This seems like a bad faith comment when looked at in that context.
Here it is again:
* I live in Scotland * I am subject to Scottish weather * In my Scottish weather the car operates just fine * My conservative friends are sharing stories of a handful of issues people are having in another country as proof of… something. Not sure exactly what but some culture war thing they have been tricked into spreading by their influencers. * Tesla stories are therefore amplified. There were a bunch of ICE cars also having issues but you don’t hear about them.
Frankly, you're making a false equivalence here. You're conflating "teslas in perfect factory delivery order" not working at normal winter temps, with "a poorly maintained or defective ICE car" not working. It's not the same thing. At all.
I've driven all sorts of cars sold in North America, and -40C? Fine.
I've owned VWs, Toyotas, GMs, my neighbours have all manner of cars. No one has problems with -40C. No one.
ICE cars, in good working order are fine, and start and work reliability at -40C. Teslas, it would seem, do not.
That is not someone picking on EVs.
Really, EV tech is very new, compared to ICE.
They seem to be saying,
> ICE cars, in good working order are fine, and start and work reliability at -40C.
...and they're mostly correct.
In that sort of weather, you just use a bit higher concentration of antifreeze in your coolant mixture. Fuel will usually start freezing at a colder temperature as well.
Hope you enjoy doing your things!
p.s.) fun fact: one need not specify C or F or K when the value is -40 degrees :)
Given that I think if we had a -40 snap in Scotland a great many brand new in-spec ICE cars would fail to start.
Or is this all wrong and you can just turn the key on any old ICE and go? Genuine question since I don’t live in conditions like those.
And reading the Reddit thread here suggests that a great many EV owners are doing just fine in extreme temperatures: https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/194yg8x/how_are_yo...
Maybe that’s not -40 and they’ll all fail then?
- They don't need "a whole host of ways to deal with it".
- They don't need "special fluids", just normal ones any other car needs, properly selected for the climate.
- They don't need block heaters
- They don't need systems to automatically start the car if it falls below -39 degrees.
Given that, I don't think if there was -40 degree weather, a great many brand-new in-spec ICE cars would fail to start. After all, some places reach that weather, and the cars don't.
Yes, you can turn the key and go, in -40 degree weather. You will be cold while the car heats up, but it will turn over, at least within 2 or 3 tries. The requirements are the ones you have for maintaining an ICE car in any weather: proper oil, proper coolant mixture, and proper battery maintenance. You can admittedly get away with failing at these, in less extreme climate. For example, in the south, it can be hot enough that you can use water, with no antifreeze at all, as coolant.
As for your reddit thread, I wouldn't trust it as an accurate measure of anything, but that's neither here nor there. I'm not interested in a contest between the two, so I'll remain on the topic of whether a properly-maintained ICE car would just work in -40 degree weather (it would).
Any way you try to walk it back is just that. I’m not missing the point, you’ve changed the point now that you’re being downvoted for this obviously false equivalency.
I don’t know why I’m being downvoted, maybe there are other people like you determined to interpret it the wrong way.