Do you own an electric car or are thinking about getting them? You’re probably wondering if it’ll be able to handle a Canadian winter. After all regular cars struggle during winter and they generate lots of heat already? Are there concerns to be had about electric cars during winter? This article will elaborate.
Cold Morning Starts
Machinery as a general rule does not like being too cold, and as you know in Canada it gets far too cold over winter. When a machine is cold it gets slower, less efficient, the actual parts of the machine get heavier and they require more energy to move. We already know this happens in regular cars, that’s why they can be argumentative to start in the morning, but what about EV’s?
Well, electrics don’t start in the same way as a regular combustion engine does. There is no ignition to spark, you hit a button and the battery starts, same as your phone really. This is one aspect where electric cars may actually have an advantage, they can start from cold no problem.
Reduced Range
Unfortunately, The car is still a machine and so the rules of cold still apply. The axles of the wheels and the car itself becomes heavier as the molecules clam up in the cold. This means that you need more power to move the car, which means a reduction in efficiency.
This happens in regular cars too of course, around a 20-25% drop in fuel efficiency for a regular gas powered car. For an electric that number drops to around a 40-50% reduction in efficiency but that’s a significantly bigger problem for an electric (at least right now) because electric cars need to be charged between uses.
This means the range you can drive in winter is significantly reduced, which if you live quite far from where you work could end up being a significant problem if you can’t charge at the office.
Right Now?
Electric cars are still a relative newcomer to the roads, and this significant reduction in cold weather is something all of the manufacturers are aware of and working on. There’s already some companies working on technology to improve cold efficiency in their batteries that are showing significant progress.
As EV’s become more popular it’s also likely that more and more charging stations will pop up to accompany them. The range problem is big right now, but in another 5 years? It’s likely to become less and less of an issue as the world catches up.
How To Combat The Cold
There are some things you can do to increase your car’s range for now, before the world catches up. Leaving the car in the garage overnight and heating up the car’s interior before you leave for the morning can help increase the car’s range. The heater is actually the biggest user of electricity during the winter so if you can turn it down and rely on winter clothes instead that will also help your range.