'A complete disaster': Tesla owners in Chicago share their struggle in freezing winter on 'Fox & Friends'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: host Steve Doocy discussed the plight of Tesla owners in Chicago as temperatures in the region drop to negative double digits, on the January 17 episode of 'Fox & Friends'.

Owners of electric cars from the Midwest stated that dead batteries and charging station failures were major issues in the extreme cold, which has left some of them stranded.

Tesla cars were reportedly using up more battery in the cold

Brandon Welbourne, who drives a Tesla, was reportedly left stranded in Evergreen Park for hours on January 14.

Appearing on the morning show, he told Doocy, "Normally I can get to work and only use 40, 45% of my battery, but on Sunday, it took 65%, which meant that I had to charge… somewhere publicly."

When he checked his app, all nearby charging stations were shown at capacity, except one in Evergreen Park which showed an open slot.

"The problem was that five out of the 10 stalls were out of order. The four it showed available had… vacant cars that were there, so we were all using one charger," Welbourne shared.

"Oh, man, and it was… taking extra long to charge… you're supposed to precondition your battery when you're on your way to the charger so it charges faster. Well, when you're sitting in the cold and you're waiting two, three, four, or five hours like me, you can't precondition it, so it's like a double-edged sword. Not only are there no chargers available, it's taking longer to charge," he explained.

After waiting in line for hours, Welbourne had to finally contact a towing company to leave the area.

Tesla lover calls the situation a disaster

Speaking with 'Fox & Friends First', Chalis Mizelle said that while she loves her car, the company was to blame for her being stranded outside in the frigid cold.

"It was a complete disaster," she said while sharing her experience. "For the winter storm, a lot of people's cars were left overnight... A lot of people had to get towed… charges weren't working at the charging stations, and that… led to a lot of the issues because the charges… were not working."

"I love… my car, however… the Tesla charging stations… they need to have maybe someone manning those stations or… something like that, because… it was very disappointing to get to the charging stations and, and see that they were frozen, or they weren't working for whatever reason," she continued.

Mizelle added that some people were making deals at the charging stations for access to the ports as the weather grew worse. "It was like every man for themselves," she added.