The claim: Photo shows electric vehicles stranded in German winter storm in 2023
A Dec. 8 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows stranded cars on a roadway covered with deep snow.
"Highways in Germany are blocked due to electric cars running out of charge in the cold," reads the caption. "So smart to have Electric vehicles."
The photo has been posted on Facebook dozens of times since early December.
More from the USA TODAY Fact-Check Team:
Our rating: False
The photo shows stranded vehicles in Chicago, not Germany, during a 2011 snowstorm. There is no evidence the vehicles are electric.
Post shows old photo from US
The photo featured in the Facebook post can be found in multiple news reports about a major snowstorm that struck the American Midwest and Northeast in 2011.
Minnesota Public Radio published an Associated Press article with the same photo in 2011. The story reports the storm left hundreds of Chicago drivers stranded on the road. The caption of the AP photo reads, "Hundreds of cars are seen stranded on Lake Shore Drive Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, in Chicago, after a blizzard dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on the city."
In The New York Times' coverage of the event, the photo's caption reads, "Hundreds of abandoned vehicles were strewn along the northbound lanes of Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive on Wednesday."
NBC News reported the vehicles were stranded on Lake Shore Drive after collisions between a city bus and other vehicles blocked the northbound lanes.
None of the news coverage reviewed by USA TODAY mentioned electric vehicles. However, gasoline-powered vehicles were reportedly stranded during the storm.
For instance, NBC News reported that "after watching their gas gauges falling, drivers (stranded on Lake Shore Drive) tried desperately to keep their vehicles idling long enough with heaters on full blast to warm them up before turning off the ignition to keep from running out of gas."
A person who was stranded on Lake Shore Drive also told The New York Times that she had been afraid of running out of gas.
Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford told AccuWeather that the department received numerous calls that week for drivers stranded in vehicles, running out of gas or needing rescue after abandoning their cars.
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The photo can also be found on the stock photo website Alamy. It is captioned: "In this Feb. 2, 2011 file photo, hundreds of cars are seen stranded on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago."
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Alamy, Feb. 2, 2011, In this Feb. 2, 2011 file photo, hundreds of cars are seen stranded on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago
- MPR, Feb. 2, 2011, Massive storm paralyzes cities as it rolls east
- The New York Times, Feb. 2, 2011, Chicago Humbled by Powerful Storm
- NBC News, Feb. 2, 2011, Fearful, frigid night on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive
- WQAD8-ABC, Feb. 2, 2021, Looking back on a blizzard that stranded thousands of commuters in Chicago
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