Cold weather range

[firewired]

Hi,

I have been a Focus EV owner since last February, and have been seeing a big drop in range since its been cold. In the cold weather I have seen at least a 20% drop in range, what are others seeing? It seems to be related to the heater, when I turn off the heater range returns to a normal fully charged range of >70 miles and with it on it is around 50 miles.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Santo9]

Samething

I drove for test drive on cold weather few days after new year here in MONTREAL .I DROVE IN A -27 C And made 22.1 km with 7.2 KW ( about 3km or 2 miles per kw) . If i am compare with normal range of 125 km and winter 65 ( with 100% heather ) it is 45% less in very cold weath .
Probably 25 % to 30% the heather and 20% due to very cold weather affect the battery power.

3 days after i drove 13 km and used 2 kw . No heather and temp warmer around -5 C

By the way a reed on another forum a reader who own a Solectria Force electric where the heather work with diesel.......he said : last year I used 2 liter of diesel to feed the car heather and work very very fine in cold weather .....and not affeect the range of course .

A lot of work in that area.

 

[jmueller065]

That is the nature of the beast unfortunately: EVs are so efficient that any electricity used to generate heat in cold weather reduces the range (by reducing the available electricity to move the car).

In the FFE the heater is just a resistive element which is about the least efficient way to generate heat. I measured it: To precondition my car in ~20F weather to 85F took 5kWh of electricity!

In 20F weather I can precondition my car while plugged in and use about the same amount of electricity as I did in warmer weather on my way in to work. Since I cannot plug in at work, however, the trip home is much different: I end up turning on the heat and can easily double my power consumption (1 way my commute is 15 miles and uses just over 7kWh under optimal conditions).

 

[MNEV]

I have had a 2014 FFE for about 10 days now and driving is some pretty chilly conditions. Mostly below 0F. With the heater running I am getting about 40 miles to the charge (which I do for my work commute which is 16 miles round trip). If I do not have the heater on my miles increase 50% (about 55 miles). Since I usually flip to the heater about 50% of the time to keep the windows clear I am getting almost 50 miles a charge in the dead of winter (about 400KWH per mile); less if I have no where to go after work and I want a toasty ride home(500+KWH).

David