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I wonder how well EV's cope with arctic conditions. In areas near the ocean temperatures generally don't get too extreme (e.g. Anchorage), but inland they can
by beloch 10y ago
I wonder how well EV's cope with arctic conditions. In areas near the ocean temperatures generally don't get too extreme (e.g. Anchorage), but inland they can easily get into ranges that must be challenging for batteries to cope with.
- loeg 10y agoUnfortunately, article doesn't really address that. Just some he-said she-said opinions.
- Infernal 10y agoAnecdotal, but I was speaking with a friend from Norway about 18 months ago, and he mentioned how you see Teslas everywhere because they are heavily subsidized and gas is ridiculously expensive. However, he said everyone also has a winter car, a Subaru or similar, because the electric range is so severely limited by the cold.
- e12e 10y agoNot mentioned in the article, but hybrid vehicles are also quite popular in Norway - as they blend some of the benefits of gasoline and pure electric cars. My tounge-in-cheek take on it is that people that shouldn't really need to own a car, because they're living in an urban area and should be able to use public transport, will buy a Tesla. People that live eg. a few hours outside of Tromsø, will generally buy a four wheel drive gasoline car. But some of these can be served well by hybrids too.
- loeg 10y ago> However, he said everyone also has a winter car, a Subaru or similar, because the electric range is so severely limited by the cold. Article seems to suggest otherwise — population of 5 million, but only 3 million cars on the road.
- Infernal 10y agoHmm, maybe "everyone" in his context was really "everyone who has a Tesla". It's been a minute since that conversation, but the gist was that Teslas are popular because of subsidies, but cold-weather battery tech isn't good enough for an EV to be your only car in Norway, supposing you need a car in the first place.
- stevenrace 10y agoTo mitigate issues with cold weather, 2nd generation Nissan Leaf battery packs with the 'cold weather package' include a 'battery warmer' between banks. This is controlled via the BMS which was already monitoring temperature with some thermistors. It's a resistive element like that used in heated seats or an electric blanket. The Tesla battery is a liquid cooled battery and thus can be warmed via coolant that is heated by the inductive heater for the HVAC. Same for the GM Volt/Bolt.
- Gibbon1 10y agoI was also wondering about two things I've heard they have in northern climes called heated garages and engine block warmers[1]. I assume if one were charging a batter one could also divert some power to keep it warm. Lowered range aside one bonus of an electric car in cold climates is they'll probably start. [1] As a Californian these things frighten and confuse me.
- kalleboo 10y ago> I assume if one were charging a batter one could also divert some power to keep it warm The Tesla is always diverting power to keep the batteries warm in the winter. In fact, if you park it outdoors in freezing temperatures, and plug it in to an American single-phase 120V outlet using a long extension cord, all the power will go to keeping the batteries from freezing and it won't charge at all.
- Gibbon1 10y agoKinda conundrum there, you want good thermal coupling to the environment to shed heat when the batteries are charging. When the car is sitting in the cold you want the batteries insulated.
- stuaxo 10y agoPerhaps bits of metal that can physically touch between the outside and inside (or not) as needed could help ?