While cars froze in Chicago, I used hotel charging for a trouble-free 2-week road trip in snowy Utah without superchargers

[bradtem]

You probably read the stories of cars in Chicago having trouble with cold batteries and more.

While that was happening I was taking a Tesla road trip through snowy south Utah, which is perhaps the best road trip destination in the lower 48, but it has no superchargers in the center and a few around the edges.

It worked out fine, in the frozen weather, because the right way to charge is at hotels, not superchargers, and this is what I did.

So this new Forbes article discusses:

• Why hotel charging is much better than supercharging, especially in the cold
• Why all the effort focusing on fast charging, while not bad, puts too much emphasis on the wrong thing
• How hotel charging should work and how it should be billed for (if it is billed)
• Details on the road trip to tell you places to stay and charge

Chicago EVs Froze As I Did An Easy Two Week Tesla Trip In Snowy Utah

Do EVs work in the cold? Read about a long trip in snowy Utah, and how the best place to charge is at hotels, and how that should work

www.forbes.com

 

[bruce4000]

You probably read the stories of cars in Chicago having trouble with cold batteries and more.

While that was happening I was taking a Tesla road trip through snowy south Utah, which is perhaps the best road trip destination in the lower 48, but it has no superchargers in the center and a few around the edges.

It worked out fine, in the frozen weather, because the right way to charge is at hotels, not superchargers, and this is what I did.

So this new Forbes article discusses:

• Why hotel charging is much better than supercharging, especially in the cold
• Why all the effort focusing on fast charging, while not bad, puts too much emphasis on the wrong thing
• How hotel charging should work and how it should be billed for (if it is billed)
• Details on the road trip to tell you places to stay and charge

Chicago EVs Froze As I Did An Easy Two Week Tesla Trip In Snowy Utah

Do EVs work in the cold? Read about a long trip in snowy Utah, and how the best place to charge is at hotels, and how that should work

www.forbes.com

Hotel charging is awesome. I usually plan my trip by finding hotels on Plug Share ap. Only issue is there are often only one or two at a location. Hoping a lot more are built.

 

[Rocky_H]

@bradtem One of the biggest problems that needs to be addressed with hotel charging is bad pricing policy related to this part of your article:

"Particularly strange are price structures which discourage overnight charging. The great virtue of hotel charging is that ability to sleep and go out to your car to find it ready. A number of hotel stations run by the Blink charging network start charging high “parking” fees after 7am or after charging is done, making them very much last choices for hotels."

My biggest problem I ran into was even worse than the supposed worst case you mention here. I had a hotel where it had an artificial hard limit of 4 hours and then would cut off (electricity) charging and start (money) charging supposed "idle" fees when the car wasn't even done. That made it completely unusable for overnight charging. That kind of brain dead policy needs to end immediately.

 

[bradtem]

It is strange. I have yet to talk to a hotel manager to find out the reason. I suspect it's a sentiment incorrectly transferred from public level 2 chargers that don't want drivers to hog them for more than a few hours. Many of those are found with 4 hour limits, at least on signs, or in the billing as you describe. The hotel owners, not really understanding the purpose of EV charging at hotels, probably just said "we should have EV charging, it's the green thing" and put this in.

Another bad one was a charger I used run by the city but in front of a hotel (with nothing else around for a mile so only hotel guests would use it at night.) It was $2/hour but started idle fees much higher as soon as charging stopped. I woke up at 2am and noticed I was full and it was charging me fat fees. You could cheat and reduce your charging current but that's silly.

There is one valid reason I can see for this 4 hour policy, which is the hotel is trying to say, "share this" and that one guest can use it in the evening and must free it for another guest for the morning. But that requires guests to get up in the middle of the night to move things.

 

[Supcom]

It is strange. I have yet to talk to a hotel manager to find out the reason. I suspect it's a sentiment incorrectly transferred from public level 2 chargers that don't want drivers to hog them for more than a few hours. Many of those are found with 4 hour limits, at least on signs, or in the billing as you describe. The hotel owners, not really understanding the purpose of EV charging at hotels, probably just said "we should have EV charging, it's the green thing" and put this in.

Another bad one was a charger I used run by the city but in front of a hotel (with nothing else around for a mile so only hotel guests would use it at night.) It was $2/hour but started idle fees much higher as soon as charging stopped. I woke up at 2am and noticed I was full and it was charging me fat fees. You could cheat and reduce your charging current but that's silly.

