Critics regularly tell us that EVs lose efficiency(range) in winter driving. They are correct. What they don’t say is that ICE vehicles do too, possibly even more in some circumstances. And hybrids are the worst of all for winter driving range loss.

15 comments

1. I think the main issue I face as an EV driver is that I need to hunt and find EV chargers, and then I need to spend 20-30 minutes charging at one and PAY the same bloody price as if I was charging at a gas station and taking 5 minutes to refill.

   Now add the high cost of insurance, and high difficulty of repair of EVs (as EV repair shops are hard to find and are expensive), high depreciation value, battery degradation….all these add up.

   I don’t regret buying an EV but I regret buying it for long drives. I will be looking to get an ICE vehicle asap because EV isn’t really practical for Canadian Winter road trips.

2. A part of EV range decrease in the cold is because EVs are so efficient to begin with, so there is not much waste heat for the cabin in winter. EVs are close to 90% efficient whereas ICE are more like 30%. ICE engines love the cold so I’m not sure why the drop in ICE gas mileage. Certainly there would be in the snow but that decrease in efficiency is common to all types of cars.

3. I had a hybrid before switching to EV and it would be running the engine much of the time in the winter just to make heat and keep the engine warm. Hybrids don’t handle the winter well.

4. I loose about 25% in the winter with my diesel. Mostly due to remote starts for warmup and auto/full 4WD

5. I drove across the country in an ICE vehicle a few years back. It was unusually cold through the entire country and I got about 30% less range out of a tank until I got to the south and it got above 32 degrees.

6. My Cayenne eHybrid’s range drops from 50 miles to about 40 in the coldest days like we are having now in Chicago. But that still works for me because work is less than ten miles away so I have more than enough range to stop at Costco on the way home! When this lease expires in 2027 I plan on leasing a Cayenne EV.

7. Nonsense: this is Bbusiness school graduates trying to teach physics: ‘retain energy’. In fact, the ICE generates wasted energy in the form of heat in the radiator. It’s impossible to turn this off in summer, but it’s a very useful by-product in winter. You generate the same amount of heat in summer. 35% of the energy in the gasoline is used to heat the raditors.

   In an EV, energy is stored in the battery, with the same amount of energy being used by the fan to push the car forward and keep it moving. The mileage is about the same, but to drive the car comfortably, we need to heat the interior. 2,000 watts for two hours equates to 4 kWh, which is 10% of the total electricity usage. Any loss through the batteries and copper wires can be ignored. However, if you turn on the heated steering wheel and seat, they will make you feel warm without heating up the entire room. When driving short distances, the heating is on all the time and can use more kW than the motor. This can halve the range drain it completely without moving the cars an inch,

   There is very little more resistamce in the batteries in cold weather. In fact, advanced circuitry works better in cold termperature.

   However, we have no problems with starting in the cold. Business chool graduates failed in math and science and cause America great damage now.

8. Due to the current administration, anytime someone uses the acronym ICE, I assume they’re talking about “Immigration and Customs Enforcement”.

   In this context, what is ICE suppose to mean? Because in my perspective, ICE having reduced range on their vehicles is better for everybody.

9. Possibly,some cases. No fact just speculation. It seems more and more people just throw out possibilities to talk about something.

10. 🙄 EV’s are certainly a key element for our energy and transportation future, but what’s the point of this post? Yes, ICE vehicles lose efficiency/range in the winter too, but no one has range anxiety with a combustion engine. If it’s 10% less efficient, you take 5 minutes and fill up 10% more often in winter. That’s why critics don’t talk about that, because it’s a huge nothing-burger.

    If there’s going to be criticisms levied against the continued use of ICE for everyday driving, let’s focus on real issues/shortcomings. This is just trying to deflect real shortcomings of EVs, which shouldn’t be dismissed by those in colder climates.

11. I lose about 100 km of range on my blazer ev but I also drive 137km/h on the highway for 160 km round trip for work.

12. Let’s not forget the block warmers that are required in certain places to keep coolant and oil from freezing inside the block. They run all night using plenty of energy that no one even thinks to include in the calculation. But EVs lose range in the cold is the discussion.

13. So heating grids for batteries is a lie? Why would Tesla advertise this feature as a benefit for the cold if it is not a thing?

    I guess all the times ive had to cool a reaction to control the rate was just another big oil lie.

    Engineers performing bench scale simulations without understanding the underlying chemistry seem to be doing a similar amount of damage.

14. Can confirm.

    We’ve recorded mileage stats, at every fill, for every ICE vehicle we’ve ever had.

    My ‘sporty’ family sedan (a CVT Subaru WRX), which mostly does low-speed commutes, sees 25-30% worse fuel efficiency in the pit of winter – and our winters aren’t even that cold.

    The amount of loss has varied a bit by vehicle (and the WRX is more impacted than some of the smaller, more efficient vehicles we’ve had), but there’s always a significant loss.

    That said, the ZE0 Nissan Leaf we had suffered a 50% loss for winter. The ZE1 we now have seems a little better.

    In both cases some of the losses are simply that we have to run heating for the meatsacks the vehicle is carrying around (our not very hot summers means cooling is less of an issue). The ZE1 has a heatpump and the ZE0 did not, so that could be the main difference between the two EVs (given their complete lack of battery management).

15. ICE can refuel in 5 minutes at one of 100,000 gas stations nationwide

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