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Electric Vehicles Have Reduced Range In Cold Weather

johnsnownw

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The test isn't entirely accurate, however. But, yes, you will lose efficiency in the cold...as you do with an ICE vehicle. It's just more pronounced with a BEV because they have lower range and can't heat the cabin with heat losses from the poor efficiency from combustion.
 

RSchneider

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Good job there Einstein (Paul A. Eisenstein was the author of the article). Who would not think that an EV gets less range the colder it gets. Even if you didn't factor in battery efficiency, you do need heat and you need more heat the colder it gets. Heat is energy and the only place it can come from is the batteries. Plus if you have a heat pump, it's worthless below 40 degrees anyway. This is why on the i3 I use the pre conditioning app to heat the darn thing up before I unplug it and go somewhere when it's cold out.

What's next weeks story from this guy? Your energy bills go up the colder it gets outside.
 

mkiker2089

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Seems like a no brainer to me. Heating via heat pump tech is fairly good but below a certain temp (50f I think) it stops working. It's not very different from " towing stuff reduced fuel economy." For what it's worth the reduction isn't dramatic. The batteries are kept warm and using heated seats and steering wheel reduces the need to heat the cabin. Wear a sweater and stop worrying.
 

RSchneider

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" towing stuff reduced fuel economy."
I need to let Einstein know that. It would be a good test to take a 2019 Ford F350, hook up a 48ft trailer that is loaded with a couple of racecars and equipment. It should give about 10 mpg on the highway which is probably much lower than what it would give towing nothing. It would make for a great article and be a warning to F350 owners that the mileage they advertise is not what you'll get.
 

Ty

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Actually... Aren't your home electric bills a LOT lower in the cold weather? Mine is. My gas bill, however, is higher. But, on the whole (adding the gas and electric bills), my energy expenditure is lower in the winter. Apparently, it's harder to keep the house cool in hot weather than it is to keep it warm in the winter.
My vehicle uses more energy to cool the cab than warm it. Well, if I have the heated front seats, heated mirrors, heated steering wheel, heated back seats, supplemental cab heater, and heated rear window working, it is a different story. But, an ICE produces enough heat to keep you warm as a simple by product of combustion and it doesn't take much energy to circulate hot coolant through a heater core and then run a simple fan to blow air through the core.
ICE and EVs are the same in the way they cool but I don't think EVs produce enough heat anywhere to heat the cab without running the equivalent of electric heating elements as a separate process.

So, how much of the degraded range is actually from the cold and how much of the lower range is from fighting the cold itself?
 

RSchneider

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Actually... Aren't your home electric bills a LOT lower in the cold weather? Mine is. My gas bill, however, is higher. But, on the whole (adding the gas and electric bills), my energy expenditure is lower in the winter. Apparently, it's harder to keep the house cool in hot weather than it is to keep it warm in the winter.
My vehicle uses more energy to cool the cab than warm it. Well, if I have the heated front seats, heated mirrors, heated steering wheel, heated back seats, supplemental cab heater, and heated rear window working, it is a different story. But, an ICE produces enough heat to keep you warm as a simple by product of combustion and it doesn't take much energy to circulate hot coolant through a heater core and then run a simple fan to blow air through the core.
ICE and EVs are the same in the way they cool but I don't think EVs produce enough heat anywhere to heat the cab without running the equivalent of electric heating elements as a separate process.

So, how much of the degraded range is actually from the cold and how much of the lower range is from fighting the cold itself?
It all depends on what you are using for heat. For example, I live in PA and my house has a heat pump. I hate it but I can't get gas and it would cost a fortune to make it into oil. So I live with it. My house is just like an EV with a heat pump and resistant heat. The heat pump is literally an AC unit in reverse. It loses efficiency the closer it gets to freezing (you can't cheat thermodynamics), if it can't keep up, then the resistant heat kicks in and then the meter spins like crazy. For me my winter electric bills are higher than in the summer. When it's 90 out, the heat pump run just as much when it's 40 out. It uses the same amount of energy in either phase.

An EV is pretty bad when you are below freezing and when you get o around zero, it's taking a pretty good amount of electric to keep the cabin warm. My i3 is like my house and thus when you get those cold snaps, it's sucking up the electric like crazy. Yes, I could bundle up and just rough it but in the end, you can't expect everyone to rough it when they can get a gasser and not have to rough it at all.

In the end, an EV in an area that's 70 degrees is about where you will get the best range. Same for my house. When we have 70 degree weather, my bill is really low.

Another thing to remember is that cars are terrible when it comes to insulation. They literally have none and thus they transfer lots of that heat right outside. When you have an overkill HVAC unit, then you don't need to insulate them at all. I'd suspect that the EV industry will be looking into better insulating techniques as the years pass.
 

Ty

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It all depends on what you are using for heat. For example, I live in PA and my house has a heat pump. I hate it but I can't get gas and it would cost a fortune to make it into oil. So I live with it. My house is just like an EV with a heat pump and resistant heat. The heat pump is literally an AC unit in reverse. It loses efficiency the closer it gets to freezing (you can't cheat thermodynamics), if it can't keep up, then the resistant heat kicks in and then the meter spins like crazy. For me my winter electric bills are higher than in the summer. When it's 90 out, the heat pump run just as much when it's 40 out. It uses the same amount of energy in either phase.

An EV is pretty bad when you are below freezing and when you get o around zero, it's taking a pretty good amount of electric to keep the cabin warm. My i3 is like my house and thus when you get those cold snaps, it's sucking up the electric like crazy. Yes, I could bundle up and just rough it but in the end, you can't expect everyone to rough it when they can get a gasser and not have to rough it at all.

In the end, an EV in an area that's 70 degrees is about where you will get the best range. Same for my house. When we have 70 degree weather, my bill is really low.

Another thing to remember is that cars are terrible when it comes to insulation. They literally have none and thus they transfer lots of that heat right outside. When you have an overkill HVAC unit, then you don't need to insulate them at all. I'd suspect that the EV industry will be looking into better insulating techniques as the years pass.

Fair enough. You'd think they'd use foam insulation in the frame that surrounds the cab and perhaps sheets of foam in the doors where it doesn't interfere with window and door lock movements, but I suppose they don't so that you retain access to wires and such.
 
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