Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:01]

Everywhere in America's cold. Do what I do. Layer up. Long sleeve shirt, vest, shell, jacket. But if you really want to stay warm, don't drive a Tesla. The freezing temps are zapping the juice out of electric cars, leaving drivers stranded. In Chicago, a little cold weather turned a supercharging station into an expensive junkyard. We got a bunch of dead robots out here. Dead robots.

[00:00:27]

Dead Teslas packed the parking lot at This is Tesla supercharging station in Oakbrook, a scene mirrored in other supercharging stations around the Chicago area.

[00:00:36]

This is crazy. It's a disaster. Serious.

[00:00:42]

With temperatures falling into the negative double digits, these charging ports have stopped charging, leaving many Tesla owners stranded here in long lines since Sunday.

[00:00:53]

It's a Tesla graveyard. If you bought an electric car, you're praying for global warming. Now, if you want to buy electric, do your thing. I don't care. But know what you're getting yourself into. I like reliability. I know there's a gas station around the bend, and I know my car won't turn into an icicle. Kevin, Sun Rock owns a frozen electric Audi. Kevin, what happened to the Audi?

[00:01:20]

Well, really, the Audi ran out of charge because the chargers weren't operating correctly when I was up in Chicago returning from a much-needed vacation, which obviously didn't end well when I got back. So the car's fine. We did get it charged. I was able to pick it up tonight and get it back home. But I think this really comes down to the charging systems and the infrastructure, and it's less on the vehicles and more just, are we ready for this consumer adoption that may or may not be ahead of us? I guess we'll see.

[00:02:02]

So, Kev, you're driving back from vacation, much needed, and you pull into this charging station to get your Audi EV juiced up, and the whole place is a snowball, and nothing works. What did you think at that second?

[00:02:19]

Well, I was frustrated, and quite honestly, it wasn't the first time it's happened. There's been many times where a number of the charging stations aren't operational, either credit card readers aren't working or just some of them are malfunctioning for different reasons. But it's something that really has to get worked out because it's an ongoing issue. It's not just when it's cold, it's also when it's warm. There's a lot of questions around infrastructure that we're going to have to figure out and get fixed.

[00:02:59]

So When are you trading in your EV for something, internal combustion.

[00:03:05]

Yeah. Well, I have another car, and it's a nice engine.

[00:03:11]

You have a bumper sticker that says on your Tesla, My other car works.

[00:03:15]

Yeah, you could say that. The other car works. I do, however, love the Audi. I love the EV. The experience is great with that car. This is just one of those setbacks that I think, unfortunately, is not going to bode well for the manufacturers of EVs. Like I said, we have to get it figured out. If we're going to continue with consumer adoption, then even into the commercial segment, which I actually work in and really does... It has me very concerned about that segment going forward.

[00:03:53]

I would be, too. Kevin, listen, if this happens again with your electric car, you just walk around the side of the road, stick your thumb up. I'll pick you up. You seem like a nice guy.

[00:04:04]

Sounds good, Jesse. That's the plan. Thanks for having me.

[00:04:06]

Thank you, Kev.

[00:04:07]

Hey, Sean Hannity here. Hey, click here to subscribe to Fox News' YouTube page and catch our hottest interviews and most compelling analysis. You will not get it anywhere else.