Parking outside in cold weather

[EELinneman]

Thank you to all. How much range reduction do you see in winter weather?

generaltso from VT mentioned a 40% drop off. Wanted to see if others have any such ballpark estimate for range drop off they might have seen in colder climates such as those in New England.

90% charge range in summer is about 230 miles for me. In winter it usually is about 170.

i have got messages telling me to plug the car in after driving in the winter and parking outside in single digits temperature.

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[4sallypat]

I am in the opposite part of the world: So Calif.

Winter months are not cold at all - those are the months where we don't use A/C.

Temps never go below 50 degrees and I get the most range of all the months because I never use cabin heating.

Increased range during the fall, winter and early spring months is strange...

Heating - maybe the seat heaters when the temps are in the 50's and that's nippy for us...

 

[RickMachE]

I don’t typically precondition at all. But preconditioning aside, if you leave the car plugged in when it’s very cold, it will draw power from the wall to keep the battery warm, and there’s no way to stop it. That’s one of the reasons I don’t leave it plugged in.

You can stop it with an intelligent charger that you set to nit come on until say 1.5 hrs before departure.

Although this is my 1st year with the Mach E, I imagine when cold weather comes I'll set "departure time" or whatever it's called on this car to have pre-conditioning switch on far enough before so that the cabin, and in theory the big battery, are pre-conditioned when I get in. That's how Sonny Boy pre-conditions his used Audi E-tron Sportback he was lucky enough to get last October.

Use of a pre-set timer would thus both pre-condition the battery and the cabin before the likely morning departure time, and not needlessly "pre-condition all night". Does that make sense? Do Vermonters and other far Northerners on this blog pre-condition for "just in time" or "all the time when plugged-in" to achieve a good effect? I really am curious here... WInter hasn't come yet to Virginia.

Preconditioning starts when the vehicle thinks it needs to start to be ready to depart at the set time. Varies by temp.

As @generaltso noted, it will pull current some nights to keep battery warm. If you prevent it from pulling current, it will use the battery to warm the battery. If you only charge at home, conceptually you are not saving any money by not allowing it to do this with house current, unless rates vary. Not every night, depends how cold it gets.

I prevent my car from taking house current during peak hours.

 

[Jasmine]

From what I understand, the cold weather will affect range but it is temporary. The range returns when it warms back up again. The battery doesn't appear to be damaged by cold weather.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering about that as I’m in Arizona heat!!

 

[carinquiryad]

90% charge range in summer is about 230 miles for me. In winter it usually is about 170.

i have got messages telling me to plug the car in after driving in the winter and parking outside in single digits temperature.

Thank you. Your profile mentions you have a GT and I assume the numbers are for that car. What is the EPA range on it so i can get a ballpark percentage dropoff.

Thank you.

 

[carinquiryad]

Welcome neighbor, I can second this, January was a month long cold soak here as you probably remember. 40% drop was what I calculated overall, always parked outside. It was less severe for the rest of the winter.

I do not worry about the HVB's health in the cold. MME is my second EV and in 4 winters I have not seen the HVB suffer. Not saying EVs do not have issues in the cold, just that to me worrying about the battery is pointless.

Some things to be aware of:
The GOM will lose 20+ mis. overnight in the cold, that is where much of the range loss occurs, its a chemistry thing.
DCFC charge rate is slower than in the warmer months due to a cold HVB.
Preconditioning is optional to me regardless of what Ford believes. With electric rate increases coming it is a luxury I can forego, to each his own of course. If you have a very long commute or are taking a road trip, preconditioning can be of value.

It is a great car and EVs bring many driver options that an ICE vehicle can not. If you are techie, you'll have a new hobby.

Thank you for your kind response. Regardless of whether I buy the vehicle (I will), your response was very kind and is appreciated.

We do not drive daily. We do drive on weekends but typically within a 50 mile radius a day.

We also go on road trips every once in a while, and I guess those are the times we will have to plan better.

 

[RickMachE]

Thank you. Your profile mentions you have a GT and I assume the numbers are for that car. What is the EPA range on it so i can get a ballpark percentage dropoff.

Thank you.

Irrelevant.

170/230 - 1 = 26%.

Assume 30 to 40% drop in dead of winter.

 

[ctenidae]

It’s fine, but you lose a lot of range in winter. I lose about 40% in Vermont.

This is so incredibly much higher than range loss I saw in CT in a Model 3. There was loss, but not enough to make me wonder how much. Even with preconditioning and auto seat heaters it's that bad?

