Brother says ‘battery would drain faster than it would charge,’ adding each charge cost between $25 and $30.
A brother and sister driving cross-country from Florida to Kansas found out the hard way EV batteries and cold weather don’t mix.
According to Business Insider, Xaviar and Alice Steavenson rented a Tesla from Hertz to drive from Orlando to Wichita during cold weather last month, only to discover the “battery would drain faster than it would charge.”
Business Insider reports:
When they set off, Steavenson said, they could drive for at least 2 ½ hours before needing to charge the Tesla. “We ended up having to stop every one to 1 ½ hours to charge for an hour, then an hour and a half, then two hours,” he said.
“So beyond the lost time, it also got to the point it was between $25 and $30 to recharge,” Steavenson said. “Just in one day, we stopped six times to charge at that cost.”
Steavenson said Hertz said on its website that renting a Tesla was “always cheaper than gas” but added that he’d found the claim to be far from his experience.
He said when he and his sister first called Hertz, the agent told him he’d “had nothing but Tesla calls today” and had “no idea why they’re having issues.”
A Hertz rep denied an influx in Tesla calls, telling Insider:
“We have not experienced a significant increase in communication from customers about the battery of their EV rentals. However, battery range varies by vehicle manufacturer and can be influenced by multiple factors including weather and driving conditions.”
Insider reports: “Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.”
The siblings’ EV horror story comes as Tesla S EV owner and radio host Domenick Nati discovered his car’s battery would not charge during last month’s winter storm that impacted major parts of the US.
YouTuber Tyler Hoover last month also showed how the driving range of Ford’s Lightning EV truck is significantly reduced in cold weather conditions, essentially getting cut in half in 30-degree temperatures.
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