Thanks to the experience of this Tesla owner in Winnipeg, hopefully you won’t be stranded at a Supercharger station in -30°C temperatures.
TESLAPEG’s ordeal began after arriving at the Winnipeg Supercharger with just 11% remaining in his battery. Relieved to have made it there with plenty of range to spare, that relief quickly turned to despair. After plugging in to the first stall, the car would not charge. Thinking it was just a faulty stall, he moved to another one, but was faced with the same result. That continued for all 8 stalls.
Losing energy because of the cold temperatures and unable to get in touch with Tesla customer support, he was able to make it to a Destination Charger about 10km away.
So what can we learn from his experience? The first is that there was actually nothing wrong with the Supercharger. Due to the cold battery and the very low state of charge, the car was likely taking the power from the charger to heat up the battery. If he had stayed plugged in for about 10 minutes, it would have probably started charging.
The other piece of advice is to always use the in-car navigation when driving to a Supercharger. This is particularly important in cold weather as the car’s software will warm up the battery to ensure the most efficient charging experience when you arrive. If TESLAPEG had done this, he likely wouldn’t have experienced any problems.
Have you experienced something similar? Let us know in the comments below.
