This is another reason why I don’t feel EVs are quite ready for prime time as of yet. Once battery tech advances to where these issues are not a concern and the charging infrastructure improves, things might change.
Also, the power grid is another issue. Due to the cold weather, several electric utilities around here urged people to conserve as much power as possible due to extreme heating demand. Pulling 50 amps at 240V for each EV charging doesn’t work in that situation either. 50A is a household charger since most homes have a 200 amp service, maximum. The charging stations pull far more amps, typically between 400-600 amps. That is equivalent to two to three standard household electric services MAXED OUT.
I also saw that Hertz is selling many of their Tesla rental cars as they are not working out well for them.
Again, I think EVs have their place but they are being forced upon us too fast and before they are ready for prime time. Maybe the next generation of solid state batteries will change this some.
Might make the cars a little safer since they won’t burst into flames as easily…
But energy is energy and solid state batteries will require just as much electrical power as the liquid electrolyte batteries do now. If they can charge faster.… they will draw even more current than the current cars!
If they give better range… the problems of running out of charge might get a bit better in the short term, but the energy demand is still there. Just moves it away by a day or so. And the longer it is cold, the more energy will be drawn from the car’s battery just to keep them warm.
I’ve experienced shorter range but no problems charging at home. The range issue can be migrated by preconditioning the battery before leaving and charging but I just charge when it gets down to about 80% remaining. I can recall below zero temperature overnight maybe once around here but anything less than 20 overnight is unusual. I agree that EVs are not an optimal choice for a cold climate where commuting is involved and you can’t charge in a garage.
From the article and news report, the issue seems to be with the charging stations, not the vehicles themselves, but I get that it all works together. For those without a home charger, that would be tough.
Same here!
My PHEV’s battery-only range was 56 miles prior to the colder weather. Now, with having to use the heater a lot, my battery range is down to 47 miles. Yesterday, on my way home from a few stops in Princeton, I noticed that my remaining battery power might not allow me to get home in EV mode.
So, rather than having the gas engine kick-in just before I got home, I engaged HV mode when I was about 15 miles from home. That way, the engine could get up to full operating temperature, and stay there for about 20 minutes. Then, when I got closer to home, I put it back into EV mode, and I had about 7 miles of battery range remaining at that point.
Today, I only drove ~8 miles because of an important dental appointment, but I won’t bother to recharge tonight in my garage because I will probably only need to drive ~14 miles tomorrow. After I get home tomorrow, then I will recharge it.
+1
Nobody forced me, or coerced me, or even tried to influence me in regard to buying a PHEV. I bought it–rather than another ICE car–because it made sense for my needs, because I liked the features of that model, and because I wanted to reward myself.
I suspect that the heating system in the Tesla battery pack isn’t capable of heating the battery cells to a safe temperature in very cold weather in order to begin charging.
@jtsanders Are the temperature range limits for charging shown in your owner’s manual?
My quick scan doesn’t show temperature limitations. I did charge last night when the outdoor temper1ture was below 20F. The system showed more than 22 hours to go from 84% to 100%, but it was fully charge in no more than 12 hours. I’m not sure when charging was completed since it was done overnight and was completed when I looked at the app in the morning.
Edit: I checked the Tesla Motors Club website and one poster discussed a recent charge where he left the car outside overnight; the temperature was 12F. It started charging at 4%/hr instead of the normal 12%/hr in warmer weather. Note that the battery heats up during charging and charging speed would increase too. That’s probably why my M3SR charged at least twice as fast as the original estimate by the Tesla charging software.
I see many Tesla’s and other EV’s all over New England. Even when we go skiing where morning temps are below zero. Never saw anyone having a problem with their EV’s - even at -10 or -20.
Electric cars have made greater inroads in Norway than they have most other places. It would be interesting to see how they have addressed issues around cold weather and electric vehicles. Anyone know any articles on this?
I was looking at the Model 3 User’s Manual and there are a number of sections related to battery conditioning, charging and cold temperatures.
I suspect the people with problems allowed their cars to sit idle too long or parked them with low charge to begin with. The car will disallow preconditioning if the charge falls below 20% if I read that correctly.
It’s gotten below 0F here in Ohio this week and I’ve been trying to keep my battery from going below 50%, and that is with me charging to 80% for daily use. I charged up on the Friday before it got cold and was already charging it back up on Wednesday after only maybe 20~30 miles of use. The cold leeches some life out of the battery and warming it up in the morning for 5-10 minutes doesn’t help much either. Thankfully the temps will be back up in the 30s and 40s after tomorrow.
I will say this, though, my old Bolt and my Tesla will both clear the frost off the windows in that 5-10 minute time frame whereas the CX7 I had before would be lucky to clear a small porthole after 10 minutes.
