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I wonder how the colder climate effects vehicles in this market.

toomuchtodo 7y ago
Energy consumption increases, but charging stations are ubiquitous and economic incentives plentiful in Norway. Geographic areas with colder climates frequently have block heater power available; similarly you want power available for "shore power" to keep the battery charging and conditioned when it's exceptionally cold. Norway's electrical generation is almost 100% renewable, so the additional energy consumption is a moot point. EVs also make an excellent sink of power in aggregate ("controllable distributed load") for renewable generation that might have had to be curtailed and wasted.
VBprogrammer 7y ago
An interesting aside. The London bus that I get from Waterloo to my office is electrical. And yet on a cold January morning it smells worse of diesel fumes than the other buses as it has diesel heaters providing heat. I guess it's a sign of how efficient they are that there is not a suitable source of low grade waste heat from either the motors or the batteries.
mmaurizi 7y ago
Colder climate hurts range on electric vehicles. On the plus side for EV adoption in colder climates, they've got outlets everywhere for people to plug in the block heaters on their cars, so they're totally ready in terms of public slow-charging infrastructure.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  Doesn't it hurt range, but increase battery longevity? ISTR hot climates being more problematic for EV owners in terms of premature battery wear.
  - toomuchtodo 7y ago
    No, batteries do not like to be too hot, nor too cold. There is an operating range. This is why Teslas keep their packs cool in the heat, but will also restrict charge rate from regeneration or charging (yellow dotted line on energy consumption graph) until the pack has been brought up to operating temp. Hot climates killed Nissan LEAF packs faster because of poor (air cooling) thermal management. Tesla packs use liquid cooling, and aggressively manage the battery pack to ensure longevity.
CalChris 7y ago
Cold climates reduce EV range. However, cold climates also reduce mileage for gas cars. https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/coldweather.shtml https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/coldweather.shtml

Energy consumption increases, but charging stations are ubiquitous and economic incentives plentiful in Norway. Geographic areas with colder climates frequently have block heater power available; similarly you want power available for "shore power" to keep the battery charging and conditioned when it's exceptionally cold. Norway's electrical generation is almost 100% renewable, so the additional energy consumption is a moot point. EVs also make an excellent sink of power in aggregate ("controllable distributed load") for renewable generation that might have had to be curtailed and wasted.

VBprogrammer 7y ago

An interesting aside. The London bus that I get from Waterloo to my office is electrical. And yet on a cold January morning it smells worse of diesel fumes than the other buses as it has diesel heaters providing heat. I guess it's a sign of how efficient they are that there is not a suitable source of low grade waste heat from either the motors or the batteries.

mmaurizi 7y ago

Colder climate hurts range on electric vehicles. On the plus side for EV adoption in colder climates, they've got outlets everywhere for people to plug in the block heaters on their cars, so they're totally ready in terms of public slow-charging infrastructure.

newnewpdro 7y ago
Doesn't it hurt range, but increase battery longevity? ISTR hot climates being more problematic for EV owners in terms of premature battery wear.
- toomuchtodo 7y ago
  No, batteries do not like to be too hot, nor too cold. There is an operating range. This is why Teslas keep their packs cool in the heat, but will also restrict charge rate from regeneration or charging (yellow dotted line on energy consumption graph) until the pack has been brought up to operating temp. Hot climates killed Nissan LEAF packs faster because of poor (air cooling) thermal management. Tesla packs use liquid cooling, and aggressively manage the battery pack to ensure longevity.

CalChris 7y ago

Cold climates reduce EV range. However, cold climates also reduce mileage for gas cars. https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/coldweather.shtml https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/coldweather.shtml