美国东部时间2024 年 1 月 17 日下午3:42

作者：罗布·斯坦普夫

寒冷的天气和电动汽车：很长一段时间以来，人们都知道这两个不是最好的朋友。尽管这种冷淡的关系并不是什么新闻，但本周FOX 32 芝加哥频道的一篇报道引发了新的轩然大波，该报道展示了几名特斯拉司机在伊利诺伊州奥克布鲁克的特斯拉超级充电站为电动汽车充电时遇到的困难。 

本周，芝加哥郊区的气温多年来首次降至零以下，情况似乎变得非常严峻，车主们不得不用平板车拖走他们的特斯拉，因为充电器无法工作，而且他们的电动汽车已经没电了。电视台毫不讳言：“公共充电站已经变成了汽车坟场”，记者称，并称耗尽的电动汽车为“死机器人”。这份报告中出现了一系列类似的故事，几家主要出版物都呼应了这一声音。

电动汽车和寒冷天气

就像燃油汽车一样，电动汽车在寒冷的天气下效率较低。效率也会根据汽车电池的化学成分和电池的温度而变化，这对于在寒冷中长途旅行或无法在家充电的汽车来说可能是个坏消息。

但这种情况真的值得这样的语言，还是只是耸人听闻？这完全是特斯拉的错，还是有任何用户错误？

InsideEVs 自己做了一些调查，以下是我们的发现：首先，芝加哥大都市区的几位特斯拉车主周一通过 特斯拉车主俱乐部 论坛报告说，13 个超级充电站中有 3 个被关闭，可能是由于寒冷的天气，主要分布在奥克布鲁克 (Oak Brook)、罗斯蒙特 (Rosemont) 和乡村俱乐部山 (Country Club Hills)。

首先，不幸的是这并不是一个新问题。我们很早就知道，极端寒冷会冻结特斯拉超级充电器（或任何电动汽车快速充电器）的充电电缆、连接器和其他关键部件。积冰、材料变硬以及电路中的电阻增加可能会加剧这些问题。这反过来又会影响电子元件的效率和性能，可能导致故障或停机，就像奥克布鲁克发生的那样。

福克斯电视台提到，一些滞留的车主是那些刚刚降落在芝加哥奥黑尔国际机场的人，该机场距离奥克布鲁克超级充电站以北仅 14 英里。特斯拉的官方文件称，其汽车每天闲置时的电池消耗量约为 1%。但如果启用哨兵模式（通过汽车摄像头远程监控外部条件），汽车可能会在 24 小时内消耗多达 15% 的背包容量。这意味着在机场停车时启用哨兵模式的人可能会在返回时电池容量显着减少。

幸运的是，奥黑尔附近有几个超级充电站。只有一个问题：据报道，其中至少三个车站，包括最近的两个车站（罗斯蒙特和奥克布鲁克）无法运行。事实上，该地区的 13 个充电站（需要明确的是，这只是芝加哥附近充电站总数的一小部分），据称有近 50 个充电站出现故障。

我们在Autopian 的朋友也在plugshare上发现了许多关于超级充电问题的评论，其中一些概述了想要充电的车主之间爆发的争斗。

化学和用户错误挑战

电池化学也是一个问题。特斯拉最常在其汽车中使用两种不同的电池化学成分：磷酸铁锂 (LFP) 和镍钴铝 (NCA)。例如，标准续航里程的 Model 3 就采用了 LFP 电池。棱柱形电池的生产成本更低，而且能量密度不如 Model 3 和 Y 的长续航里程和高性能版本中使用的圆柱形 NCA 电池。

虽然 NCA 和 LFP 电池都会受到寒冷天气的不利影响，但 LFP 电池的性能稍差。首先，整体续航里程比 NCA 电池减少得更多。LFP 电池组在寒冷天气下充电也比较困难。这意味着，如果电池组在到达直流快速充电器之前无法进行预调节（将电池加热到最佳温度以使充电更有效的过程），则整体充电速度将明显变慢。再加上极寒条件下续航里程的缩短，您就可以得到一个充电状态 (SoC) 为个位数的超级充电桩。https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/BXNw1R/s1/tesla-panic-chicago.jpg

