A recent snarl-up on an icy Virginia highway raised questions about the efficacy of an electric vehicle in extreme weather conditions. Youtuber Dirty Tesla quickly took to his platform, conducting an experiment with his two Teslas. Left on for a couple of hours with the heater blowing, both cars had plenty of charge left at the end of the test. It is worth noting, however, that both examples were 90% fully charged.

Unlike an internal combustion engine (which reuses heat from the drivetrain) electric vehicles heat their cabins with a heating element or inverter. A broken heater, especially in cold climates, isn't just an inconvenience - it can be life-threatening, as many disgruntled owners have pointed out. Transport Canada has received 16 complaints from Tesla owners who say their heaters failed to work in below-freezing temperatures.

Similar grievances were filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), with Tesla Model 3 and Model Y variants affected. Both organizations are looking into the matter, with the NHTSA hoping to speak to the EV maker. InsideEVs reports that, at first, the issue appeared to be plaguing individual cars. It wasn't long before this became a bigger issue, related to the heat pump in the aforementioned models.

Tesla has said the faulty heat pump is related to an earlier software update and claims that a patch sorts it out. CEO Elon Musk is aware of the situation, recently tweeting that fixing this issue is a "high priority" and that a "firmware fix to recalibrate heat pump expansion valve is rolling out now."

While many are of the opinion that this is an interim fix, it certainly must come as a relief to Tesla owners in colder climates. While some Tesla drivers took to Twitter to comment on their working heaters, others noted that not all were able to provide cabin heat. "NOT fixed for a friend of mine who had to drive 300 km [186 miles] without heating," tweeted one irritated user.

For the most part, it appears that the recently issued software update has cured the problem. But there is speculation that hardware is the true culprit causing the problematic heating difficulties. Whatever the cause, we hope it gets fixed soon.