Given the brutal summer heat in Austin, it's easy to forget that cars usually take a beating in the winter months. Older cars might take a little encouragement to get going, and engines end up running a little richer in order to get up to operating temperature.
Electric cars are no exception. The record cold streaks in the Northeast this winter put some of the electric Mini-Es to the test. As some of the testers found out, efficiency and battery capacity take a major hit as the temperature drops. This behavior is typical for the most part of electric devices, so it will be interesting to see how vehicle manufacturers handle these issues.
Normally these might be minor issues, but with reduced battery capacity comes limited range, which is already one of the primary hurdles facing electric vehicles. Perhaps electric cars will need to do a better job of insulating the battery in colder weather, or some sort of heater can be used when plugged in. Either way, limited range is one of the biggest fears of using an electric cars, and an area where there is a lot of room for improvement.
It would be nice if we could get a few Mini-Es to test here in Austin. We don't have biting cold, but our summers sure could put the batteries to the test.
It seems like this page is talking about an experiment that shows electric cars are good even in cold weather. the experiment was done on three electric cars in cold weather; -17 degrees C. and it showed only a 0.4% reduction in range.
ReplyDeleteit goes on to say that compared to gas cars an electric car would be less of a hassel during cold weather. i am not sure this is a credible source though.and it hasn't been updated for a while now. but it does mean that electric cars and cold weather do mix better than we thought.
website: http://www.econogics.com/ev/evcold.htm
Electric car performance in cold weather hinges on the battery technology. The author there cites simply wrapping a lead-acid pack to protect it from the cold - which is pretty much the go to solution (to the point where the most modern designs have heating/cooling loops designed, as too much heat is just as bad), but lead-acid batteries are among the least affected by cold weather. Lithium-ion, which gives us the kind of performance we want as far as designing an electric battery, is significantly affected by cold weather.
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