The nightmare that is electric vehicles simply refuses to end for owners of the hip and trendy new movement in automobile technology. This time, the story is about a Tesla owner whose car refused to charge on Christmas eve due to the extreme cold that the nation was facing.
Domenick Nati, a 44-year-old Virginia resident, shared his plight on TikTok as he tried for hours to coax his Tesla into charging amid the freezing cold wave that struck the nation last week.
In the video, which he has since shared to Twitter as well, he shows that once plugged in the Tesla tells him “Battery is heating- keep charge cable inserted.” Okay, that shouldn’t be a problem, Nati says he let the car idle with climate controls on and assumed the battery would heat and begin charging soon. Nati then resumes filming two hours later to show the progress (LOL) of the charging session. After two entire hours of idling the Tesla, the screen still reads the exact same message, “Battery is heating – keep charge cable inserted.”
Tesla S will not charge in the cold. Stranded on Christmas Eve!#tesla #ev #cold #winter #winterweather #storm #christmas #christmaseve #coldweather #weather #blizzard #wow #car #cars #elonmusk #help #stranded #how #electric #electriccar #teslas #charge #fail @Tesla @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/fT3moiPPle
— 𝖉𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖓𝔦ᴄk 𝖓𝖆𝔱𝔦 (@KingOfContacts) December 24, 2022
Nati also showed the range at the beginning and the end of his endeavor, which remained steady at 19 miles for the duration of his stay at the pump.
Now, critics of EVs are struggling to refrain from saying “I told you so,” since this kind of issue is the same fear that many still have regarding the Tesla-led industry. Simply put, these cars are not reliable enough to be one’s main vehicle. In nearly any circumstance, a gas car can be filled and resume driving on the road, which could be the difference between life and death when temperatures climb into the negatives as they did before Christmas this year.
According to Business Insider, Nati left the car charging for another 15 hours while he tried to contact Tesla support. He never heard a response from the company. And, to make matters worse, since this was his only car, Nati said that he had to cancel his Christmas day plans since there were no available Uber or Lyft rides in the area. He also added that he would likely miss seeing his son on Christmas morning.
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Teslas vehicles sure look good, and the interiors are second to none when it comes to entertainment systems and reclining seats, but these are cars, not movie theaters. If you can have two vehicles, sure, maybe an EV is right for you. But the simple fact is, when you’re in a pinch like Nati was, EVs will not save you. Even in the best of times, they’ve proven to be unreliable.
This also doesn’t seem to be a one-off incident, as Nati explained to Fox Business.
“Since I posted the video, a lot of people have mentioned having the same issue. Some fellow Tesla owners have even messaged me to see if I have found a solution. Unfortunately my answer is no.”
So, before you go out and buy a Tesla, maybe take a minute and think about whether or not you want to be stranded because it’s cold out…I think I’ll stick to my gas guzzler.
Featured image credit: screengrab from embedded video