AAA test: Mach-E maintains range best vs other EVs, in tolerating hot & cold temperature swings. :)

[luckie]

AAA tested EVs and Hybrids on impact of temperature.
https://insideevs.com/news/794917/ev-hybrid-efficiency-range-drop-cold/

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[MBCook]

Why does heat effect the Model Y so much?

Great to see though. An almost 50% range loss is quite a drop.

 

[Teslaeata]

AAA tested EVs and Hybrids on impact of temperature.
https://insideevs.com/news/794917/ev-hybrid-efficiency-range-drop-cold/

That just about conforms with my experience over nearly 5yrs & 125,000miles

 

[SonicBlue]

Why does heat effect the Model Y so much?

Great to see though. An almost 50% range loss is quite a drop.

Just speculation, but the Y achieves comparable range to the MME with a smaller battery through greater efficiency. So if your range is more heavily dependent on efficiency, your range will drop more when that efficiency decreases? I dunno - maybe that doesn’t math.

 

[MBCook]

Just speculation, but the Y achieves comparable range to the MME with a smaller battery through greater efficiency. So if your range is more heavily dependent on efficiency, your range will drop more when that efficiency decreases? I dunno - maybe that doesn’t math.

That maths. Same reason EVs are hit so much harder by wind resistance.

 

[NY_Cade69]

Why does heat effect the Model Y so much?

Great to see though. An almost 50% range loss is quite a drop.

All batteries are affected by heat and/or cold.
This just shows how much engineering Ford has put into the HVB's thermal management

Noted that all the vehicles were MY2025, and they all have heat pumps, would have been interesting to see a 2024 MME in the test as well for comparison on the new heat pump...

 

[flapjake314]

kind of surprising for an early owner like myself to see, because from the beginning there have been a lot of complaints that our winter range drop was much worse than model Y

i see they used the 2025 mach e which has the heat pump, but the model Y also has a heat pump so i'm confused still at the differential. and what was the pre-2025 mach e decline then for us to think the model Y was better, -75%? something feels wrong

my personal experience with 2021 std range is in the summer i have ~220mi range and in the winter ~180mi (with minimal / no heater usage, only seat warmer + steering wheel)

 

[DesertRat46]

Well I live in the desert and we don't call 95° hot. The next ten days here shows 95-110° so I can report how that will effect my 2025
I'm at 3.7 miles per KWH in the 1051 miles since I bought the car.
I'll report back in 10 days with real world driving.

 

[Billyk24]

AAA tested EVs and Hybrids on impact of temperature.
https://insideevs.com/news/794917/ev-hybrid-efficiency-range-drop-cold/

This: Six models were hooked up to a dynamometer

The indoor "treadmill" verse real world ambient conditions. Those of us who live in real winter conditions note the pre-2025 heat pump equipped Mach E will lose battery temperature while driving during cold winter temperatures. This is true even with "pre-conditioning" prior to departure. As that battery temperature drops so does the m/kWh efficiency. The indoor treadmill does not provide the cold winter wind flowing over the top/bottom and sides of the Mach E battery pack inducing conductive thermal losses that owners note and wish they could minimize.

Study is also flawed in that the three EV's were not identical in drivetrain configuration.

Can not explain the Model Y results. Article failed to speculate or discuss such.

 

[flapjake314]

This: Six models were hooked up to a dynamometer

The indoor "treadmill" verse real world ambient conditions. Those of us who live in real winter conditions note the pre-2025 heat pump equipped Mach E will lose battery temperature while driving during cold winter temperatures. This is true even with "pre-conditioning" prior to departure. As that battery temperature drops so does the m/kWh efficiency. The indoor treadmill does not provide the cold winter wind flowing over the top/bottom and sides of the Mach E battery pack inducing conductive thermal losses that owners note and wish they could minimize.

Study is also flawed in that the three EV's were not identical in drivetrain configuration.

Can not explain the Model Y results. Article failed to speculate or discuss such.

i don't see how the lack of windchill matters here, it is the equivalent of saying the results of 20F might only mimic a real-world temperature of 25F (where windchills are bringing it to 20F), but that's not the point since the goal was to compare different cars and not test specific temperatures

 

[Billyk24]

i don't see how the lack of windchill matters here, it is the equivalent of saying the results of 20F might only mimic a real-world temperature of 25F (where windchills are bringing it to 20F), but that's not the point since the goal was to compare different cars and not test specific temperatures

Real world testing could reveal the Mach E loses 12f more battery temperature than a competitor.

 

[Billyk24]

This reveals a deals a significant drop in battery tperature during winter weather.

 

[NY_Cade69]

or it could reveal that the '21-'24 loses more than a '25-'26
perhaps due to the heat pump, the new rear motor, or both...

Until the different years are tested side by side (and all drive configurations as well), we may never know...

Let's, for now, revel that this test had the Mach-E beating out Tesla and Chevy!

 

[Adventureboy]

Same reason EVs are hit so much harder by wind resistance.

They are actually not more impacted by wind resistance by the energy numbers. If the body shapes are the same, it will take the same amount of extra power to push through the wind resistance. 30% extra to cover the headwind applies to electric energy or fuel consumption in both cases. In fact, most EVs are more aerodynamic than ICE cars and will actually do better on the energy scale with a headwind.

The effect, however, is much more noticeable because of the lower range and limitations on both ends. ie, you only charge to 80% on DCFC for a road trip and still need 30mi buffer on the bottom, which brings the effective range down significantly when bucking a headwind compared to ICE.

Example

• ICE with 500mi range has 470mi useful range in perfect conditions with 30mi buffer. 30% off of this is still a decent range - it just costs 30% more at the pump.
• EV with 265mi range has 235mi useful range in perfect conditions with 30mi buffer but only 182mi if you take off the top 20% (DCFC to 80%) and the 30mi buffer. 30% off off this hurts - it still only costs 30% more at the charger, but it costs a bunch of extra time, which hurts more when you can only drive for 2 hours at a time.

 

[E90alex]

kind of surprising for an early owner like myself to see, because from the beginning there have been a lot of complaints that our winter range drop was much worse than model Y

This is purely a perception issue. Tesla doesn’t have some magic sauce that defies physics.

Ford puts the GOM front and center with the remaining estimated range in big font (even bigger than the SOC% in 21-24). Plus combined with the odometer clearly visible where you can see how fast the miles are piling on vs rolling off the GOM, it’s easy for drivers to see all that and freak out about reduced range or “using more miles” than the actual distance driven.

Tesla does NOT use a GOM. They either display the range in % or the range in miles, but the miles is NOT adjusted for based on conditions. It’s a straight SOC% x EPA estimate, and only adjusted down as needed for battery degradation. The odometer or trip computer are also buried in different menus and not displayed all the time, so it’s harder to compare “miles used” vs actual distance travelled.

Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

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