这一过程中的一大难题可能是缺乏有关电池预处理的知识。预处理本身需要能量，因此让您的电动汽车处于较低的 SoC 状态可能会阻碍该过程。车主指出，预处理可能消耗 7.5 至 12 千瓦时的电量，这些数字可能会根据设置的除霜水平和设置的车厢温度而变化。

由于特斯拉通常会在较低的 SoC 上停止预调节，以避免在到达快速充电器之前耗尽电量，因此直到汽车插入电源后才会启动电池调节，这意味着快速充电过程会变慢（假设充电器正常工作） 。如果不是，则可能意味着 SoC 太低，无法到达另一个超级充电站，从而使汽车陷入困境。https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/XBGQje/s1/tesla-model-3-highland-charging-at-a-supercharger.jpg

也有可能那些路由至停止服务的超级充电站的人是出于记忆而这样做的。也许这些人由于家里没有自己的充电器而主要依赖超级充电。寒冷的天气削弱了续航里程和效率，加上缺乏预处理，可能导致这些车主被困在奥克布鲁克超级充电站。

此外，车主还强调了在寒冷的天气下充电性能会如何下降。一位车主在 Reddit 上表示 ，即使对电池进行了 20 分钟的预处理，并额外进行了 10 分钟的“快速充电预处理”，Supercharger 也没有立即增加实际行驶里程。

Out Of Spec Reviews 的凯尔·康纳 (Kyle Conner) 在一段视频中也强调了这一点，该视频展示了电池在“深度冷冻”条件下的表现。在电池首次加热到最佳温度之前，增压器通常不会增加续航里程，即使如此，设计为提供 150-250 千瓦功率的档位也只能提供20-50 千瓦功率。

此外，我们现在应该接受电动汽车在冬季行驶里程的现实，转而专注于优化它的解决方案。

在 2022-2023 年冬季，电池健康和数据启动Recurrent 收集了 10,000 辆电动汽车的数据，以分析寒冷天气对续航里程的影响。在分析了美国的二十多个模型后，Recurrent 发现冬季的平均观察范围（考虑到气候、地形和驾驶模式等现实世界变量后的范围）是正常范围的 70.3%。https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/vxpM0R/s1/o-hare-superchargers.jpg

芝加哥是一个繁忙的枢纽，这类似于许多加油站的燃料耗尽，一堆汽车在烟雾中行驶至加油站。当然，此类失败会吸引大量媒体报道。但我们的读者告诉我们，密歇根州附近的寒冷天气对该地区的充电桩同样不利——底特律郊外有 5 个超级充电站，共 56 个充电站，其中 12 个充电站最近报告无法使用。 

那么可以采取什么措施来防止这种情况发生在您身上呢？

如何避免这个问题

像特斯拉这样的电动汽车供应设备提供商需要做好维护工作。这可能是修复损坏或被破坏的充电器，或者为我们今天看到的情况提供防风雨保护。

（应该指出的是，即使是汽油车，在气温如此寒冷的情况下也难以启动，天气导致的停电也可能导致加油站瘫痪。但这一事件证明，教育、基础设施和维护还可以做得更好，所以这不会发生。未来的电动汽车司机不会发生这种情况。）

驾驶员还需要爱护设备。一位Reddit 用户提到，问题可能是车主在使用完超级充电桩后未能妥善保养它们。用户将插头掉入雪中的情况并不罕见，这会导致 NACS 连接器内部结冰。 

果然，昨晚我忘记给自己的 Tesla Model 3 插上电源，当我去插上电源时（在写这篇文章时！），我注意到我的 L1 和 L2 引脚上结满了冰，尽管我的 L1 和 L2 引脚固定在我的 Tesla 壁式充电器中。因此，我可以看出这在路上可能会成为一个问题，另一位 Reddit 用户的建议可以帮助解决冻结的充电器、门把手和充电门：携带便携式电池供电的热风枪旅行时的后备箱。有点极端，但是嘿，这可能会起作用。 

Suvrat Kothari 的补充报道

原文阅读

What Happened With The 'Stranded Teslas' EV Charging Panic In Chicago

Teslas are having trouble charging in the extreme cold, but there's a myriad of factors that contribute to the problem. Let us help explain.

