If You Live in a Cold Climate-Do Your EV Research

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
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https://insideevs.com/news/747374/ev-range-loss-cold-heat-pump-data/

  • EVs with a heat pump retain 83% of their real-world range in freezing temperatures on average.
  • Meanwhile, EVs without a heat pump lose roughly 25% of their real-world range on average.
  • Having a heat pump isn’t everything, though; some EVs without one can still deliver over 80% of their real-world range in the cold.

it would be nice to know how different EVs perform in the cold. And here’s where Recurrent’s latest study comes in handy. It analyzed data from over 18,000 battery-powered cars in the United States and came up with a nice chart showing how 20 of the most popular EVs in the country are affected by freezing temps.

General Motors-made Chevrolet Equinox EV and Cadillac Lyriq. Both come with heat pumps, but their cold-weather performance is well below the competition. Recurrent said it got in touch with GM after triple-checking its data and that it will update the study after it hears back
Meanwhile, the Volkswagen ID.4 without a heat pump performed the worst of the group, losing 37% of its real-world range in the cold. The ID.4 is not available with a heat pump in the U.S., but it was offered as an option for a limited time to Canadian customers before being discontinued.

So do your research or your EV owning experience may be not so good.

Now the Norwegians did a test on how far can a 100% go.
They wanted to see the difference between the advertised range and the real-world range.

The winner, in terms of how little range it lost compared to the official figure, was the Polestar 3.

Next was the BYD Tang, a Chinese-made seven-seater SUV

Tesla had a single entry, the facelifted Model 3. It finished in 21st place out of 24 cars with a 24% difference between the WLTP range rating and the real-world mileage. The only cars that were worse were the Peugeot E-5008, the Voyah Dream and the Peugeot E-3008.

Besides the disappointing result in the range test, the Tesla Model 3 had quite an unusual issue–its onboard trip meter was way off and essentially lied about the distance covered. Motor.no noted that the Tesla Model 3 and the Polestar 3 conked out roughly at the same time, with just 800 feet or so between them. As a reminder, all cars started from the same spot.

That said, the Polestar’s trip meter indicated it had traveled 330 miles–a figure confirmed on Google Maps–while the Tesla reported an extra 10 miles. In other words, the Model 3’s driver would think they covered more miles on a full charge than they actually did.
A feature not a bug!

There is a chart at the link on how the contestants did.

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Chevrolet Bolt 69%
Sounds about right. We get about 150 miles on the Guess-O-Meter in winter, charging to 80%. That’s plenty for our daily use.

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My '19 M3 - pre-heat pump - loses roughly 40% of its range below 30 degrees. The regenerative braking diminishes, sitting outside an office in 25d for 8 hours loses 4-5% a day, and the power drain from driving is more. Still good enough for daily commuting. A long trip across NE and NY would be tedious.

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While everyone is clutching their pearls about EV losses in winter, do you know how ICE cars perform in the same conditions? Google does.

Yes, gas cars lose mileage in cold weather. The effect can be significant, with fuel economy dropping by 10% to 33%.

Explanation

  • Thicker fluids: Motor oil and other fluids thicken in cold weather, which increases resistance and makes the engine work harder.
  • Electrical loads: The demand for heating, defrosting, lights, and heated seats increases in cold weather. The energy for these loads comes from the engine, which reduces the amount of energy available for fuel.
  • Tire pressure: Under-inflated tires can reduce gas mileage.

Mrs. Goofy just took a several hundred mile trip, and we checked the tire pressure before she left. All four tires were well below standard, thanks to the difference between the hot summer air pressure, when last checked, and the new-improved winter temps.

Well, whaddya know?

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That’s yet another thing I like about our Teslas. They have right there on the screen a little box with informational stuff, and you can swipe through them at your leisure - mileage and electricity usage/efficiency stats, what’s currently playing on the speakers, all 4 tire pressures. And I do quite often swipe to the tire pressure box to see how my tires are doing, especially when the temperature changes, and always before a trip.

