EV Range in Cold Weather

A simple resistant heater.

Speciality chemistries aside, Li-ion batteries will suffer permanent damage if charged at temperatures below 0C. Using a very slow rate to charge can avoid this damage, and this will eventually heat the battery up to a safe temperature for normal charge rates. The PiP uses this methods, but its battery is half the size of the Prime's.

There might be a point at which it is too cold to do that. To avoid that, and to maintain faster charge times, the Prime has that battery heater, to get the pack above freezing. It also has the benefit of heating up a charged pack that might have cooled down that much. Otherwise, the car might start up the ICE if the battery was too cold. This function might only be available on cars sold in Canada and Alaska though.

 

I have had my Prius Prime for the last four weeks. I have charged it four times at work and twice at home. The Chargepoint App shows that every time I have charged it, it shows 13 kWh at full charge and a distance of 32 miles. Are you guys seeing the same #'s when you charge your cars?

I have never got more than 25-26 miles of EV driving range. Lower end of the range in the last two days as temperature really dropped in the Boston suburbs these last couple of days. The drive is mostly back roads with lots of traffic, perhaps 25% highway.

Are you guys actually seeing EV driving range that is 30+ miles?

How does one reconcile the 32 mile range in teh Chargepoint App with the 24-26 miles that I am actually getting?

Any advice that anybody can offer to improve the range?

Thanks.

 

Forget whatever Chargepoint tells you, as their estimates are crazy stupid.

I've driven my prime 35.5 miles on Ev, in near-optimal conditions. I've driven 32 miles quite often. Now that it's winter, it's more like 25 miles.

 

high tires pressure, no hvac, gentle acceleration and low speed. stay off the highway.

 

Same here. See...

 

Pretty similar results here... as high as 38.2 miles in optimal conditions (including light-ish, in town traffic), but as low as 31 recently in much cooler weather. I'm one who doesn't have a daily / year-round commute, though, so as winter hits us I tend to drive less on a day-by-day / weekly basis.

 

Yeah your highway commute going up to 70 mph is cutting into your EV range especially in the cold. My commute is about half the distance and no highway.

 

The resistance heaters in the seats make a small but noticeable reduction in EV range. The heated steering wheel less so.

 

Cold reduces range by:

• higher aerodynamic drag because the air is denser
• higher rolling drag because the tire pressure lowers which leads to more flex drag
• lubricants take longer to warm-up which takes energy
• cabin heat takes energy
• shorter days lead to vehicle night lights on longer
• battery efficiency falls

Bob Wilson

 

if you mean the estimate, no, that's based on driving history.
if you mean actual, you might eek out a bit more until the battery and lubricants cool down, which won't take long depending on the ambient temp, plus, you still have the factors bob mentions above.

then, you have to take into account the fuel usage to heat the garage, compared to whatever you might pick up in ev range.

 

That number is negative for me. We just insulated the garage. It stays much warmer in the winter and much cooler in the summer, and since it's attached that means less energy loss from the house to the garage all the time.

 

we did that in '08, but i have no way to measure.