 

[generaltso]

This is so incredibly much higher than range loss I saw in CT in a Model 3. There was loss, but not enough to make me wonder how much. Even with preconditioning and auto seat heaters it's that bad?

Was that based on what the car told you? Teslas just show the rated range.

 

[ctenidae]

Was that based on what the car told you? Teslas just show the rated range.

Maybe- I know it was always lower in the winter, surprisingly so the first long drive to Rhode Island in 0F weather, with few superchargers in place yet and no personal understanding of just how slow some charging methods can be. Had a few looong snack breaks for that trip. But after I got a feel for it I never really noticed the change in seasons. Maybe it just didn't matter for my driving then.

40% just seems an awful lot, with no math to guide me.

 

[Fixbear]

Based on our Prius Plug-in and Fusion Energi histories, I learned to think of using "wall box pre-conditioning" as akin to the old school engine block heaters (both my Prius and later my Ford Energi had engine heater blocks added). Meaning, one would not (I didn't anyway) use engine block heating all the time when parked... just within the 2 or 3 hours prior to likely departure in the morning, depending on how low the temp would drop. This way, the water jackets in the engines were warm at my GO times and I would force the engine in both cars to work when starting, which would rapidly heat the cabin... and then as soon as the engines would shut off after 2 min of driving, I'd switch to pure battery drive.

Although this is my 1st year with the Mach E, I imagine when cold weather comes I'll set "departure time" or whatever it's called on this car to have pre-conditioning switch on far enough before so that the cabin, and in theory the big battery, are pre-conditioned when I get in. That's how Sonny Boy pre-conditions his used Audi E-tron Sportback he was lucky enough to get last October.

Use of a pre-set timer would thus both pre-condition the battery and the cabin before the likely morning departure time, and not needlessly "pre-condition all night". Does that make sense? Do Vermonters and other far Northerners on this blog pre-condition for "just in time" or "all the time when plugged-in" to achieve a good effect? I really am curious here... WInter hasn't come yet to Virginia.

When it gets below freezing, we plug it in. The electrolyte in Li-NCM batteries can freeze at 32F. Not like lead acid when fully charged will not freeze till less than -40F As for the preconditioning using power, only in the 20 min prior to your departure time that you pre-set or when you tell Fordpass to precondition. Other than that, it will use wall power to heat the HVB as necessary to keep it above 40F. And if you keep the charge limit below 80% and the times it can charge narrow to your usage, it's fine power bill wise.

 

[Fixbear]

Maybe- I know it was always lower in the winter, surprisingly so the first long drive to Rhode Island in 0F weather, with few superchargers in place yet and no personal understanding of just how slow some charging methods can be. Had a few looong snack breaks for that trip. But after I got a feel for it I never really noticed the change in seasons. Maybe it just didn't matter for my driving then.

40% just seems an awful lot, with no math to guide me.

My range in summer is 230 @100%. We keep the car at 85% normally. Range is 180. But in the winter the range is 120 to 130 temperatures dependent. Last winter I don't remember having anything really cold like normal. I think we may have hit -20F but not for any sustained time. We normally see -35 for a few days. The preconditioning does an excellent job of clearing the snow and ice off. Except the rear hatch seals. Had to replace one of them when the car opened, and the ice held onto the seal.

 

[nashbrydges]

Had to replace one of them when the car opened, and the ice held onto the seal.

You might consider silicone lubricant for the weatherstripping which could prevent them from freezing.

 

[Fixbear]

You might consider silicone lubricant for the weatherstripping which could prevent them from freezing.

I do use it as a release agent. But when you have had 3/8 inch of ice overnight, it penetrates and holds on. The car did what it was supposed to do, detected that is was stuck and canceled the open command. I didn't realize this and hit my Fordpass again as it was giving problems back then. Back when we were at 1.7 Because the first shot had unlocked it and the second had more force is why it tore the strip off.

 

[Gene Bank]

On a cold night, it can use up to around 7kWh keeping the battery warm if you leave it plugged in. That adds up enough for me to leave it unplugged. One cold night would likely use more power than an entire year of leaving your mobile charger plugged into your NEMA outlet all the time.

Wow 7kWh. I live in NH but bought my MME in late March. Our new electricity rate is .20kWh and is going up again on Nov 1rst. So $1.50 a night times 30 is an extra $45 per month. I am retired and don't drive much so will just keep it unplugged.

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