Electric cars in winter, range affected?
Discussion
Before everyone jumps on me, I did read the question , but would like to share my experience of a PHEV ( Outlander)., with regard to cold weather.
I got this car in September 2015, temp 15C, did a round trip to the next town, about 25 miles , of which 20 was 60 mph A road and 5 30 mph urban.
Mostly achieved on electric power ( started with full charge) , computer showed 92mpg for petrol.
Repeated the trip in January , 0C, engine ran all the time, and computer showed 29 mpg.
OK , this was one of the first of this model and they now have pre-heating but you still need lights , wipers, blower etc in winter at most times if the day.
I got this car in September 2015, temp 15C, did a round trip to the next town, about 25 miles , of which 20 was 60 mph A road and 5 30 mph urban.
Mostly achieved on electric power ( started with full charge) , computer showed 92mpg for petrol.
Repeated the trip in January , 0C, engine ran all the time, and computer showed 29 mpg.
OK , this was one of the first of this model and they now have pre-heating but you still need lights , wipers, blower etc in winter at most times if the day.
Alternatively, in California, summer sees the battery range massively depleted - aircon running constantly and 40 degree heat. Now that we are at around 25 degrees peak for the day, range has jumped from around 85 miles (i3 Rex) to about 110 miles! Pleased...
;-)
And yes, I know that wasnt the question you asked. But other factors do impact things too!
;-)
And yes, I know that wasnt the question you asked. But other factors do impact things too!
JonV8V said:
Teslas suffer too, significantly. Battery heating, wet roads etc, maybe 15% worse range overall, . but start off with a cold car below freezing and the first 5-10 miles will be probably 50% higher consumption.
New Y and MY21 3 models now have a heat pump so will be significantly better.I have recent experience of this in semi-controlled circumstances.
Until the tier-3 restrictions came in to being in and around Liverpool I was doing a 200 miles journey each way (few days between legs) for 5 weeks in a near row in my new Renault Zoe 50. All the ranges I give are estimates based on bringing the car battery back up to 100%, so same car, same journey, same driver, and same SPECs zones each time. Journey is 150 miles to charger, 50 more miles to the destination (and yes is it about those figures when rounding up/down to the nearest mile), about 10-20 pootling round at destination, then the reverse on the run back. Most the time on the motorway I'm doing ~60-65 mph. Also I prefer a cooler car so temperature set to 19.5-20 degrees in the cabin, fan never went faster than 2 out of 5.
First two weeks, ~18-20 degrees, dry, aircon on, lights on only for the last 10-20 minutes. Estimated range of car 235-245 miles (twice at the upper end) - around the WLT and higher than Renault themselves estimate.
Next two weeks, ~8-10 degrees, raining the whole way, wipers and lights on the whole time. Estimated range on all four journeys 190 miles (!!)
Last run, dry both ways, ~8-10 degrees, lights on for about 1.5 hours each way. Estimated range both ways ~200 miles.
Until the tier-3 restrictions came in to being in and around Liverpool I was doing a 200 miles journey each way (few days between legs) for 5 weeks in a near row in my new Renault Zoe 50. All the ranges I give are estimates based on bringing the car battery back up to 100%, so same car, same journey, same driver, and same SPECs zones each time. Journey is 150 miles to charger, 50 more miles to the destination (and yes is it about those figures when rounding up/down to the nearest mile), about 10-20 pootling round at destination, then the reverse on the run back. Most the time on the motorway I'm doing ~60-65 mph. Also I prefer a cooler car so temperature set to 19.5-20 degrees in the cabin, fan never went faster than 2 out of 5.
First two weeks, ~18-20 degrees, dry, aircon on, lights on only for the last 10-20 minutes. Estimated range of car 235-245 miles (twice at the upper end) - around the WLT and higher than Renault themselves estimate.
Next two weeks, ~8-10 degrees, raining the whole way, wipers and lights on the whole time. Estimated range on all four journeys 190 miles (!!)
Last run, dry both ways, ~8-10 degrees, lights on for about 1.5 hours each way. Estimated range both ways ~200 miles.
Yep, rain and wet roads have a significant effect on range as increase drag considerably. Combine the usual UK winter wet weather and low single digit temperatures and I saw ultimate range drop by as much as a third in both our i3 and model 3 last winter despite it being a mild one. On wet motorways the drop can be even greater.
Definitely something that needs to be seriously considered by anyone doing regular long journeys all year round. I believe, for example, the fact that the Polestar 2 will struggle to do 150 miles in those conditions put off a number of potential buyers on this forum alone.
Definitely something that needs to be seriously considered by anyone doing regular long journeys all year round. I believe, for example, the fact that the Polestar 2 will struggle to do 150 miles in those conditions put off a number of potential buyers on this forum alone.
