Temperature effect on range

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cctop

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Jan 22, 2016
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Location
San Francisco, CA
I'm sure this is a "duh" statement to many of you, but having just completed my first full year of driving an EV I was surprised how much my range decreased in the mild winter of San Francisco.

Over the summer when the outside temp was in the 70s I was averaging 4.4mi/KwH. In December and January when the temperature was in the 30's I was getting more like 3.0-3.5mi/KwH. A bit of that was from using the defroster sparingly but I didn't use the heater.

What's the decrease like for those of you who live in more extreme temperatures?
 
Note that your SE (and the 2015 LE) is going to use more battery in cold conditions than the SEL's. That's because your car has a resistive style heater and that is less energy efficient than the heat pump heater of the SEL's. Your drop in efficiency is not unusual for winter.

You say you don't use the heater, but the unless the climate control is set to "LO" or turned off completely, the heater will come on if the outside temperature is less than the preset temperature.

Also keep in mind that cold air is denser and thus harder to push through than warm air, and will also decrease your efficiency.
 
Also keep in mind that cold air is denser and thus harder to push through than warm air, and will also decrease your efficiency.

Exactly my observations and the rolling resistance of the tires increases as well. We drive the same routes to a couple ski areas and notice the usage increases about .5 KWH/mile at 0F vs 30F given the same dry road conditions. We mostly use the seat heat and the defroster sparingly as needed. Our SEL shows about a 10% "range" decrease when using the heatpump.
 
On the other end of the spectrum, with temperatures around 120F I noticed nearly a 50% drop in battery capacity. It seemed related to the A/C running rather than an impact directly related to the heat itself. As soon as the temperature dropped, the capacity has returned to normal.

The thing that was confusing to me was that the A/C seemed to draw more power as the temperature went up. I do not think conventional A/C compressors work harder in hotter temperatures (I'm under the impression they work longer). Regardless, the situation should be less impactful this upcoming summer since I've had VW remove the auto-setting of 72 degrees regardless of what it was set at when the car was turned off.
 
bizzle said:
On the other end of the spectrum, with temperatures around 120F I noticed nearly a 50% drop in battery capacity. It seemed related to the A/C running rather than an impact directly related to the heat itself. As soon as the temperature dropped, the capacity has returned to normal.

The thing that was confusing to me was that the A/C seemed to draw more power as the temperature went up. I do not think conventional A/C compressors work harder in hotter temperatures (I'm under the impression they work longer). Regardless, the situation should be less impactful this upcoming summer since I've had VW remove the auto-setting of 72 degrees regardless of what it was set at when the car was turned off.
Click to expand...

EV batteries really don't like extreme heat. And unlike the cold, extreme heat can be detrimental to the longevity of the pack. Try your best to not DC fast charge the car in those temperatures.
 
schleppy said:
bizzle said:
On the other end of the spectrum, with temperatures around 120F I noticed nearly a 50% drop in battery capacity. It seemed related to the A/C running rather than an impact directly related to the heat itself. As soon as the temperature dropped, the capacity has returned to normal.

The thing that was confusing to me was that the A/C seemed to draw more power as the temperature went up. I do not think conventional A/C compressors work harder in hotter temperatures (I'm under the impression they work longer). Regardless, the situation should be less impactful this upcoming summer since I've had VW remove the auto-setting of 72 degrees regardless of what it was set at when the car was turned off.
Click to expand...

EV batteries really don't like extreme heat. And unlike the cold, extreme heat can be detrimental to the longevity of the pack. Try your best to not DC fast charge the car in those temperatures.
Click to expand...
I have a friend in Iceland with a 2014 e-golf. She quick charges, and has 48k kilometers on her e-Golf. Range has gone from 198km on a recharge when new, down to 191km on a recharge now showing. It's cold in Iceland year round, so the non thermal cooling feature of the e-golf works well in that sub artic climate of Iceland, so far.

I don't have any illusion of being so lucky here in Southern California with hot summer days in the San Fernando Valley going over 100F from time to time. Just don't store your battery fully charged up in such temperatures.
 
I've seen estimated range for a full charge go from 110 miles during 80 degree weather this summer down to only 40 miles during 20 degree weather.
 
For me, in warmer (but not hot) weather, around 60º, I get about 5.5 mi/kWh. In colder weather, sub 35º, I tend to get about 4.2 mi/kWh without using heat. Coldest I've driven at was about 15º with heat on, that I struggled to stay above 3.0 mi/kWh.
 
So driving today after the nor'easter yesterday with temps about 5F and snow covered roads and the heater on I got 2.6m/kwh.
The low temps really does cut the range, no problems for what we use the car for however. More snow in the forecast but temps about 30F, we'll see how it goes.
 
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