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Our two Hyundais do that sort of thing, all four tire pressures available on screen. She’s taking our 2016 Toyota Van, which has been showing low tire pressure for months, but it doesn’t say which one, and the last time I checked them (months ago) they were all fine so I figured the sensor was off.

It turns out all the tires were low because: cold. And I hadn’t bothered to check because: lazy. And the dash light which shows the single light for tires also went off. (Since they have to measure all four so that even one is off the dash light triggers, why wouldn’t they tell you which one? Instead you have to go around hunting for it. Dumb. I’d guess Toyota has figured that out by now?)

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My 2013 diesel burning van does the same.

Or, it did the same until the crappy Mercedes wiring failed and I’m too cheap to pay the overpriced charges to fix it.

At least the repair parts are readily available, which is more than can be said for several EV makes.

—Peter

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There are two sorts of TPMS. A “direct read” type that has a pressure sensor in each wheel. And, an “indirect read” type, which uses tire rotational speed from the ABS sensors to infer that one wheel that is spinning faster than the others has low air pressure.

The “direct read” system’s wheel sensors can cost upward of $100 each, especially if purchased from a dealer, and the batteries in them do eventually go dead, requiring the sensor to be replaced. If you have a puncture, and use the can of sealer many cars come with now, instead of a spare tire, the sealer will also foul the sensor, which requires it to be replaced.

The “indirect read” system has no in-wheel sensors. So, no worries about the battery going dead. No worries about a sensor being fouled by tire sealer. And, if you opt for a separate set of winter wheels and tires, you don’t need to buy another set of sensors for the second set of wheels.

Steve…whose VW uses “indirect read”

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You can get them for a lot less. Here’s a set of 4 for under 50 bucks - Amazon.com: QHWQJ-CHAKENG 4Pcs 5Q0907275B Tire Pressure Sensor Compatible with V-W Passat for Tiguan for Golf TPMS Sensor fit for A3 A6 A7 A8 Q3 Q5 Q7 5Q0907275 5Q0907275C 5Q0998270B 5Q0998270 : Automotive

Yep. The dealers like to rip you off whenever possible.

Even 10+ years ago, after I got new wheels for my Honda Odyssey (to replace those infernal run flats!), I bought a set of TPMS for way less than $100 each, and installed them in the wheels before bringing them to a local shop to mount the new tires.

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And if you have an indirect system, you don’t need to buy or install wheel sensors at all.

This is somewhat akin to the discussion about AWD cars I had a couple weeks ago.

me: “with AWD, you get extra weight, extra friction, extra cost, and extra maintenance”.

other guy: most systems don’t have all the wheels connected most of the time.

me: then you get an expensive, maintenance heavy, failure prone, Haldex rear end.

other guy: I do my own maintenance on it.

me: if it isn’t there, you don’t need to do any maintenance on it.

Steve

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I like my electric AWD! Even though I don’t really need it here in Florida. But it just feels more “solid” on the road to me.

This is the general theory for EVs. Very few moving parts (heck, very few parts altogether) leads to much less maintenance.

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Maybe it’s the “road hugging weight”, that the big three used to brag about?

Steve

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I doubt it. My previous rear wheel drive 4-door sport sedan weighed a few hundred pounds more and didn’t feel like that. The AWD just feels like it has better “footing”, but hard to describe. I drove a 4wd Jeep once and it felt like that too.

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Just to add another 2 cents, hybrids are no exception to the impact of cold and heat, if my data from an example of 1 is any indicator.

My 2024 Honda Accord struggles to get 30mpg in our arctic winter weather and gets 50mpg in the summer (aka July). Because I’m fastidious (OK, maybe OCD), these numbers are from a spreadsheet where I use actual data to calculate information about my mileage. The vehicle computer’s calculation is consistently 2mpg higher than my calculations. I think that’s called marketing.

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And you probably drive faster on average in the summer.

DB2