Electric Cars: New Data on Range Loss in Winter
Many consumers fear making the jump to an electric car because of our cold winters and the resulting reduction in range. This is even more true in the case of second-hand models, whose high-voltage battery may already have lost a significant part of its original capacity.
No doubt, when the temperatures are very low, battery life takes a hit! For a model like the Nissan LEAF, various tests have shown that it drops about 25% at -15 degrees and up to 45% at -25 degrees.
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That's why the golden rule is to always plan for double your daily travel needs. For example, if you drive an average of 80 kilometres per day, a safe bet would be to have a 160-kilometre range available before you leave.
Whether or not your vehicle is equipped with a heat pump system, which recovers heat from the battery and drive components to heat the passenger compartment, there are steps you can take to limit the discharge caused by cold weather, like preheating the vehicle 20 to 30 minutes before leaving (simply by plugging it in), avoiding sudden accelerations, reducing your speed, and using your heated seats instead of the heater.
Which Models Hold Up Best?
Last year, a study by Recurrent delved into the issue of cold-induced range loss by looking at several popular electric vehicle models. The same exercise was repeated this year and here are the results.
To reach these conclusions, the battery analysis firm used data from some 7,000 vehicles in the United States, then compared their range in summer at a temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) with that in winter between 20 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-6 to -1 degrees Celsius).
On the graph above, the yellow bands represent the summer range of the various models and those in blue indicate the winter range as determined from a compilation of vehicle on-board data (striped bands) or a combination of data and tests conducted by Recurrent (full bands).
Once again, we have proof that Tesla models are among those that lose the least range due to cold weather, but the Audi e-tron and the Jaguar I-PACE also offer pretty good performance. On the other hand, the Chevrolet Bolt EV, the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Volkswagen ID.4 are more severely impacted. In the case of the latter, the test was carried out with an American model without a heat pump.
Again, range loss in winter is calculated here at temperatures slightly below the freezing point. In Quebec, the mercury can drop quite a bit lower than that, sometimes to the point of halving the range, so, don’t forget to use the few tips mentioned in this article!