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Comment by zdgman | Hacker News Reader

It seems like the charge right before he stalled was the issue. I know he wasn't at a super charging station but he probably should have spent a couple of hours re-charging it instead of an hour.

Cold weather and running something that is power intensive (the heater) will drastically effect your mileage if you are relying on a battery to power your car.

Tesla probably should do a better job of communicating this but it doesn't seem like a flaw with the car.

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If the battery meter can't cope with typical American temperature ranges yet it being sold in these areas, yeah, it's a flaw. If it says 100 miles left and after 10 miles now tells you 50, yeah, it's a flaw.

Can the flaw be corrected? Maybe, maybe not. But it's still a flaw.

I wouldn't call this a flaw, it happens to batteries when they are exposed to temperatures like this. The gauge for the battery is accurately trying to show you your usage in real-time.

I bet he probably could have gauged it by jumping in the car turning it on and then starting the heater as well. His mileage would have declined before he even started driving.

Think of it this way, batteries always improve in 2nd / 3rd gen devices (look at apple) and I am sure that is what Tesla will start to address.

The flaw (and it is a very major flaw) is in the reporting system, which is unable to give drivers planning their drives reliable information with which to plan their drives. That is flawed almost by definition. The reasons why are utterly irrelevant. A flawed fuel reading is a fundemental flaw in a product that is essentially useless without fuel.

Cold weather is going to murder your range. That's not a flaw with the car per se, but it's definitely an issue with EVs.

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