There is one valid reason I can see for this 4 hour policy, which is the hotel is trying to say, "share this" and that one guest can use it in the evening and must free it for another guest for the morning. But that requires guests to get up in the middle of the night to move things.

Some companies get pretty creative finding ways to drive customers away.

What was the hotel that works so hard to make you regret staying with them? You shouldn't give these idiots anonymity. Name them so nobody here makes the mistake of doing business with them.

 

[bradtem]

Some companies get pretty creative finding ways to drive customers away.

What was the hotel that works so hard to make you regret staying with them? You shouldn't give these idiots anonymity. Name them so nobody here makes the mistake of doing business with them.

These are hotels that I didn't stay at, so I don't have a list of their names. I did notice that several of them used Blink to manage their chargers. While Blink and others insist that the pricing is up to the hotel, they obviously drive this particular bad policy You can see people reacting to it on plugshare, which is the best resource for this sort of stuff.

For example in Springdale, there were 2-3 hotels with Blink that did this, but the Best Western I stayed with had 2 nice chargers that were free to guests, as did one or two other hotels. Springdale is the hotel town for Zion National Park. I saw it in a few other places.

In the thread above I describe a hotel on BC's sunshine coast which has a Flo charger in front of it. It's not the hotel's charger but the only people who would use it would be hotel guests. The city set the prices, and I complained, but to no result.

There are also hotels which do flat rates. A hotel I stayed at in Lompoc, CA charged $25 flat. A high but barely tolerable price if my car is empty, but it was at 50% so it did not make sense to use it. I did complain to the hotel. Many of the BLINK hotels had drivers complain a small charge ended up costing $30 or more with the parking fees.

It can make sense to have parking fees and to encourage people to move their car when full (though that means you can't use the "precondition for departure time" or "keep car warm" modes) but it's silly to force people to move between 11pm and 9am as there are unlikely to be others ready to move in, unless they are desperate. Though sometimes there may be people who could be desperate, but there is no way to communicate.

Here's an example of a Holiday Inn I almost stayed at (I have points) but the charging pricing made me switch to the nice Best Western.

Holiday Inn Express Springdale Zion | Springdale, UT | EV Station

Find EV charging stations with PlugShare, the most complete map of electric vehicle charging stations in the world!Charging tips reviews and photos from the EV community.

www.plugshare.com

A few of the other hotels around it have the same policy, so Blink must have come in and done a deal with them all, but then put on this policy where you get hit with $7.50/hour (on top of 75 cents/kWh) if you stay past 7am. Now, it turns out I was out before 7am this time (then back for breakfast and an hour's charging) this stay, but often I am still asleep at 7am, as are many.

 

[Supcom]

These are hotels that I didn't stay at, so I don't have a list of their names. I did notice that several of them used Blink to manage their chargers. While Blink and others insist that the pricing is up to the hotel, they obviously drive this particular bad policy You can see people reacting to it on plugshare, which is the best resource for this sort of stuff.

For example in Springdale, there were 2-3 hotels with Blink that did this, but the Best Western I stayed with had 2 nice chargers that were free to guests, as did one or two other hotels. Springdale is the hotel town for Zion National Park. I saw it in a few other places.

In the thread above I describe a hotel on BC's sunshine coast which has a Flo charger in front of it. It's not the hotel's charger but the only people who would use it would be hotel guests. The city set the prices, and I complained, but to no result.

There are also hotels which do flat rates. A hotel I stayed at in Lompoc, CA charged $25 flat. A high but barely tolerable price if my car is empty, but it was at 50% so it did not make sense to use it. I did complain to the hotel. Many of the BLINK hotels had drivers complain a small charge ended up costing $30 or more with the parking fees.

It can make sense to have parking fees and to encourage people to move their car when full (though that means you can't use the "precondition for departure time" or "keep car warm" modes) but it's silly to force people to move between 11pm and 9am as there are unlikely to be others ready to move in, unless they are desperate. Though sometimes there may be people who could be desperate, but there is no way to communicate.

Here's an example of a Holiday Inn I almost stayed at (I have points) but the charging pricing made me switch to the nice Best Western.

