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Cold-weather range hits aren’t as bad for EVs with heat pumps
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
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It defintely is a huge issue, considering resistive heaters use 3x as much energy. Most EVs have a "low range" and anything you can do increase it without adding more batteries and weight and cost, especially in winter, is a huge advantage.
The lowest range EV in the US is 114 miles. The average commute is 52 miles. Most EVs sold in the US have a range of 250 miles or more. So a resistive heater eating 10% of your range is way less of an issue than your battery not charging properly in cold weather. Again, heat pumps should be available, but they aren't going to save you if cold weather kills your battery.
No one cares about "average commute" when buying an electric car and considering the offered range. They're thinking about long trips.
Who said anything about batteries "not charging properly"? What does that even mean?
We're not talking about killing batteries, we're talking about electric range. Heat pumps extend your electric range and 20 miles can absolutely be the difference between making it to the next charger or not.
If only plug-in hybrids existed...
Which have a whole bunch of issues of their own. Like increased mechanical complexity, and that you might use gas so seldom that it becomes significantly water by the time you do need it.
Most people aren't road tripping in their electric vehicle every day. If you don't understand how temperature affects battery chemistry, capacity, and charging I don't understand how you can even be in this conversation.
They can't road trip ever if the vehicle doesn't have sufficient range. I don't understand how you can even be in this conversation when you don't understand basic principles like this.
I understand how it affects all of these. It doesn't cause any of it to "not charge properly". EVs are used in the coldest places in the world with no major problems.
Not sure how you are being downvoted. You’re absolutely right. Everyone I know that wants an EV wants more range.
My wife has a Nissan leaf with 60 mile range for commuting, I have an old gas hatchback we can take for road trips. Before going off about how rich and privileged this setup is, the Leaf was purchased for 6k, 4k after tax rebates. Hatchback was purchased for 6k 9 years ago.
I'm glad that works out for you.
I've driven from Madison, WI to Chicago in an EV with ~100 mile range in cold weather. Wouldn't be my first choice, but I was in a pinch at the time. It can work, but getting a reliable charger network is the biggest problem. Made three stops to chargers that were broken or inaccessible for various reasons.
That was a couple of years back, and I think it'd go a bit smoother now. The Chicagoland area has reasonably good charger network outlays (much better than Minneapolis, which is a joke). Still wouldn't be my first choice, but it's workable.