Jan 17, 2024 at 3:42pm ET

By: Rob Stumpf

Frigid weather and electric cars: it’s known for quite some time now that they’re not the best of friends. Even though this frosty relationship isn’t breaking news, a new furor sparked this week following a FOX 32 Chicago report that showcased several Tesla drivers struggling to charge their EVs at a Tesla Supercharger in Oak Brook, Illinois. 

As temperatures in this Chicago suburb plummeted to under zero this week for the first time in ages, the situation seemed to have become dire, with owners having to tow their Teslas out on flatbeds because chargers weren’t working, and their EVs had run out of juice. The TV station didn't mince words: “Public charging stations have turned into car graveyards,” reporters said, while calling depleted EVs “dead robots.” A barrage of similar stories emerged out of this report, with several major publications echoing this voice.

Get Fully Charged

EVs and cold weather

Much like gas cars, EVs are less efficient in cold weather. Efficiency also changes depending on the car’s battery chemistry and how warm the battery is—that can spell out bad news for cars making long trips in the cold, or unable to charge at home.

But did the situation truly warrant such language, or was it sensationalized? And is Tesla entirely to blame, or is there any user error involved?

InsideEVs did some investigating of its own, and here’s what we found: For starters, several Tesla owners in the Chicago metropolitan area reported via the Tesla Owners Club forum on Monday that three out of 13 Superchargers were closed, possibly due to the frigid weather, mainly in Oak Brook, Rosemont, and Country Club Hills.

First, this is unfortunately not a novel problem. We’ve known for quite some time now that extreme cold can freeze charging cables, connectors, and other critical components of a Tesla Supercharger (or any EV fast charger, really.) Ice accumulation, stiffening of materials, and increased resistance in electrical pathways may contribute to these woes. This, in turn, affects the efficiency and performance of electronic components, potentially leading to malfunctions or shutdowns, like the ones seen in Oak Brook.

The FOX station mentions that some of the stranded owners were those who had just landed at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, which is just 14 miles north of the Oak Brook Supercharger. Tesla’s official documentation says that its cars use around 1% of its battery per day at idle. But if Sentry Mode—which remotely monitors outside conditions via the car's cameras—is enabled, the car can sap as much as 15% of pack capacity in 24 hours. That means someone who leaves Sentry Mode enabled while parked at the airport may return with a significantly reduced battery capacity.

Fortunately, there are several Supercharging stations close to O’Hare. There’s just one problem: at least three of these stations, including the two closest stations (Rosemont and Oak Brook) were reportedly non-functional. In fact, across 13 stations in the region (which, to be clear, is just a handful of the total number of charging locations near Chicago), nearly 50 stalls were said to be out of order.

Our friends over at The Autopian also found reviews on plugshare about Supercharging problems at many of these locations, some of which outlined fights breaking out between owners looking to charge.

Chemistry And User Error Challenges

Battery chemistry is an issue here too. Tesla most commonly uses two different battery chemistries in its cars: Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LFP) and Nickel-Cobalt-Aluminum (NCA). LFP batteries are found in the standard range-trimmed Model 3, for example. The prismatic cells are cheaper to produce and not as energy-dense as cylindrical NCA cells found in the Long Range and Performance variants of the Model 3 and Y.