Holiday Inn Express Springdale Zion | Springdale, UT | EV Station

Find EV charging stations with PlugShare, the most complete map of electric vehicle charging stations in the world!Charging tips reviews and photos from the EV community.

www.plugshare.com

A few of the other hotels around it have the same policy, so Blink must have come in and done a deal with them all, but then put on this policy where you get hit with $7.50/hour (on top of 75 cents/kWh) if you stay past 7am. Now, it turns out I was out before 7am this time (then back for breakfast and an hour's charging) this stay, but often I am still asleep at 7am, as are many.

Yes, these are insane policies and one reason why I no longer even consider hotel charging unless I am going to a place where supercharging is not available nearby. When traveling long distance, I simply select hotels that are near superchargers so I am not reliant on poorly maintained, or overpriced 'amenities' at the hotel.

If staying in a location multiple days, I prefer to rent an AirBnB house that has suitable facilities for charging the car. A Mobile Connector works wonders and there's no worries about getting access to an unreliable charger or idle fees.

 

[bradtem]

Yes, these are insane policies and one reason why I no longer even consider hotel charging unless I am going to a place where supercharging is not available nearby. When traveling long distance, I simply select hotels that are near superchargers so I am not reliant on poorly maintained, or overpriced 'amenities' at the hotel.

If staying in a location multiple days, I prefer to rent an AirBnB house that has suitable facilities for charging the car. A Mobile Connector works wonders and there's no worries about getting access to an unreliable charger or idle fees.

You sell the hotels short then. Most of the time it works great, and is much better than supercharging. When I supercharge, in following my rule of "never, ever wait to charge" I will have my meal during the supercharge. This is a compromise, I must find decent food a short walk from the supercharger. (If the supercharger is at the hotel, that's OK.)

When I charge at the hotel, then I have complete freedom, no compromise, better battery health, almost always free/lower cost. Just can't 100% depend on it.

If the hotel charging has a problem, and there is a supercharger on the way, that's my backup. I may have to waste some time but it's very rare.

If there's no fast charging (and I do this a lot) it is another issue, so I do what I can to assure the charging will be there, but as of now almost no hotels will reserve a spot for you. However, RV parks will reserve a spot, or in the off season they have so many spots that it's effectively assured. Indeed, hotels with more than 2 stations, unless large, tend to be assured, though that changes with time.

It's very rare to find an AirBNB that can do more than level 1, but there are some with level 2. Level 1 is fine when you are at home. At an airBNB it is not as on road trips you drive more.

 

[Supcom]

It's very rare to find an AirBNB that can do more than level 1, but there are some with level 2. Level 1 is fine when you are at home. At an airBNB it is not as on road trips you drive more.

You can filter AirBnB search results for EV Charging. More and more places are installing L2 charging equipment or 220V connectors for that purpose. However, a laundry room adjacent to a garage with an electric dryer provides a good L2 charging outlet. I just got home from a trip where I was able to do just that.

I have stayed at hotels that had good L2 chargers. And, some places I've been, having some destination charging support was critical. Despite Tesla claiming you can go anywhere, they don't claim you can get back! In such cases, you still must find an L2 destination charger. But most of the time, destination charging is merely a convenience.

I agree that L1 is not useful on a trip. If you are relying on L1, you have really screwed up.

 

[bradtem]

You can filter AirBnB search results for EV Charging. More and more places are installing L2 charging equipment or 220V connectors for that purpose. However, a laundry room adjacent to a garage with an electric dryer provides a good L2 charging outlet. I just got home from a trip where I was able to do just that.

I have stayed at hotels that had good L2 chargers. And, some places I've been, having some destination charging support was critical. Despite Tesla claiming you can go anywhere, they don't claim you can get back! In such cases, you still must find an L2 destination charger. But most of the time, destination charging is merely a convenience.

I agree that L1 is not useful on a trip. If you are relying on L1, you have really screwed up.

Again, I have done multiple long road trips off the supercharger grid, and I can say that hotel charging is not simply a convenience. In the OP, I describe going 7 days in a row with hotel charging. (9 in a sense, but on day 8 the hotel had non-working superchargers in its parking lot, there was a charger I could have walked to in a pinch, and superchargers down the road that I ended up going to.) This is not the only time.

And more to the point, it's going to get better, I think, at least if we aren't idiots and stop putting all the emphasis on making more fast chargers. The majority of road trip charging should be hotels, with fast charging as a fallback.

