Electric cars in winter » Reduce loss of range
Updated: 26.06.2023 | Reading Time: 4 minutes
This text is machine translated.
Winter is always a challenge for drivers in general. Ice and snow on the roads quickly push tires to the limits of their grip and often require all the driving skills at the steering wheel to stay on track.
What's more, the frosty temperatures in conventional cars with combustion engines are also hard on the batteries. Correctly speaking, a car battery is not a battery. Technically speaking, they are rechargeable lead batteries or starter batteries. But regardless, experience shows that as soon as the thermometer drops below freezing, some car batteries fail. Especially if they are already old or damaged, there is often no longer enough power to start the engine.
But what about an electric car? Is there also a large rechargeable battery installed? Are there also problems with the battery? Does the range suffer on cold days? And what about heating? We'll tell you how to get through the winter with an electric car.
Further e-mobility guides
First the bad news: yes, the rechargeable electric car battery also suffers from the cold. Electric vehicles consume up to 30 percent more electricity in winter than in the warmer seasons - and this inevitably affects the range. In general, the colder it is, the greater the effect.
On the one hand, batteries and accumulators lose some of their capacity and performance at low temperatures, and on the other, the electric heating in the car eats up a lot of power.
However, there are some effective tricks to get your electric vehicle through the winter despite the cold and frost.
As temperatures fall, the usable capacity of the lithium-ion battery in electric cars also decreases. For this reason, you should always park your electric car in a closed garage if possible.
On cold winter days, the temperatures inside your garage do not drop nearly as drastically as outside. On average, temperatures inside are up to five degrees higher. And the warmer the environment, the less the battery in the electric car cools down.
An open and draughty parking deck, on the other hand, is also covered, but offers little protection against complete cooling. Underground garages, on the other hand, are ideal and are usually frost-proof.
No garage? You should know this:
If you have to park your car outside in winter due to a lack of alternatives and the wallbox is also outside, the charging time will be longer. For one thing, a cold battery charges more slowly, and for another, charging stations automatically reduce the amount of power output in cold weather to protect the battery during the charging process.
Many vehicle manufacturers offer a smartphone app to go with their electric vehicles. This makes it possible to preheat the vehicle at the touch of a finger before setting off - around 15 minutes before departure is sufficient.
This is particularly practical if the electric car is still connected to the charging station. This is because the energy required to heat up the vehicle comes from the mains socket.
Apart from the convenience of getting into a warm car in cold temperatures, far less energy is required later on during the journey. After all, the temperature only needs to be maintained at the existing level. The achievable range is then noticeably higher.
In a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, the energy for heating is more or less a waste product of the engine. It is therefore easy to heat the entire interior to a comfortably warm temperature.
If you were to do this with an electric car, the electric heating would require so much energy that the electric car would have a significantly shorter range.
But there is a workaround: Instead of heating the entire interior of the e-vehicle, it makes sense to only turn on the steering wheel heating and the windshield heating (i.e. heating wires in the windshield, not the fan) in addition to the seat heating, if available. This is significantly more effective and the heaters can also be easily retrofitted if necessary.
A sporty driving style with maximum acceleration is fun. But in wintry road conditions, this driving style is inherently not a particularly good idea.
However, even from an energy-saving perspective, e-car drivers should drive with foresight and as smoothly as possible to avoid abrupt acceleration and braking. If you also use recuperation to recover energy when braking, you can effectively reduce energy consumption and achieve the greatest possible range despite the heating being switched on.
It is also helpful to set the ECO mode available in many electric vehicles in winter. In this mode, the vehicle's energy management is designed for low power consumption with maximum efficiency.
Watch out! E-cars can skid more easily in winter:
Expect electric cars to behave slightly differently in winter than you might be used to with combustion engines. On the one hand, acceleration and top speed may be reduced, and on the other, the low temperatures also have an impact on recuperation, i.e. regenerative braking. This usually works perfectly in warm weather and you brake by simply taking your foot off the accelerator. In winter, however, automatic braking (which cannot be controlled by the driver) can react so strongly that the wheels of rear-wheel drive electric cars in particular skid on slippery roads, making it easier to skid.
What helps here: set snow or winter mode for recuperation or set recuperation to a low level. If this is not possible, Eco mode can help, as the car accelerates more slowly and starts off more smoothly.
If you charge your electric car incorrectly in winter, you may damage the battery beyond repair.
As a general rule, it is best to charge your car immediately after driving while the battery is still warm. On the one hand, charging does not take as long and on the other, it is the gentlest way to ensure the longest possible battery life.
After charging, it is best to leave your car plugged into the wallbox in winter, as the mains energy can be used to pre-temper the battery for the next journey.
You should also urgently avoid charging a cold battery at a fast charging station. Even at less than 20 degrees (battery temperature), major damage can occur as the ions move more slowly and cannot properly absorb the energy that is pressed into them at high speed.
This can be remedied by a heat pump, which brings the battery to the correct temperature before the desired charging time.
Summary:
To get through the winter safely and efficiently with an electric car, there are a few things you should bear in mind. Because there are definitely a few significant differences to a conventional vehicle with a combustion engine. But if you can park your electric car in a garage and charge it there, in the warm, and also adapt your driving style to the weather, you are well equipped for the challenges of the cold season.
And even if it is unwise to turn up the heating for the interior in an electric car, you don't have to freeze - despite the icy temperatures outside. With a few small tricks and the right procedures, you can drive extremely comfortably with an electric drive even in winter and reliably reach your destination.