Electric vehicle batteries are a lot like people, in one important respect: They’re most comfortable in temperatures around 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
When the weather gets much colder or hotter than that, a battery works less efficiently. It has to work harder, too, to keep the vehicle’s cabin comfortable for its equally picky human occupants.
The result? Electric vehicles can’t drive as far or as efficiently in extremely hot or cold weather.
AAA has been testing exactly how big an effect temperatures have on modern EV batteries. In its latest research, shared exclusively with NPR, it found that hot temperatures reduced range by an average of 8.5%. Cold weather cut vehicles’ range by a whopping 39%.
The real issue is the comparative lack of charging stations and the duration of the refill. There are solutions being worked on now.
Those of us who like to road-trip and camp have real anxiety about range and charge availability.
Nemesis!
… Due to my handle? 😄
I wouldn’t trust anything from AAA. 39% loss in cold is straight up false unless you’re talking like -20F. These tests have been done many many times by more respectable orgs and they usually get around 20%
If you run the heat/climate control along with the range loss from the cold, it ads up pretty fast, to probably about that number. I found that out when I went to pick mine up 2.5 hrs away. It was cold spring weather and raining, so fogged windows and numb fingers if heat not running. The impacts screen showed a whopping 30% of my battery use on that drive was climate control alone. I have since learned how to use the vents without climate control, but it wouldn’t have helped much on that drive.
It can make the drive no problem in nicer weather without the heat on, even using the AC is pretty cheap, battery-wise (about 3% on the same drive, though I do keep it set just a few degrees cooler than outside temps in the current weather), but running the heat/climate control just soaked my range. Had to stop at a fast charger, got back to like 85%, and still barely made it the second half of the trip.
Anecdotal, ofc.
“Internal combustion engine vehicles also lose range in extreme cold weather,” points out Ed Kim, the chief analyst with the research group AutoPacific, who was not involved in AAA’s research. The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated a 10% to 30% drop in gas vehicle fuel economy in cold weather, depending on the type of trip. “This isn’t a problem that’s exclusive to EVs. This happens to basically any kind of vehicle when it gets really cold.”
I mean, diesels need to be plugged in with a heater running all night during winter in large portions of America and I think all of Canada.
When we start talking about this stuff, location really matters.
“Cold weather” is vague as fuck
And in REALLY cold weather they literally idle them continuously, because if they get that cold they will not start at all.
And if you get stuck out in the woods, you have to literally light a fire under your engine to warm it up enough.
But I think they’re just talking about regular cold weather, like Minnesota. Trying to use an EV in the really cold places is just a bad idea.