For this we do need some things:

• Hotels have to realize that a growing number of guests are choosing their hotel based on whether it has charging, and at a reasonable price
• The $7B in government subsidies that are going to fast chargers should divert a large portion of that to encourage hotel charging, even if it's just loans and not pure grants because of rules about private property.
• Hotel search engines should all include easy ability to search for hotels with charging, or even better for hotels with reasonably priced/free charging. (The latter is not going to happen considering how hard it is to search for reasonably priced parking!) A few allow it like hotels.com and airbnb but they are not comprehensive enough. We need a merger of the data in plugshare and google maps
• Hotels not near supercharging need to offer a way to reserve a charger, even if it's for a fee.

Now it already works fairly well so we don't need all of these, but they all help it become a simple norm. In the ideal world, you can search easily for a hotel with charging, and reserve a room, including a reservation for charging. In a really ideal world your car calculates how much charging it needs once you navigate to the hotel, and communicates that to the hotel, so it can allocate you reserved time enough to fill up by morning. When you get to the hotel you drive to the chargers and one has your name on the screen, and you park and plug in and it reads your licence plate (or your car talks to it) to authenticate and pay. If another car (ICE or EV) parks in yours, it starts beeping and warns them they will be towed. It won't charge the non-reserved EV (or charges them but tells them they must be clear by your arrival time, which it knows because your car told it.) All this sounds like a lot, but considering the value and the plan for most cars to go electric, it's actually not that fancy an ask.

Level One has saved my bacon more than once. In Borrego Springs, a charging desert, it gave me enough to do my travels and barely make it to the supercharger north of Salton Sea. On highway 99 in California, it gave me enough to get to the Fresno charger. In several other locations, picking up 50 miles has meant I had a much more flexible day the next day, to do side trips or pick different, better fast chargers. And saved me $5 at the supercharger too, which is not nothing. An extra 50 miles when you don't have enough to reach the fast charger saves you sitting 2 hours at a level 2, and as such I have never had to do that, even though I've driven places where that was the backup option if absolutely needed.

TT-30, which is 30 amp level 1, gets you 100 miles and that has also given me many options I would not have otherwise had. A fair number of motels have a TT-30 hiding around they may not even talk about on plugshare. On the other hand, I have never found any place which has the dryer plug in range of a parking spot, so I don't even bother bringing that connector any more. It only gets used at our vacation home.

 

[bradtem]

I will add a footnote about Level 1. Today, most hotels don't have Level 2 and between the costs of stations, wiring, construction and permits, they aren't rushing to add it. It turns out it can be a lot less expensive than they think, but they don't know that yet. On the other hand, just about every hotel could put in level 1 service, more than a few of them, at very low cost. It could be just a dedicated circuit 15a or 20a receptacle close to a parking space, or it could be a low cost ($150) EVSE with its own plug or hardwired. There would actually be much more value than you think in having it become a standard amenity. (For example, it could become required in order to have two stars. If this were done, almost all hotels would pay the $200-$300 to make it happen to avoid dropping to being a one star hotel.) Level 2 at 5kw should be needed to get 3 stars, and certainly to get 4, at least one station per 25 rooms or better.

If it's 15a you would get 50 miles, and 70 miles at 20a, 100 miles at 30a. You might sneeze at it, but what it means is "travel like your car has 50 more miles of range." You can get a large range of chargers to select from for your next charge, or take a 50 mile detour. You can travel gaps in the fast charging networks where otherwise it would be a challenge.

So don't sell out level 1. Though I will say that in most cases, it's pretty easy to put in even better. For example, if you have a dedicated 120v 20a circuit, it's cheap to rewire it to be a 240v 20a circuit -- you just change the breakers and the socket. If this were common then low cost EVSEs set for this would also become common. Many hotels have one of these in each room to run the air conditioner. 240a20a won't take you from 0 to 100, but will take you from 20% to 80% in a SR+ Tesla or similar cars. Which is most of what people need to do. Imagine having that at any hotel with 2 stars or more, and how much it would simplify road tripping.

 

[Supcom]

Now it already works fairly well so we don't need all of these, but they all help it become a simple norm. In the ideal world, you can search easily for a hotel with charging, and reserve a room, including a reservation for charging. In a really ideal world your car calculates how much charging it needs once you navigate to the hotel, and communicates that to the hotel, so it can allocate you reserved time enough to fill up by morning. When you get to the hotel you drive to the chargers and one has your name on the screen, and you park and plug in and it reads your licence plate (or your car talks to it) to authenticate and pay. If another car (ICE or EV) parks in yours, it starts beeping and warns them they will be towed. It won't charge the non-reserved EV (or charges them but tells them they must be clear by your arrival time, which it knows because your car told it.) All this sounds like a lot, but considering the value and the plan for most cars to go electric, it's actually not that fancy an ask.

