We own EVs. Ask Us Anything.
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Ha! It’s these kids of mine in healthcare. They have to go to work.
Do they have an option once they get to work to stay. I don't know about their specific case. But, most Hospital's can accommodate this.
They do. When we had that really bad storm not too long ago they were getting hotels for people that live outside of town. We live in town so it’s only a 15 minute drive each way.
Well if you must make sure you have a lot of provisions in your vehicle. Even for a short drive getting trapped in a vehicle with -40 temperatures can be deadly. Please be safe.
If you don't have winter tires, do everything you can to avoid the roads. Even in dry roads, winter tires have better traction at -30 ⁰F than all seasons have at +40 ⁰F.
If you must go out, and you don't have winter tires, lower your tire pressure to help a little with traction. Drive slower than you would normally. Drive especially defensively. You'll carry an electric blanket for each passenger (tested before they're needed). You'll have all your winter emergency gear.
If you need to go out with an EV, you'll be pre-conditioning on a Level 2 charger.
BEV range doesn't matter because you're not going far enough to need range.
If it does matter, then you can expect that range can be decreased by 20% to 40% depending on everything.
Note that your ICE can also lose significant range in the very cold. People don't notice because they don't often drive the long distances they've convinced themselves they drive. Most people don't make the winter viscosity oil change; not making the change can reduce efficiency (and increase wear) by as much as 25%. Nobody changes their transmission fluid. The very low temperatures leads to higher viscosity transmission fluid, which means lower efficiency. Probably nobody regaps their spark plugs for the lower temperatures, which leads to long-term reduction in efficiency due to cold fouling.
Low temperatures reduce your pressures, which leads to higher rolling resistance and lower efficiency.
If you must go out, and you don't have winter tires, lower your tire pressure to help a little with traction. Drive slower than you would normally. Drive especially defensively. You'll carry an electric blanket for each passenger (tested before they're needed). You'll have all your winter emergency gear.
If you need to go out with an EV, you'll be pre-conditioning on a Level 2 charger.
BEV range doesn't matter because you're not going far enough to need range.
If it does matter, then you can expect that range can be decreased by 20% to 40% depending on everything.
Note that your ICE can also lose significant range in the very cold. People don't notice because they don't often drive the long distances they've convinced themselves they drive. Most people don't make the winter viscosity oil change; not making the change can reduce efficiency (and increase wear) by as much as 25%. Nobody changes their transmission fluid. The very low temperatures leads to higher viscosity transmission fluid, which means lower efficiency. Probably nobody regaps their spark plugs for the lower temperatures, which leads to long-term reduction in efficiency due to cold fouling.
Low temperatures reduce your pressures, which leads to higher rolling resistance and lower efficiency.
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Thanks for this. Thankfully they both work close, 6 miles from the house, but I still don’t like driving in it.
Now I do have a question. I take everyone in the Jeep because of the 4 wheel drive and the tires. I’m running Goodyear DuraTracs. I have never switched to a snow tire. Would I notice a big difference switching from that tire to a snow tire?
Notice? Probably only that one time you really needed to stop and couldn't.
Is there a measurable difference? Yes. At any temperature below about 45 ⁰F you'll get better traction performance from a winter tire. I don't know if it's worthwhile to change unless the temperatures are going to be below freezing for long periods of time. But the chemistry of tire compounds and the physics of tire traction say it's safer to switch even before the temperature drops to freezing.
Note that snow tires used to be mostly about tread. But modern tire science has developed winter tires. The improvements are more chemistry than tread design.
Ah ha I see. Thanks so much for the education.
And everyone in the path of this storm stay safe!
Two opinions for you - from the comfy confines of Colorado, where winter has, so far, taken some time off...
1) Range reduction doesn't matter, as has been said, you won't be driving far enough to notice the difference. Crank the heat, turn up the seats and steering wheel, and focus on safe driving. Growing up in very rural mountains, we never let a car sit with less than half a tank - no different with BEV, if you just plug it in when you get home, you never have to worry about daily driving, regardless of conditions.
2) I've had several pair of Duratracs - for an AT, they are fantastic in the snow. For me, I would rather not deal with swapping tires twice a year, but if you are going to regularly be in serious winter weather, then yeah, a set of Hakkapeliitas is life changing - we had a little Jetta that was unstoppable in the winter, just with front wheel drive.
1) Range reduction doesn't matter, as has been said, you won't be driving far enough to notice the difference. Crank the heat, turn up the seats and steering wheel, and focus on safe driving. Growing up in very rural mountains, we never let a car sit with less than half a tank - no different with BEV, if you just plug it in when you get home, you never have to worry about daily driving, regardless of conditions.
2) I've had several pair of Duratracs - for an AT, they are fantastic in the snow. For me, I would rather not deal with swapping tires twice a year, but if you are going to regularly be in serious winter weather, then yeah, a set of Hakkapeliitas is life changing - we had a little Jetta that was unstoppable in the winter, just with front wheel drive.
I am going to be out doing donuts on my motorcycle
Okay I know you all had told me that ICE vehicles lose range integer cold just like EVs so I paid attention when I filled up today. Typically my range on a tank of gas is about 315 or so when I’m city driving. Just filled up, my range is down to 274! I had no idea!!
Here in Colorado the drop is dramatic in the fall when they reintroduce "winter" gas, I see a range drop in my Xterra very close to what you're seeing, I go from 320ish per tank down to around 280
Here's some real world data from yesterday, to explain why I said earlier that for normal driving any reduction in range in the cold is likely irrelevant.
Scenario: very cold day, snow in the neighborhoods but not highway, driving across town via interstate (65mph+ speeds) to Ikea and back.
2024 Hyundai Ioniq5 SEL AWD
Stated range on a full charge: 269 miles
Regen: level 2, this feels just like driving a normal automatic ICE vehicle, even after more than a year I find higher levels of regen really annoying
Charge at start: 81%
Range at start: 222 miles
Ambient Temp: 15f. Dash says 36, but that's after spending the night in my insulated but not heated garage
The expected range tracks after 13 months of ownership, 81% of 269 is 215.6, and we routinely perform just a bit better than published specs
Miles driven: 80, primarily high-speed (65mph+) in "eco" mode, but switched to "snow" mode for the last 5 miles, as we went out to dinner in our icy town to celebrate surviving Ikea.
Ambient temp at end of test: 13f
Battery remaining: 46%
Battery Consumed: 35%
Expected miles per % charge: 2.74 (222/81)
Actual miles per % charge: 2.28 (80/35)
Range loss: .45 miles per % charge (16.6%)
So, by my math (@SpaceEVDriver or other smart people can check my math and logic), a nearly 17% loss of potential range seems alarming, but in real world terms, absolutely irrelevant. Still have over 100 miles of range, and this test was done at highway speeds, with both seat heaters, the cabin heater, the steering wheel and the rear defrost on throughout, so about as inefficient as a BEV driving test can be.
and sorry for the blurry after picture, I guess I was in a hurry last night, or maybe just cold. You can see that switching to "snow" mode reduced the regen mode to "1", so even less efficient, but who cares? just plug it back in...
Yesterday before the snow started I left the house at 6am with 95% 202 estimated range outside temp was 18F, I was out for 7 hours, drove for 140 miles, temp when I returned home was 22F. The snow started around 8am which is when I started to see a drop in range of about 10 miles range. In the car temperature was set between 70-74 mostly set on floor and window. I returned home with 11% 20 miles estimated range, having averaged 3.3 Mi/KwH so I lost around 40 miles of estimated range after the snow started. Though I kept my interior comfortable for me, and wasn’t concerned with my range, honestly had no idea it got that low until I got home.
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