Going Electric: Winter Weather Challenges (Premium)

In my ongoing series about leaving behind the 16MPG SUV that I loved for an electric golf cart that hauls the family around, there have been a lot of firsts and the winter provides its own unique set of challenges. From charging to heating the car, it’s a different world that requires a bit more thought than simply jumping into an ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle and setting out on a journey.

The challenges for electric vehicles in the cold weather are not unique as ICE vehicles have similar obstacles. In cold climates, engine block heaters are common for ICE vehicles, and heating up your car before you get into it is something that many of us have done before heading out to get groceries.

And in cold weather, the battery of my car will work harder to keep itself warm and this will result in a notable range decrease. On the coldest days, I saw up to a 25% drop in range but unless you are taking road trips, this was not too big of a factor as this still left me easily with 150 miles of range – I only charge to 200 miles each night and this only occurred when I would get into the vehicle cold.

Tesla has made some key advancements in their vehicles that have helped my model Y have much better range in the cold weather. Unlike the initial release of the model 3, my Y has a heat pump that helps reduce the range impact of using heat in the car and means that I only saw a material impact to the battery range when temperatures were below freezing (roughly). Earlier model 3s without the heat pump (all 3s now ship with a heat pump) would start seeing this impact as soon as the heat would be needed in a car as turning electrons into warmth is a good way to drain your battery quickly – a heat pump, while not solving this problem entirely, does help significantly.

And there are other downsides that impact your range, if the battery is cold, regen from breaking is not as efficient or even possible if the battery is outside of its desired operating temperatures. This is most apparent when you first get into the vehicle and the driving dynamics can change based on how “strong” the regen engages.

But like all challenges there are workarounds and the primary recommendation is that if you are going to buy an electric car, you need a good home-charging solution. In my scenario, I have a level 2 arrangement in my garage that helps significantly in the cold weather. If you cannot charge at home and I don’t think a standard outlet is sufficient, this may not be the type of vehicle for you – especially if you live in a colder climate.

With my car garaged and a charger always available, it becomes significantly easier to keep the battery at the optimal temperature before leaving my house. My garage, on the coldest of winter days, rarely got below 40F as it is attached to my house but is not directly heated. And the other significant benefit to an electric vehicle is that pre-heating the car can be done without opening the garage door…technically you can do this with an ICE vehicle once, maybe twice.

As long as I remembered to warm up the car before leaving, the impact of cold weather on the battery was closer to 10-15% on days below freezing where I had to keep the heat running high. Pro-tip, using your heated seats is more efficient at keeping you warm than pushing the thermostat to warmer temperatures.

But every other aspect of the car is the same in winter weather. My Y is a four-wheel-drive vehicle and we had several instances with 2+ inches of snow on the streets and I had zero issues with traction. While it’s not always fair to compare the traction control systems from a 2008 Nissan Pathfinder to a 2020 Model Y, I can comfortably say that the Y was more confident in the snow than the Pathfinder even with its BOF (Body on Frame) design – this is likely related to the low center of gravity in the Y.

The conclusion here is that unless your commute is 200 miles round trip (or more than 70% of your EVs battery) – then the cold weather is likely not an issue. Even less of an issue if you have a level 2 charger and nearly a blip on the radar if you have a charger and climate-controlled garage.

I still believe that EVs are not for everyone but the key is that the optimal user demographic is expanding and it’s expanding quickly. With vehicles like the Mach-E from Ford, or the ID lineup from VW, or the Taycan series from Porsche, the options are growing quickly outside of Tesla…and that’s a good thing.

While charging networks are still the Achilles heel of everything but Tesla at the moment, with more brands bringing more EVs to market, that gap will eventually close.