This is just fantasy talk. You describe a system with plenty of complexity that would just make destination chargers more unreliable. You forgot the part where the cars use self driving to sequence themselves to the chargers in the middle of the night and get plugged in automatically.

 

[Supcom]

I will add a footnote about Level 1. Today, most hotels don't have Level 2 and between the costs of stations, wiring, construction and permits, they aren't rushing to add it. It turns out it can be a lot less expensive than they think, but they don't know that yet. On the other hand, just about every hotel could put in level 1 service, more than a few of them, at very low cost. It could be just a dedicated circuit 15a or 20a receptacle close to a parking space, or it could be a low cost ($150) EVSE with its own plug or hardwired. There would actually be much more value than you think in having it become a standard amenity. (For example, it could become required in order to have two stars. If this were done, almost all hotels would pay the $200-$300 to make it happen to avoid dropping to being a one star hotel.) Level 2 at 5kw should be needed to get 3 stars, and certainly to get 4, at least one station per 25 rooms or better.

$300 to have an outdoor outlet installed at a parking space? You do realize that this would usually require trench work and probably concrete repair? Maybe you meant $3000?

 

[bradtem]

$300 to have an outdoor outlet installed at a parking space? You do realize that this would usually require trench work and probably concrete repair? Maybe you meant $3000?

That's why you don't trench it. I have found a large fraction of motels already have an outdoor outlet at a parking space. It's what I use when I want level 1 from there. The outlet goes on the wall of the building or some place power already is delivered. Definitely no trenching, that would be nuts.

The other magic trick (which I admittedly have investment in a company which sells tech to do this) are systems so the EVSE measures the current being used by other devices on the same panel (or even circuit) and adjusts the power available to the car to use what's left and never go over code limits. There are very often receptacles which are not dedicated but rarely used. Typically a vacuum cleaner might get plugged in them in the daytime for an hour, or they might run an air conditioner only on hot days but not at night. Also often there are high power circuits that used to run incandescent lights which got replaced with LEDs, or are long overdue for that replacement. There's tons of spare power in the existing wiring to provide cars with power all night long. (They don't generally want it mid-day.)

Now I do another thing which is carry a 12AWG extension cord if the plug's a bit far. Admittedly that's not going to be to code in some places though 12AWG is of course fine for 12 amps. The EVSE codes limit cords to 25 feet. But there's usually power within 25 feet of the parking space, and at motels, there's power within 25 feet of every parking space that's adjacent to the building.

And I apologize for not talking about the cars self-driving to plug themselves in. I usually do mention that. It's not a fantasy. People would have called the way Tesla superchargers work a fantasy compared to all the other DCFC out there too. (It's disturbing how large the difference is, even after Tesla showed how to do it almost 10 years ago.)

 

[Tronguy]

It's very rare to find an AirBNB that can do more than level 1, but there are some with level 2. Level 1 is fine when you are at home. At an airBNB it is not as on road trips you drive more.

Ha. There's always an exception.

One Year the SO and I took a trip from NJ down to Savannah, GA and back, stopping in Charlestown, This was a few years ago. In Charlestown, where we were staying for a couple-three days before moving on, we stayed at this hotel. I politely asked if they had any charging for our Tesla. They said, "No. But the pillars in the parking level have 120VAC sockets on them; go ahead and knock yourselves out."

So, did just that: Found a parking spot adjacent to a pillar, hauled out the mobile connector, and plugged in. For a day and a half. At 4.5 miles of charge per hour, that eventually adds up . Helped that it was spring and warm.

 

[David99]

The situation is Chicago was about local drivers using their local superchargers. A road trip is a completely different thing. Those are different charging needs.

I find it tiring that a one time exception becomes the whole story and is being discussed as the state of affairs about EV charging in winter. "Do EVs work in the cold" as a headline... For crying out loud, Teslas have gone through 12 years of winters all across the world without issues. Countless other Supercharger stations in the north experiencing the exact same winter conditions and worked just fine.

