# The car won’t do anything, period. When the 12 volt battery fails the car won’t do anything. Jump starting is easy with a little lithium battery pack and instructions are in the owner’s manual. Once started, the big “traction” battery will keep the 12 volts going, but once you turn off the car, the dead 12 volt battery will still be dead and the car won’t do a thing.
# You are in snow or ice and the car is running but it won’t move and the engine won’t rev up: This is because one of the front wheels has zero traction. I discovered this strange effect in a ski area parking lot. The car seemed useless and I accidentally left it turned on and in “Drive” when I got out to go for help. That’s when I saw the left front wheel slowly turning as the car just sat there. I put it in “Park”, threw rocks under both front tires, and I was then able to get moving when I rocked it between D and R.