China's Natural Calamities Disrupt Tesla, Nio's EV Charging Services

China's power crisis affected electric-car owners, with automakers including Tesla Inc TSLA and Nio Inc NIO suspending some charging facilities, Bloomberg reports.
User apps indicated that charging stations were down in Chengdu in Sichuan province.
The nation's worst drought since the 1960s has cut hydropower generation with a heatwave sending electricity demand surging and the nearby city of Chongqing.
Nio posted temporary notices on its app's charging map page informing that some of its Chengdu battery-swapping stations were "off-line" due to the "severe overload on the grid under the persisting high temperatures."
Tesla turned off or restricted services at more than a dozen super-charging stations in the two cities, leaving just two still in operation and only during the night as of August 17.
Nio urged users in Sichuan to share their home chargers between August 20 and September 20, while some drivers traded their fully-charged batteries for almost-dead ones at swapping stations to help fellow owners.
The power cuts in Sichuan also hampered manufacturers' production, including Toyota Motor Corp TM and battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.
Tesla added 32 Supercharger stations with 120 individual charging stalls in China in June.
The calamity could not have been more ill-timed, especially as they recuperated from the recent stringent COVID-19 lockdowns while battling an economic slowdown and inflation.