge.com.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You know who could help with this freezing EV crisis in the United States? China.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We'll Today Explained when we're back.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Support for Today, Explained comes from strawberry.me. Be honest. Are you happy with your job? Or are you stuck in one you've outgrown? Or never wanted in the first place?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Sure, you can probably list the reasons for staying, but are they actually just excuses for not leaving?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let a career coach from strawberry.me help you get unstuck.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Go to strawberry.me slash unstuck to claim a special offer.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today explained.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Now you say, now France says. Today is the same. Good job.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: We reached out to Andrew Hawkins from The Verge to find out
