EV battery not getting you as far? Here are some tips to keep your car charge going

In the 15 months since he bought his Tesla, Dan Holingsed has been able to get by with overnight charges in his garage.

But with Tuesday’s frigid weather, Holingsed found himself among the steady flow of Tesla drivers stopping at a 12-port supercharging station at an Aurora Meijer to plug in. It was the first time he had to rely on a public station to charge up his car.

“This is the coldest that I’ve ever driven in,” said Holingsed, who lives in New Lenox and works in Naperville. “This is unusual for me. I didn’t know it was going to drain as quickly as it did.”

Though he’s only had his Tesla for about a month, Niko Baroudos of Naperville said he’s noticed a dip in how long his battery lasts in recent days with the sub-zero weather.

“Before it dropped below 25 degrees, I would get a lot more range, whereas now ... the battery does go a lot quicker,” Baroudos said as he waited in his car to charge up.

In colder weather, electric vehicles use battery power to warm themselves up and keep the batteries above a certain temperature, explains Robert Boyle, an assistant professor in the automotive service technology department at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

“The best thing EV owners can do to prevent disaster in cold weather is to plan ahead,” said Boyle, who teaches courses related to hybrid and electric vehicles and has owned an electric vehicle since 2018. “Make sure the battery is charged to a sufficient level for your anticipated, and perhaps other scenarios, travel distance.”

He recommended keeping the battery charged at least 50% in cold weather, noting that electric vehicle owners may see a 30 to 40% drop in distance range in colder temperatures.

Like Holingsed, Boyle relies on a home charging station to keep his vehicle sufficiently powered. He recommends preconditioning vehicles so that charging can be set to select times and can even be set to have the car’s cabin temperature at a certain level when you leave so it doesn’t have to drain the battery right away.

But for those who may not have access to a charging station at home, stops at public stations are a necessity. Boyle and others suggested the suburbs need more places to plug in.

Baroudos said he stopped at a supercharging station in Bolingbrook Monday evening, but after a 20-minute wait for a station, he left. Boyle noted Illinois has about 90,000 registered electric vehicles but only 3,278 charging ports.

“Infrastructure is certainly a topic we need to visit,” he said.

At the Aurora charging location on Tuesday, Tesla technicians were out to check some stations that were not properly functioning. Customers noted that other users sometimes drop the nozzle in the snow, which can cause it to malfunction.

Boyle recommends electric vehicle owners also carry the proper adapters, if needed, so they can power up at any charging station and that they keep tires properly inflated to aid with efficiency.

Tesla representatives could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.