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Desperate Tesla owners in and around Chicago were seen trying to charge their cars to no avail amid the frigid temperatures that have gripped the Midwest.
Charging stations have essentially turned into car graveyards in recent days as temperatures dipped into the negative double digits, Fox Chicago reported.
“Nothing. No juice. It's still zero percent,” Tyler Bird, who has been trying to recharge his Tesla at the Oak Brook, Illinois, supercharging station since Sunday afternoon, told the media. “This is like being here for three hours.” “After being here for three hours yesterday.”
Bird and several other Tesla owners were trying to charge their cars amid long lines and abandoned cars at other Tesla charging stations in the Chicago area, the news station reported.
“This is crazy. This is a disaster. Seriously,” Tesla owner Chalice Mizell said.
Mizell said she abandoned her car and got a ride from a friend after her car stopped charging.
“We have a bunch of dead robots here,” one of the men said.
Kevin Somrak told Fox that he landed Sunday night at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and found his Tesla dead and unable to start.
He was forced to rent a flatbed tow truck to transport the car to a working charging station.
One expert told the media that cold weather could affect the ability of electric cars to charge properly.
“It's not plug-and-go. You have to precondition the battery, which means you have to bring the battery up to the ideal temperature to accept fast charging,” said Mark Bielek of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association.
FOX Business has reached out to Tesla, but has not yet received a response.
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