Winter Range

guinn

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I saw in another thread where people were stating that you might lose up to 40% of your battery range in really cold weather. I got my car in early February (standard battery, AWD), and it was still pretty cold in SW Colorado. But I always kept the car in the garage when not driving. The car usually suggested that I go ahead and plug in the charger because of the cold outside temperature, so I did. I have to say that I never noticed any appreciable loss of range compared to this summer. So I suspect if you keep the batteries warm you will be just fine.
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sotek2345

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We need to do a better job of describing cold when talking about this. Let's use actual temperatures to compare. Very cold in Florida is probably a substantially lower temperature than a warm winter day in Maine.
 

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Cold weather, drag from snow and rain, standing water on the roads and cold batteries not delivering peak performance. It all subtracts from the ranges. The worse the weather the more losses. It's not exactly 40%.

My Bolt would lose about 30 to 40 miles of range because of cold batteries. That was about 27% of the summer range. Snow and rain would cut it down more. Dry roads it stayed at about 27%.
 

kennethjk

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Cold weather, drag from snow and rain, standing water on the roads and cold batteries not delivering peak performance. It all subtracts from the ranges. The worse the weather the more losses. It's not exactly 40%.

My Bolt would lose about 30 to 40 miles of range because of cold batteries. That was about 27% of the summer range. Snow and rain would cut it down more. Dry roads it stayed at about 27%.
was the car pre conditioned? And therefore the batteries would be “warmer” and make a difference?
 

RickMachE

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Not the same, because it's a PHEV and had a 120v charger, but our Fusion Energi went from 21 to 12 or 13 electric miles each winter.
 


Motomax

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Your biggest losses will come from the vehicle heating the battery pack for optimum temp and the heater used to keep the interior warm. If you precondition the vehicle before leaving and dress warm you should be in pretty good shape for cold weather.
 

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Its like phantom limb ... wait dont turn the car "on" inaide a garage as will emit CO ... oh yeah no gasoline haha
 

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I got my car (AWD ER Premium) on February 9 in Wisconsin. As you can see from the attached screen grab, the low that week ranged from -5 to -17F. During that week, I kept my car in the garage overnight where the temp was ~32--38 F. When driving, I had cabin heat set on 73F and both seat heaters and steering wheel heater on for all my drives. I drove about 300 miles that first week; 1/2 on city roads, 1/4 on 60 mph roads, and 1/4 on 70 mph roads. I averaged a bit over 2.9 miles/Kwh. (2.9 * 88 = 255 miles). During that time, when I charged to 100%, the GOM estimated 225 miles of range. For my most recent 3000 miles, I have averaged 3.9 miles/Kwh. (3.9 * 88 = 343 miles). Those most recent 3000 miles were similar driving patterns with AC on. If I do a full charge now, my GOM usually estimates ~320 miles. I usually recharge when I get to about 20% and that is typically after ~ 265 miles of driving. Compared to both my Bolt and my Leaf in the winter, I am pretty happy with my winter range although I did experience a >20% range hit in the depths of winter compared to what I have experienced April through today. Although I did not keep as good of records, for my second 300 miles during the winter the lows averaged about 10--20 F and I was averaging ~3.1 miles/Kwh. (3.1 * 88 = 272 miles).
 

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WWJPD

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I cannot imagine a 40% drop, at least for me in the northeast, however, frankly I'm not going to do anything different I wouldn't have done with remote starting my old Dodge Charger for 5-10min. But now I can do it in the garage without worrying about CO2 poisoning. Pre-condition away. We paid the price in energy before with ICE cars, but you didn't really notice it... your gas mileage was affected and the heating siphoned off the waste heat of the ICE. Now we are using cheaper and theoretically cleaner electricity to power it is all and it's mostly going to come out of the outlet in my garage instead of having to pump gas in the freezing cold with snow and sleet coming down on me. Winter driving up to Vermont is going to be great AND there is even an EV charger at the Alchemist brewery in Stowe.
 

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was the car pre conditioned? And therefore the batteries would be “warmer” and make a difference?
No preconditioning. The Bolt had limited Preheat abilities for the batteries.
 

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Your biggest losses will come from the vehicle heating the battery pack for optimum temp and the heater used to keep the interior warm. If you precondition the vehicle before leaving and dress warm you should be in pretty good shape for cold weather.
I would add, in lieu of the HVAC heater, crank up the heated seats and steering wheel (assuming you have these options).
 

AlbanyIan

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We need to do a better job of describing cold when talking about this. Let's use actual temperatures to compare. Very cold in Florida is probably a substantially lower temperature than a warm winter day in Maine.
The ambiguity in that statement alone proves hard numbers are needed! ?
 

AlbanyIan

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... Now winter driving up to Vermont is going to be great AND there is even an EV charger at the Alchemist brewery in Stowe.
Hopefully, the line for the charger will be shorter than the line for beverages! (?). Otherwise you’ll get thirsty fueling up to get home!
 

Murse-In-Airy

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Living in northern NY, pretty much southern Canada, we averaged 33% range loss on when the temps were below zero (as low as -27° F). Our AWD ER’s (rated for 270 miles) would report about 180 miles on a full charge. We do keep them in an unbeaten garage and remote start before leaving. The seats and steering wheel do prewarm if you have climate set to auto on remote start. Even 3 minutes early is enough to have a very warm cabin before we unplug from the wall. But 1/3 loss seems to be realistic for us.
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