Tesla owner goes viral after his car would not charge in the cold

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Jessica Thompson

Jessica Thompson, a 35-year-old automotive enthusiast and mother of two, co-founded CarGirls.ca to empower and educate women about the automotive world. Jess's passion for cars started in her father's garage, learning the mechanics of automotive repair. With a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Jess has extensive expertise in automotive design and technology. She enjoys attending car shows, racing her custom-built Mustang, and teaching her kids about car maintenance. Jess is dedicated to inspiring and supporting women in their automotive journeys.

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A Tesla owner’s video went viral after he couldn’t get his Model S to charge at a Supercharger station in the cold.

Domenick Nati, a radio host in Virginia, was trying to charge his Tesla Model S last Friday ahead of his holiday travel, but he was having some issues.

It was reportedly 19°F – or -7°C – at the time.

Nati claims to have first tried to charge at home without success, and then he tried at a local Supercharger station where he posted this video on TikTok that went viral:

When plugged into the Supercharger, the car showed a message saying that it was warming up the battery pack in preparation for charging, but it never actually started to charge – even an hour later.

Nati claims to have reached out to Tesla about the issue, but he couldn’t get a response by Saturday.

Electrek’s Take

The video and media reports on it are creating some confusion. Some are associating this with the normal problems charging in the cold.

First off, it’s true that electric vehicle charging is affected by colder temperatures, but this is not normal.

It takes time for the battery pack to warm up enough to accept higher charge rates. That’s why Tesla built in a feature that enables the battery pack to condition itself for charging ahead of time if you enter a charge point in the navigation system.

So yes, there are issues with charging in colder temperatures, but this is not it – this is a malfunction with this gentleman’s specific vehicle.

I have charged Tesla vehicles and other EVs at way colder temperatures than -7°C without issue. It’s unfortunate, but it looks to be a problem with the owner’s specific car than hopefully is going to be covered by the warranty.

The biggest highlight, if anything, is that he couldn’t get in touch with anyone at Tesla for a remote diagnostic. That’s a big issue with Tesla’s service. It’s hard to get someone on the phone.