Cold weather under performing

[bvelderman]

Yesterday I drove from Montreal to Ottawa. It was -13c.

my Mach e is a 2024 Premium AWD large battery.

I was truly disappointed. I started with a 70% percent charge. That dropped to 40% 60 km out of Montreal. I decided to do a fast charge to 80% for the remainder of the trip to Ottawa. The so called fast charge took 50 minutes in cold weather, much more than normal. Normally that takes 30 mins.

I then resumed the trip for the remainder 120km at 80%. My average speed was 115 km/hr. When I arrived in Ottawa I had 14% remaining. That is it 120 km! Only. During summertime I can get 320 km on the same driving behavior.

I think this is where carmakers need to be sharing more info. In the summer I would have been able to do this trip round trip on one charge. In the winter it is 120 km with a charge.

The lesson here is - even the large battery is under designed for winter weather. This is an area where further research and investment can really pay off for EV’s.

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[Maui]

Why would you leave at 70%? And you didn’t mention anything about preparing the battery for departure or for charging.

 

[bvelderman]

Why would you leave at 70%? And you didn’t mention anything about preparing the battery for departure or for charging.

Did not have a plug in connection. Overnight was -20 c. Conditioned off plug at 80 but dropped to 70. I drove 60km on that charge.

 

[bvelderman]

Did not have an opportunity to charge at departure

 

[Womps]

And -13 Celsius isn’t even cold! At least not for most of us Canadians.

 

[saurez7777]

too bad.. I am getting more than 250kms with my AWD premium long range battery... from ottawa too...

 

[E90alex]

This is not news. Well known fact that EVs lose a lot of range and charge slower in the cold, especially below freezing.

 

[bvelderman]

And -13 Celsius isn’t even cold! At least not for most of us Canadians.

Today at -20c - on a 10km drive after precondition went from 80% to 70%. The other notable was that the charging time at the fast charger was much longer yesterday in the cold. Just things to consider in cold weather.

and as per Womps I would not buy this car if I lived in Winnipeg or Saskatoon as it is much colder there.

 

[RickMachE]

Today at -20c - on a 10km drive after precondition went from 80% to 70%. The other notable was that the charging time at the fast charger was much longer yesterday in the cold. Just things to consider in cold weather.

and as per Womps I would not buy this car if I lived in Winnipeg or Saskatoon as it is much colder there.

Did you navigate to the fast charger to precondition the battery before charging?

If you went 120km and used 66% of your battery, that's 1.24 miles per kWh. To achieve efficiency that low, and not be driving at a ridiculous speed, you must have been blasting the heat. What did your miles per kWh show?

 

[A-A-Ron]

Today at -20c - on a 10km drive after precondition went from 80% to 70%. The other notable was that the charging time at the fast charger was much longer yesterday in the cold. Just things to consider in cold weather.

and as per Womps I would not buy this car if I lived in Winnipeg or Saskatoon as it is much colder there.

There is a real problem with manufacturers getting information to the general public on cold weather battery behavior and how to get the best performance in extreme cold.

But let's be clear:
1 - this is a universal trait of EVs
2 - you could have mitigated many of the issues with better knowledge of cold weather affects and pre-conditioning
3 - 95% of vehicles sold in Norway are EV so it's definitely possible to use EVs in colder climates.

 

[NorthlandPhil]

Yesterday I drove from Montreal to Ottawa. It was -13c.

my Mach e is a 2024 Premium AWD large battery.

I was truly disappointed. I started with a 70% percent charge. That dropped to 40% 60 km out of Montreal. I decided to do a fast charge to 80% for the remainder of the trip to Ottawa. The so called fast charge took 50 minutes in cold weather, much more than normal. Normally that takes 30 mins.

I then resumed the trip for the remainder 120km at 80%. My average speed was 115 km/hr. When I arrived in Ottawa I had 14% remaining. That is it 120 km! Only. During summertime I can get 320 km on the same driving behavior.

I think this is where carmakers need to be sharing more info. In the summer I would have been able to do this trip round trip on one charge. In the winter it is 120 km with a charge.

The lesson here is - even the large battery is under designed for winter weather. This is an area where further research and investment can really pay off for EV’s.

That does seem pretty low. My driving experience in similar temps I see about 60% of what I might see in ideal conditions. You’re getting about 40%.

I usually leave home with fully charged warm battery and preheated cabin. Some other important factors - wind, hills, speed. Slowing from 70 to 60 mph (~115 to 100 kph) by my estimation can give me 20% more range. Consider what a stiff headwind can do.

Winter is a real game changer for EVs. I got mine in Nov 2024. First 6 months was winter driving. Then summer came and, Wow!

 

[luckie]

Did not have a plug in connection. Overnight was -20 c. Conditioned off plug at 80 but dropped to 70. I drove 60km on that charge.

I believe that preconditioning “off plug” only warms the cabin for driver comfort and does nothing to warm the big battery. But you may already know that.

 

[mrblanc]

For what it's worth, I drove from Ottawa to Kingston round trip a few days ago without needing to stop for a charge. ~310 km total and got home with 15% remaining. Took Highway 7 so averaged 90 km/h. The temperature was around -10 C. I did precondition on plug before starting out from Ottawa.

 

[bvelderman]

Thanks for all your responses. Just to let you know, Norway’s climate is milder than Ottawa and Montreal Canada.

I did not have the heat blasting. It was at 16 C. I think at temps below- 12 c EV performance just really drops. It would be nice if Ford had some curves(on how much range performance drops) on this to help in trip planning. I just need to take that in consideration on future trips. I think the only thing I could have done is taking it easier( slow down) and perhaps found a charger to precondition.

I do not know why fast charging takes longer. Both the significant drop in range and the increase in time to fast charge surprised me.

 

[bvelderman]

This is not news. Well known fact that EVs lose a lot of range and charge slower in the cold, especially below freezing.

I knew that range dropped. I get 450 km in the summer on the same trip and some. But a range drop this significantly surprised me.

There is a real problem with manufacturers getting information to the general public on cold weather battery behavior and how to get the best performance in extreme cold.

But let's be clear:
1 - this is a universal trait of EVs
2 - you could have mitigated many of the issues with better knowledge of cold weather affects and pre-conditioning
3 - 95% of vehicles sold in Norway are EV so it's definitely possible to use EVs in colder climates.

Performance of the Mach e is pretty good up to -7c. It is the lower temps at -12/14 c that dropped its efficiency to levels I did not expect.

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