Cold weather has a negative effect on the battery life and range of electric vehicles (EVs), a recent test has found, but some EVs perform better than others.
Strange. I own an EV and haven’t had this problem. I lose about twenty miles from the guess-o-meter when I turn on the AC. That’s hardly 40% of a 240 mile range. Even in the winter running the heat subtracts about the same amount.
40% is the highest observed. This depends heavily on the model, among other circumstances. You probably have a heat pump, which will fare a lot better than one with resistor heating.
It’s certainly a case of oversimplification, but that’s always true of headlines. The article broke it down by model. It probably should’ve included more detail about preconditioning, although it is not always a meaningful option.
It’s not about the cars being old, and not really about user error. Some are just more capable of handling cold weather.
Here is an article about the use of heat pumps, and there is a clear trend.
There’s cabin heating, cold vs warm battery, as well as higher rolling resistance from softer winter tires. So if you park outside, don’t precondition, and turn on the heat then yeah, 40% less effective range seems about right. Parking inside and/or precondition returns you about 10-20% range.
Strange. I own an EV and haven’t had this problem. I lose about twenty miles from the guess-o-meter when I turn on the AC. That’s hardly 40% of a 240 mile range. Even in the winter running the heat subtracts about the same amount.
40% is the highest observed. This depends heavily on the model, among other circumstances. You probably have a heat pump, which will fare a lot better than one with resistor heating.
Story sounds suspiciously like EV fud. “Oh you might lose 40%. But only if you buy a shitty old car and then don’t follow instructions.”
Using the worst possible scenario in the headline is a joke.
It’s certainly a case of oversimplification, but that’s always true of headlines. The article broke it down by model. It probably should’ve included more detail about preconditioning, although it is not always a meaningful option.
It’s not about the cars being old, and not really about user error. Some are just more capable of handling cold weather.
Here is an article about the use of heat pumps, and there is a clear trend.
https://insideevs.com/news/747374/ev-range-loss-cold-heat-pump-data/
There’s cabin heating, cold vs warm battery, as well as higher rolling resistance from softer winter tires. So if you park outside, don’t precondition, and turn on the heat then yeah, 40% less effective range seems about right. Parking inside and/or precondition returns you about 10-20% range.