While both NCA and LFP batteries are affected adversely by cold weather, LFP batteries perform slightly worse. For starters, the overall range is reduced more so than NCA cells. LFP packs also have a harder time charging in colder weather. This means that if the battery pack is unable to precondition—a process that warms the battery up to an optimal temperature making charging more effective—before arriving at a DC fast charger, the overall charging speed will be significantly slower. Couple that with the reduced range in extreme cold, and you’ve got a recipe for arriving at a Supercharger with a state of charge (SoC) in the single digits.

One major thorn in the process was probably the lack of knowledge about battery preconditioning. Preconditioning itself requires energy, so leaving your EV at a low SoC can hamper that process. Owners have pointed out that preconditioning can consume between 7.5 to 12 kilowatt-hours, and those figures can vary depending on the set defrost level and set cabin temperature.

And since Teslas typically stop preconditioning at a lower SoC to avoid running out of charge ahead of reaching a fast charger, that battery conditioning isn’t started until the car is plugged in, which means a slower fast charging session, assuming the charger is functional. If it’s not, it could mean a SoC too low to reach another Supercharging station, thus leaving the car stranded.

It’s also possible that those who were routing to the out-of-service Superchargers were doing so out of memory. Perhaps those individuals rely primarily on Supercharging due to not having a charger of their own at home. The cold weather sapping the range and efficiency coupled with the lack of preconditioning may have caused these owners to become stranded at the Oak Brook Supercharger.

Moreover, owners have highlighted how charging performance declines in bone-chilling weather. One owner said on Reddit that even after preconditioning the battery for 20 minutes, with an additional 10-minute “preconditioning for fast charging,” the Supercharger didn’t immediately add real driving miles.

It’s something Kyle Conner of Out Of Spec Reviews also highlighted in a video that showcases how batteries behave during “deep freeze” conditions. Superchargers often don’t add range until batteries are first heated to optimal temperatures, and even then, stalls engineered to deliver 150-250 kilowatts only deliver 20-50 kW.

Also, it’s high time we accept the reality of EV range in winter, and instead focus on solutions to optimize it.

During the 2022-2023 winter, battery health and data startup Recurrent collected data from 10,000 EVs to analyze the impact of cold weather on the range. After analyzing over two dozen models in the U.S., Recurrent found that the average observed range in winter—range after factoring in real-world variables like climate, terrain, and driving patterns—was 70.3% of their normal range.

Chicago is a busy hub, and this would be similar to many gas stations running out of fuel with a bunch of cars running on fumes pulling up to the pump. Of course, such failures can attract a lot of media coverage. But our readers told us that the cold weather in nearby Michigan has been just as harsh to chargers in that area—five Supercharging locations with 56 stalls outside of Detroit, 12 were recently reported as unavailable. 

So what can be done to prevent it from happening to you?

How To Avoid This Problem

Electric vehicle supply equipment providers like Tesla need to be on top of maintenance. This could be repairing broken or vandalized chargers, or weather-proofing them for occasions like we are seeing today.

(It should be noted that even gas cars have trouble starting when temperatures get this cold, and a weather-driven power outage can take out a gas station too. But this incident proves that education, infrastructure and maintenance could be better so this doesn't happen to fufutre EV drivers.)

Drivers also need to care for the equipment. One Redditor mentioned that the problem could be owners who fail to properly care for the Superchargers when they’re done using them. It’s not uncommon for owners to just drop the plugs into the snow, which leads to ice buildup inside of the NACS connector. 

Sure enough, I forgot to plug my own Tesla Model 3 in last night, and when I went to plug it in (while writing this!) I noticed that my L1 and L2 pins were caked with ice despite being secured in my Tesla wall charger. So I could see how this could potentially be a problem while on the road, and a piece of advice from another Reddit user could help come in handy for frozen chargers, door handles, and charge doors: carry a portable battery-powered heat gun in the trunk when traveling. A bit on the extreme side, but hey, it might just work. 

Additional reporting by Suvrat Kothari