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An EV essentially runs electric space heaters, since there's no engine block to steal waste heat from. It doesn't take a lot to heat a small enclosed space like

An EV essentially runs electric space heaters, since there's no engine block to steal waste heat from. It doesn't take a lot to heat a small enclosed space like a car interior. My Leaf uses anywhere from 1000 to 3000 watts to run heat, mostly towards the low end after it's warmed up. http://imgur.com/smzvL8C http://imgur.com/smzvL8C For reference, the battery pack is 24kWh, so it could theoretically run the heater while stuck on a road for 24 hours straight. A Model S with a 85kWh battery pack could keep the heat on for over 3 days.

falcolas 11y ago
A fully charged Model S, operating at peak capacity. When it has to heat the battery pack, the interior, and has already been driven for upwards of 100 miles (plus heating), those numbers will significantly smaller. Worse would be the anxiety of retaining enough charge to get the car the remaining miles to your destination once un-stuck.
- dangrossman 11y ago
  After 100 miles plus heating, it's got 50 kWh left in the battery. That'll get you another 147 miles driving with the heat on. Sitting in traffic, for hours upon hours, is really not a problem for an EV. The interior and battery pack heaters only use 1.5 kilowatts per hour or so. If you drive 100 miles with the heat on, get stuck in the snow for an epic rescue time of 8 hours, your range is only decreased by 35 miles to 112. Having 112 miles left in your tank is not an anxiety-inducing situation.
  - falcolas 11y ago
    It is, if you still have 80 miles to go in weather which got you stuck in the first place. I live in Montana, so such trips are common, not exceptional. Having a pass close in front of you (or while you're on it) is not terribly exceptional either.
    - dangrossman 11y ago
      Is it? Then you definitely wouldn't want to make this trip in a traditional gasoline car. Two drivers leave on this trip you described with the same fuel in the tank (250 miles worth), one in a Tesla and one in a Toyota. Both travel 100 miles before getting stuck. Both have to wait 8 hours in the cold on a closed road. Both have 80 miles to go. The difference is, the Tesla has 112 miles of range left at that point, and the Toyota only has 86. It consumed 2.56 gallons of gas idling to run the heat, a much larger percentage of its overall fuel than the Tesla. Assuming neither driver planned to run out of fuel on this trip (since 360 miles is beyond the range of either vehicle), both are within range of either a gas station or a charging station. They're all along the length of I90 and I15 in Montana. The Tesla has a larger margin of error for detours and closed roads on the way.
      - falcolas 11y ago
        Refueling a gas powered vehicle at a small town is much simpler than looking for a supercharger or spending the night waiting for a normal outlet to recharge your battery. Small towns (which for Montana I'll define as towns with a population of around 1,000) with gas pumps are plentiful. Small towns with hotels, a bit less plentiful. Small towns with superchargers are nonexistent. > You wouldn't have left if your destination wasn't within 80 miles of I90 or I15, Bozeman to Great Falls, 180 miles. A supercharger on one end of the trip, a hotel on the far end, and lots of nasty winter driving in-between. Also known as Tuesday for many folks I know. Limiting yourself to 100 miles from a Supercharger knocks out a lot of space in Montana. Most of the interesting parts of Montana are well over 10 miles from a supercharger. Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, the reservations, the feed lines into southern Idaho, Wyoming and North Dakota... No southern Idaho. There's a joke that says that on the east coast, 100 miles is a vacation, but in Montana, 100 miles is a grocery trip. That applies to a lot of the non-coastal US as well. Have a look at https://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger?redirect=no https://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger?redirect=no, and look at how many huge open spaces exist.
        deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]

falcolas 11y ago

A fully charged Model S, operating at peak capacity. When it has to heat the battery pack, the interior, and has already been driven for upwards of 100 miles (plus heating), those numbers will significantly smaller. Worse would be the anxiety of retaining enough charge to get the car the remaining miles to your destination once un-stuck.

dangrossman 11y ago
After 100 miles plus heating, it's got 50 kWh left in the battery. That'll get you another 147 miles driving with the heat on. Sitting in traffic, for hours upon hours, is really not a problem for an EV. The interior and battery pack heaters only use 1.5 kilowatts per hour or so. If you drive 100 miles with the heat on, get stuck in the snow for an epic rescue time of 8 hours, your range is only decreased by 35 miles to 112. Having 112 miles left in your tank is not an anxiety-inducing situation.
- falcolas 11y ago
  It is, if you still have 80 miles to go in weather which got you stuck in the first place. I live in Montana, so such trips are common, not exceptional. Having a pass close in front of you (or while you're on it) is not terribly exceptional either.
  - dangrossman 11y ago
    Is it? Then you definitely wouldn't want to make this trip in a traditional gasoline car. Two drivers leave on this trip you described with the same fuel in the tank (250 miles worth), one in a Tesla and one in a Toyota. Both travel 100 miles before getting stuck. Both have to wait 8 hours in the cold on a closed road. Both have 80 miles to go. The difference is, the Tesla has 112 miles of range left at that point, and the Toyota only has 86. It consumed 2.56 gallons of gas idling to run the heat, a much larger percentage of its overall fuel than the Tesla. Assuming neither driver planned to run out of fuel on this trip (since 360 miles is beyond the range of either vehicle), both are within range of either a gas station or a charging station. They're all along the length of I90 and I15 in Montana. The Tesla has a larger margin of error for detours and closed roads on the way.
    - falcolas 11y ago
      Refueling a gas powered vehicle at a small town is much simpler than looking for a supercharger or spending the night waiting for a normal outlet to recharge your battery. Small towns (which for Montana I'll define as towns with a population of around 1,000) with gas pumps are plentiful. Small towns with hotels, a bit less plentiful. Small towns with superchargers are nonexistent. > You wouldn't have left if your destination wasn't within 80 miles of I90 or I15, Bozeman to Great Falls, 180 miles. A supercharger on one end of the trip, a hotel on the far end, and lots of nasty winter driving in-between. Also known as Tuesday for many folks I know. Limiting yourself to 100 miles from a Supercharger knocks out a lot of space in Montana. Most of the interesting parts of Montana are well over 10 miles from a supercharger. Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, the reservations, the feed lines into southern Idaho, Wyoming and North Dakota... No southern Idaho. There's a joke that says that on the east coast, 100 miles is a vacation, but in Montana, 100 miles is a grocery trip. That applies to a lot of the non-coastal US as well. Have a look at https://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger?redirect=no https://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger?redirect=no, and look at how many huge open spaces exist.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]