First post of the New Year, lets kick the EV’s while they are down.

EV are stupid.  They are even stupider in the winter, especially where it’s exceptionally cold.

1. EVs are not ready for frigid road trips. I warned about this in August: Driving an EV on the highway in extreme cold will produce a range loss of 40% or more. EV owners of various brands traveling for the holidays shared numerous stories verifying this annoying (and potentially dangerous) reality. Drivers traveling in temperatures at or around zero with a headwind could go only 100 to 150 miles before needing to stop and recharge, depending upon the car, significantly increasing travel time. When they did charge, they had to deal with another disconcerting problem with EVs and winter…

2. EV fast-chargers operate much more slowly in extreme cold, if they work at all. The colder the EV battery, the slower the rate of charge that it will accept, making “fast-charging” in subzero temperatures a potentially miserable and plodding experience. Think a 45 to 60 minute charge instead of a 25 to 35 minute one. To top it off, users reported that fast-charging equipment, particularly from Electrify America, often just didn’t work in temperatures below -10 °F. Tesla’s proprietary Superchargers didn’t seem to have the same reliability issues.

I imagine that if you do get a charger to work and you sit inside the vehicle while you wait for the charger to charge.  But running the EV heater for the inside compartment might mean you’ll be there longer, a lot longer.  But wait!  I was reading that the heater in the Tesla doesn’t work while charging.  Better carry a small portable (gas) generator for the electric blankets you’ll need if you don’t want to freeze to death while waiting for a charge. 

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About On the North River

Forty years toiled in the Tel-com industry, married for 36 years widowed at sixty-one. New girlfriend at sixty-five. Was a Tea Party supporter. Today a follower of the Last American President to be honestly elected, Donald J. Trump.
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1 Response to First post of the New Year, lets kick the EV’s while they are down.

  1. One change to your first sentence – EV owners are stupid.

    Like

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