Tesla has confronted numerous challenges within the public relations sphere over the previous few years. It’s handled backlash due to the actions of its mercurial CEO Elon Musk and technical points with its self-driving automobile which have led to a number of deaths.
However this final week, Tesla house owners and stakeholders confronted a brand new problem — chilly air.
In line with a report by The New York Instances, Tesla drivers throughout Chicagoland struggled not solely to get their vehicles correctly charged however even getting the frozen doorways open.
One driver needed to chisel away ice to get of their automobile and located that their battery had been drained to almost a 3rd of its capability within the chilly climate.
“It’s form of like, I don’t actually need a Tesla,” she informed the Instances.
Whereas Tesla’s batteries aren’t the one electrical automobile energy sources that may be drained within the chilly, scenes of traces for charging factors and drivers needing to name tow vehicles as a result of their dear electrical autos wouldn’t begin on a chilly day factors to a lower than stellar search for the world’s hottest EV maker.
Why it issues: Musk’s persona and points with participating within the public sphere apart, it is a huge deal for a couple of causes. First, Teslas are a giant funding for his or her house owners. With the lowest-priced Tesla beginning at costs within the $45,000 vary, drivers ought to really feel assured that their automobile goes to begin, no matter what it’s like exterior. Granted, even inside combustion engines can wrestle within the chilly, however extra is predicted of the newer, pricier know-how.
Tesla does present some steering for drivers in chilly climate although — the corporate says that taking steps like defrosting the automobile and conditioning the battery could make driving extra dependable.
Now, not all Tesla drivers stay in climates the place they’re combating blizzard-like circumstances to drive. Nonetheless, the truth that Tesla has steering for these circumstances exhibits that the corporate is conscious of the problems. Will these public tales of individuals combating their Teslas to cost and begin in a Chicago snowstorm result in a dip in gross sales? Purchasers are already cautious of issues associated to low vary for EVs. That is seemingly to supply one other impediment that would have others trying to good old school gasoline.
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Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communcations.
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