 

[DblOSmith]

The situation is Chicago was about local drivers using their local superchargers. A road trip is a completely different thing. Those are different charging needs.

I find it tiring that a one time exception becomes the whole story and is being discussed as the state of affairs about EV charging in winter. "Do EVs work in the cold" as a headline... For crying out loud, Teslas have gone through 12 years of winters all across the world without issues. Countless other Supercharger stations in the north experiencing the exact same winter conditions and worked just fine.

Exactly. It's so absurd. ...but people prone to hate will eat it up and have their bias confirmed. The people who know it's an an exceptional situation will roll their eyes and move on. I don't know why the argument isn't about the opportunities. Seems like my idea of converting an abandoned multi-level car garage into massive EV charging hub would be beneficial: 50 DCFC (of all types), 50 L2 chargers, Even some L1 chargers (with shuttles to and from airports). Food carts, indoor/outdoor coffee, car washing and tire checking services, maybe an area to do laundry. Maybe live performances.... Something that both rideshare people would want to use, and something for those who live in apartments would want to use.

 

[Unclepaul]

Maybe the point is that EV owners want to optimize their charging experience when traveling overnight. They will check their options and select the best available. Perhaps a SuperCharger within easy walking distance, a commercial pedestal. A commercial destination charger, A dryer plug, a convenient 120V outlet, running an extension cord out the window, the Motel's charging pedestal, a friends house, an RV spot etc.

Usually lots of options, but take a bit of thinking to chose the best one for you are the moment you need it.

 

[bradtem]

Maybe the point is that EV owners want to optimize their charging experience when traveling overnight. They will check their options and select the best available. Perhaps a SuperCharger within easy walking distance, a commercial pedestal. A commercial destination charger, A dryer plug, a convenient 120V outlet, running an extension cord out the window, the Motel's charging pedestal, a friends house, an RV spot etc.

Usually lots of options, but take a bit of thinking to chose the best one for you are the moment you need it.

Largely we don't want it to be that much work. Hotel charging is the best option for your night's charge, and fast charging a very distant second. At a minimum we would like to just book a hotel the way we do it today (either in advance or that night, usually using an app on our phone like google maps or expedia-type apps) but we would like to be able to say, "show the hotels with available charging" and ideally what it's going to cost.

We might even like it to be more automatic. Everybody likes how your Tesla or ABRP or other tools will plot a course for you including charging stops. We might even like it to understand roughly where we intend to spend the night, and have that planning app (which often knows the car's SoC and location and drive plan) offer up hotels, or even pick one, reserving charging.

While reserving charging should eventually be a built in function of hotel management/booking packages, those packages already offer some functionality that could be adapted, such as the ability to buy a breakfast with the room, or just to have different room classes (Double room with king bed) that can be booked and shown as available/unavailable. Of course, the room classes today tie to specific physical rooms, which are in limited supply, while charging and breakfast can be bought with any room. Breakffast does not run out, while charging slots can, but the adaptation might not be too hard depending on the software design. It just has to know, "After you have sold 4 rooms with charging, don't offer that any more."

Sadly, there's not too much incentive to do this while at the same time making charging free to guests. Charging is free to guests both because it attracts guests, and also because it's much easier to implement, you can have a dumb EVSE and need no billing mechanism. And to a small degree, it also means you can still attract guests even when your chargers fill up, as they don't find out the bad news until it's too late.

 

[bradtem]

The situation is Chicago was about local drivers using their local superchargers. A road trip is a completely different thing. Those are different charging needs.

I find it tiring that a one time exception becomes the whole story and is being discussed as the state of affairs about EV charging in winter. "Do EVs work in the cold" as a headline... For crying out loud, Teslas have gone through 12 years of winters all across the world without issues. Countless other Supercharger stations in the north experiencing the exact same winter conditions and worked just fine.

The stories are more related than you might think. The Chicago freeze-outs happened to people who are using supercharger rather than charging at home, probably because they don't have charging at home. People on road trips also make use of superchargers, and indeed for many, this is the only time they supercharge. People who charge at home or hotel can start the day with a warm battery and have few problems with cold weather. Those who use superchargers (either at home or on road trip) can face the problem of arriving at them with a cold battery. (If you say overnight at a hotel then head to a supercharger in the morning to get on your way, you'll run into the same problem.)

The message is, fast charging should be the exception, not the rule, definitely at home and even on the road, and especially on a cold morning.