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By Jo Nova
“Plugged in and not charging”
In the deep freeze this week, people all over Canada and the USA are finding out how complicated it is to own an EV in cold weather.
Not only do the cars lose a hefty 30 to 50% of their range, but the battery itself can’t accept charge if it gets too cold, so EV’s need to precondition their batteries before they can start to charge. (To precondition is EV-jargon for “warming them up”.) However, there is a point, as temperatures fall, where batteries cannot even heat themselves enough so they can start charging. They have to drain the battery to charge the battery. It’s a death-spiral towards a frozen singularity.
How cold is too cold? The ideal temperature for charging an EV is 15 – 35°C (or 60-95 F) so some advise preconditioning the battery when it’s below 15C. But the charging speed declines as the chemical reactions slow down, and it reaches nothing at about 0°C (32F). So if the car is minus five, the battery won’t even accept a charge.
At the supercharging station in Oak Brook Chicago, people have been trying for days to charge their EVs, which are stuck immobile at the charging station while the queues grow. People without a home charger are rather screwed:
“Dead cars line parking lot due to frigid temps”
Dane Placko, Fox News
“Nothing. No juice. Still on zero percent,” said Tyler Beard, who has been trying to recharge his Tesla at an Oak Brook Tesla supercharging station since Sunday afternoon. “And this is like three hours being out here after being out here three hours yesterday.”
Beard was among the dozens of Tesla owners trying desperately to power up their cars at the Tesla supercharging station in Oak Brook. It was a scene mirrored with long lines and abandoned cars at scores of other charging stations around the Chicago area.
“This is crazy. It’s a disaster. Seriously,” said Tesla owner Chalis Mizelle.
So not only do we “need” a lot more superchargers, and a bigger grid, and more electricity, but we probably need to enclose and heat those garages as well, and maybe put in some hotel rooms and office space for people to do something while they wait…
Just read the dramas of one poor EV driver who “forgot to plug the car in at -39°C one night.
The battery was at 28% but when he woke up the battery was 0% with warnings that the vehicle was shutting down. He tried to run to the house to grab the charger, but it was too late. When he returned — everything was dead to the point he couldn’t charge it. He rang the Tesla helpline and they sent someone out to jump start the 12V battery. But charging still didn’t work.
He pleaded for advice: “right now passenger side window is half down and stuck, both batteries are dead. I can’t charge main battery until I can charge 12V I guess. I bought 12V charger from Home Depot. Even this thing not charging 12V. I did some research and found out that this battery charger can’t charge a dead battery. Nearest Tesla station is Edmonton and I’m Grande Praire. Towing cost will be more than 500. I bought Tesla December 22. Any thoughts or suggestions…”
Maybe he can run an electric blanket out from the house and warm up the battery?
“In winter behavior must be adjusted”
Cars can lose 30-50% of their range in the cold. Allegedly this is mostly because the humans run the car heater to stay warm. In a combustion engine car there is waste heat to spare, but in an EV, every kWh of heating means a kWh of shorter range.
Perhaps drive in a ski suit?
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PJ MEdia
“All cars lose efficiency in the cold weather,” explains Andrew Garberson at Recurrent. “However, drivers only really worry about it when it comes to electric cars, since the lower efficiency translates directly to lower range. For EV owners in colder climates, like northern portions of the United States and Canada, daily driving and charging behaviors must be adjusted in winter months.
“Recurrent analyzed the cold-weather behavior of 18 different EVs and found that these batteries performed at about 70% capacity in temperatures below freezing. Obviously, each vehicle is different, but an average of 70% means that some vehicles did much worse. The worst offenders were the Volkswagen 1D4, which lost 46% of its capacity, and the Chevy Bolt, which saw a 42% drop.
What’s the main culprit? It’s drivers and passengers trying to keep warm.
“The major reason that EVs lose range in the winter is due to cabin heating to keep the driver and passengers warm”
So some of these dramas will be solved as people learn to “precondition” the car, stay home on cold days, wear warmer clothing, not run the car below 20%, or leave a car with low charge out on the street. Sounds like fun.
Right now there are a lot of very exasperated EV drivers who might not want to try “behaviour change” next winter.
The media and government have completely misled people about the practicalities of owning an EV in winter
A good summary of the situation:
It’s all just to much pain for too little gain, done in a rush, and for no good reason.
hat tip to Penguinite, Col A, Red Edwards, another ian, Willie Soon. Jim Simpson