Edited by SWoll on Tuesday 3rd November 08:36
dapprman said:
I have recent experience of this in semi-controlled circumstances.
Until the tier-3 restrictions came in to being in and around Liverpool I was doing a 200 miles journey each way (few days between legs) for 5 weeks in a near row in my new Renault Zoe 50. All the ranges I give are estimates based on bringing the car battery back up to 100%, so same car, same journey, same driver, and same SPECs zones each time. Journey is 150 miles to charger, 50 more miles to the destination (and yes is it about those figures when rounding up/down to the nearest mile), about 10-20 pootling round at destination, then the reverse on the run back. Most the time on the motorway I'm doing ~60-65 mph. Also I prefer a cooler car so temperature set to 19.5-20 degrees in the cabin, fan never went faster than 2 out of 5.
First two weeks, ~18-20 degrees, dry, aircon on, lights on only for the last 10-20 minutes. Estimated range of car 235-245 miles (twice at the upper end) - around the WLT and higher than Renault themselves estimate.
Next two weeks, ~8-10 degrees, raining the whole way, wipers and lights on the whole time. Estimated range on all four journeys 190 miles (!!)
Last run, dry both ways, ~8-10 degrees, lights on for about 1.5 hours each way. Estimated range both ways ~200 miles.
The estimates from the guess-o-meter are not very useful. For future reference the best way to check range is it reset the trip counter and then look at your average consumption over a route you do regularly.Until the tier-3 restrictions came in to being in and around Liverpool I was doing a 200 miles journey each way (few days between legs) for 5 weeks in a near row in my new Renault Zoe 50. All the ranges I give are estimates based on bringing the car battery back up to 100%, so same car, same journey, same driver, and same SPECs zones each time. Journey is 150 miles to charger, 50 more miles to the destination (and yes is it about those figures when rounding up/down to the nearest mile), about 10-20 pootling round at destination, then the reverse on the run back. Most the time on the motorway I'm doing ~60-65 mph. Also I prefer a cooler car so temperature set to 19.5-20 degrees in the cabin, fan never went faster than 2 out of 5.
First two weeks, ~18-20 degrees, dry, aircon on, lights on only for the last 10-20 minutes. Estimated range of car 235-245 miles (twice at the upper end) - around the WLT and higher than Renault themselves estimate.
Next two weeks, ~8-10 degrees, raining the whole way, wipers and lights on the whole time. Estimated range on all four journeys 190 miles (!!)
Last run, dry both ways, ~8-10 degrees, lights on for about 1.5 hours each way. Estimated range both ways ~200 miles.
aestetix1 said:
The estimates from the guess-o-meter are not very useful. For future reference the best way to check range is it reset the trip counter and then look at your average consumption over a route you do regularly.
Mine estimates are more accurate - I know the distance I travelled and how much juice I had to put in to the car to fully fill it, hence my estimated ranges are as close as you can get 
- having said that the guessometer gave two different consumption figures for the 3rd and 4th run. SWoll said:
Yep, rain and wet roads have a significant effect on range as increase drag considerably. Combine the usual UK winter wet weather and low single digit temperatures and I saw ultimate range drop by as much as a third in both our i3 and model 3 last winter despite it being a mild one. On wet motorways the drop can be even greater.
Definitely something that needs to be seriously considered by anyone doing regular long journeys all year round. I believe, for example, the fact that the Polestar 2 will struggle to do 150 miles in those conditions put off a number of potential buyers on this forum alone.
To be fair. rain and particularly wet roads affect ICE cars fuel consumption too, especially at motorway speeds- it's just that no one worries about it!Definitely something that needs to be seriously considered by anyone doing regular long journeys all year round. I believe, for example, the fact that the Polestar 2 will struggle to do 150 miles in those conditions put off a number of potential buyers on this forum alone.
Edited by SWoll on Tuesday 3rd November 08:36
aestetix1 said:
The estimates from the guess-o-meter are not very useful. For future reference the best way to check range is it reset the trip counter and then look at your average consumption over a route you do regularly.
Haha, guess-o-meter.... thats about right. I like freaking out my wife by turning the aircon off and on again at random points in a trip. She freaks out to see it drop massively and then rise again! Its a guide at best....gmaz said:
By about 18% in my 2021 Kona 64kWh. From 300 miles to 250.
that's quite a chunk - that said for us the range of 250 would (probably) still just suffice. It is one of the bigger things I'm trying to get my head around vis-a-vis an EV. My Challenger gets pretty much the same out of each tank no matter the weatherS600BSB said:
I lose approx 20% range from my ipace in winter.
About the same in our etron 55. Just checked and the average back in January on a decent run was 2.2 miles/kWh, recently it's been around 2.8.The M3P was pretty good, dropping from 3.5 miles/kWh to 3.
The i3 120ah took the biggest hit, dropping from 4.5 miles/kWh to 3.4.
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