EVs Die Waiting To Charge In Chicago’s Longest Cold Snap In Years

A bus drops off a commuter near the Berwyn Metra stop as a winter storm hits the Chicago area on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024.

Chicago is a major city that faces brutal winters every year, but its current cold snap is worse than the city has seen in a while, and it’s taking an extra toll on EV drivers. Electric vehicles lose some of their battery capacity in extreme cold weather, but with EV drivers scrambling to find available public chargers has pushed many to completely deplete their car’s batteries while waiting in line to charge.

NBC Chicago set up in Evergreen Park, where EV drivers were forced to wait in line for hours to charge their cars, then forced to wait hours for their cars to actually charge due to the extremely low temperatures. Electrons just don’t flow well in extremely low temperatures, leading to range degradation and increased charge times when compared to normal operation. NBC Chicago reported that several cars had to be towed away from the line because they ran out of juice while waiting to charge, and,

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