Jalopnik – by José Rodríguez Jr.
China’s power grid is still under duress amidst the worst heatwave the country has seen in half a century. Now, electric carmakers Tesla and Nio are shutting down some of their charging stations in Sichuan province to save energy and help keep the lights on in Chinese homes, Bloomberg reports .
Owners of EVs from Tesla and Nio report that they first learned about certain charging stations in the city of Chengdu going offline through charger-locating apps. Charging is being suspended as far away as Chongqing, a city just under 200 miles east of the Sichuan capitol.
Sichuan’s power production has plummeted during the heatwave. The province relies on hydroelectric dams, but rivers in the region are at dangerously low water levels. The reduced hydropower output prompted city officials to shut down factories making microchips and those that process lithium for EV batteries, too.
The factory closures are likely to affect vehicle production throughout China. Automakers responded to the factory shutdowns by asking the government to intervene, and funnel remaining power production to factories producing automotive components.
But the historic heatwave and subsequent drought are not just affecting EV production; they’re now impacting EV ownership as well. Tesla has restricted or suspended charging altogether at over a dozen Supercharger stations in Chengdu and Chongqing. Local reports say just two Tesla stations are left operational, and since August 17th they’ve only been running at night.
Nio says “severe overload on the grid” has forced the company to temporarily suspend stations where owners can swap their car’s empty battery pack for a full one. There’s just not enough power to recharge the depleted batteries.
The exchange method is sound as far as ease-of-use and charging speed go, but what can owners do when there’s no power at all? Since Nio’s battery-swap stations are closed for the time being, the company is asking owners in Sichuan to share their home charging stations with owners who don’t have one for the next month, from August 20 through September 20.
Bloomberg reports some Nio owners are helping fellow owners by swapping nearly-dead batteries at Nio exchange stations with their own fully-charged batteries, which, presumably, have been recharged overnight at homes.
That cooperation is one bright spot in this otherwise bleak situation China is going through amid a brutal heatwave. The U.S. underwent a similar situation, with Tesla asking owners in Texas to avoid charging during peak daytime hours. In Texas, this was a suggestion from Tesla; in China, the charger shutdowns are government mandated.
TA DA
Yeah, and who can afford an EV anyway? Or its battery replacement cost. Who would fall for this? Oh yeah, rich jerks.
The Communistic Control-Machine strutting its stuff, showering out more proof that they’re intending to control our movement and whatever method we choose to move in. So, at any time, we can be stopped and blocked from going about our business. Well, we know what we have to STOP AND BLOCK.
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Just saw where a person bought a Volt( and thats a hybrid ) , and it needed a new battery , just under 30 grand !..car aint even worth that. And the odometer was only showing just 70,489 miles.
a repair estimate for the replacement of a 2012 Chevy Volt battery pack at Roger Dean Chevrolet in Cape Coral, Florida. The invoice lists the price of the battery pack at $26,853.99, plus some additional expenses for labor, battery coolant, shop supplies and required state fees. The total quoted price of this repair with tax would be $29,842 – just a couple thousand dollars less than a brand new 2022 Chevy Bolt EV.
and ,.. If you google the part number it says discontinued. Im going by the story , and im not going to do research to find out if the entire story is true , but even if the battery and changing it out costs 12,000$ im not going there on a 10 year old car with 70k miles on it with these problems already