Yesterday various culture warriors posted with glee about line-ups at Tesla charging stations in Chicago,…

Yesterday various culture warriors posted with glee about line-ups at Tesla charging stations in Chicago, which is experiencing a major cold snap. And how some of the EVs had to be towed away, empty. This stuff goes viral quickly. Some facts. /1 https://t.co/VgfgQxEjIM

1. The same thing happened in 2011 in Chicago in a cold snap, except it was hundreds of ICE vehicles abandoned. 2. The reason is the same in both cases, people needed to have the vehicles running to keep the heating going, and ran out of fuel. /2

3. In both cases people were carrying far too little fuel/charge for an emergency weather situation, something motorists are advised not to do. 4. EV owners can recharge at home, something ICE vehicles can't do. These EV owners were queued at a supercharging station..../3

...possibly because they were travellers. It's not a limitation on EV technology, it's driver behaviour. 5. This is an extreme weather event, which the majority of world drivers will never experience, and which there are simple solutions to in any case. /end