Cold weather

jim_walton

I've just done a trip in my Nissan Leaf. The outside temperature was minus 6 Celsius and the range fell a dramatic 60%..I had the heater on of course but I was still surprised at how much less efficient the car is when it freezing outside.  

ratrace

If its the mk1 nissan leaf then its no surprise as they did not have thermal management, so the batterys will be frozen, if its the mk2 ie 18 plate onwards then thats quite a drop i you had to do a long trip then more charges would need to be done.

Grumpy_chap

Batteries are less efficient in cold weather.

jim_walton

ratrace said:

If its the mk1 nissan leaf then its no surprise as they did not have thermal management, so the batterys will be frozen, if its the mk2 ie 18 plate onwards then thats quite a drop i you had to do a long trip then more charges would need to be done.

It's a fifteen plate so I guess that's why.. 

DrEskimo

Yea the impact of the weather is not having anywhere close to 60% reduction in range on either the 2016 41kWh Renault Zoe or 2016 85kWh Tesla Model S.

Not seen much change than the usual 20% reduction expected in winter.

ididgetwhereiamtoday

Same here with a mark 1 30kw. A full tank in the summer was getting me 120 miles on a good day. Now I’m struggling to get 50 miles. This weather is extreme though. 

venomx

Same in my petrol car. MPG is usually 42mpg around town. Since the ridiculous cold weather at about -5c degrees I get about 37mpg

jim_walton

Thankfully I have a diesel car too..

TooManyPoints

This weather is extreme though. 

It isn't that extreme. It's colder than average, but around 50% of the days throughout the year can be expected to be colder than average. It's not at all unusual in the UK (especially the further north you go) to get periods where the temperature fails to get much above zero by day in the winter months. If the range of EVs is so seriously impacted by what are not at all unusual temperatures their suitability for this country's climate must fall into question. 

diystarter7

TooManyPoints said:

This weather is extreme though. 

It isn't that extreme. It's colder than average, but around 50% of the days throughout the year can be expected to be colder than average. It's not at all unusual in the UK (especially the further north you go) to get periods where the temperature fails to get much above zero by day in the winter months. If the range of EVs is so seriously impacted by what are not at all unusual temperatures their suitability for this country's climate must fall into question. 

Hi

More so in the midlands and north if often this cold for weeks and one of my worries re winter is battery cars getting stuck on motorways during a blizzard. I am often wondering how long the batteries would last on average.  I'm no fan of battery cat atm until they are more affordable and batteries can be charged more quickly on all battery cars and have much better range per charge and in winter.

We do need to cut back on pollution in London

Thanks

DrEskimo

TooManyPoints said:

This weather is extreme though. 

It isn't that extreme. It's colder than average, but around 50% of the days throughout the year can be expected to be colder than average. It's not at all unusual in the UK (especially the further north you go) to get periods where the temperature fails to get much above zero by day in the winter months. If the range of EVs is so seriously impacted by what are not at all unusual temperatures their suitability for this country's climate must fall into question. 

They aren't.

These are very early Leaf's that lacked battery thermal management systems in lieu of battery chemistry that is not used in other EVs. They are an exception not a rule.

As I say, both the 6-year old EVs I use have not been impacted more than is usual in the winter months.