Daniel Wigton on Nostr: True, the battery cannot charge below freezing. But the car has ways of managing that ...

True, the battery cannot charge below freezing. But the car has ways of managing that so in effect it works fine. The issue in the case you mentioned is that people did not follow instructions. Tesla specifically tells you to set the supercharger as a destination so the car can use motor heat to warm the battery enough to accept a charge. People showed up with cold and nearly empty batteries that couldn't warm themselves, because the heater (motor) wasn't active. So the plugged in and the car rightly did nothing. Charging at those temps will kill the battery.

Tesla fixed it with a software update though. They taught the car to shiver. Basically they run current through the motor in a way that is intentionally useless. It doesn't move, but it gets hot. That wams the battery enough to charge the car.