Hacker News

Tl; DR? Everything chemical slows down in the cold, companies will “winterize” existing batteries for northern climes and new battery tech is coming.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

For nearly a week, frigid temperatures from Chicago to northern Texas have made life painful for electric vehicle owners, with reduced driving range and hours of waiting at charging stations.

In Oak Brook, Illinois, near Chicago, on Monday, television reporters found Teslas that were running out of juice while in long lines for plugs at a Supercharger station.

“Pretty much anything that’s a chemical substance slows down when you get to a low temperature,” said Neil Dasgupta, associate professor of mechanical and materials science engineering at the University of Michigan.

She had driven farther than she thought on a trip to her dentist in Ann Arbor on Wednesday morning and wanted to get close to a full charge for the rest of the day’s travels.

In the short term, Dasgupta said that as more mainstream consumers buy EVs, and as more automakers enter the market, they will develop models using existing lithium-ion chemistry that are tailored to colder climates.

Millions are being invested in new battery technology that performs better in the cold that will find its way from military, aerospace and undersea applications into electric vehicles, Dasgupta said.

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Funny that of all the millions of EVs that are in use worldwide this only happens in Chicago. Yeah, must be the battery chemistry.