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I've lived in areas with serious snowfall and icy road conditions that you have to deal with 4-5 months out of the year, most of my life. These small, lightweig

I've lived in areas with serious snowfall and icy road conditions that you have to deal with 4-5 months out of the year, most of my life. These small, lightweight, weak EVs are a bad joke in that context, they'd be useless. NYC, Chicago, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Denver, Detroit, etc. have some terrible Winter weather for example. You can't safely, effectively navigate Winter weather in NYC in a vehicle like the Chery QQ Ice Cream. At best it'd be good ~2/3 of the year.

com2kid 5y ago
From what I understand, upgrading a 2 wheel drive EV to a 4 wheel EV isn't a horribly hard thing to do. Driving on snow/iced doesn't require power, it requires good tires and an understanding of how to drive on snow and ice. I do wonder if the engine in it could get up Seattle hills though, my family's old Geo Metro had problems, so something with a fraction of the power could prove problematic.
murderfs 5y ago
> These small, lightweight, weak EVs are a bad joke in that context, they'd be useless. [citation needed] Power is not the limiting factor in icy road conditions, traction is. While a heavier car is easier to get moving due to increased normal force, it's equally harder to stop. The actual difference makers are snow tires so you have more traction, and electronic stability control/antilock brakes so you never lose traction.
autoliteInline 5y ago
You do have to wonder how people drove around when scarcely any vehicle was AWD/4WD. Having said that, good snow tires are magic.
- germ 5y ago
  This. Regulating seasonal snow tire/chain usage in areas with lots of snow/ice is imperative to reducing collisions and improving safety. That and decent infrastructure for clearing snow in a fairly timely manner. All seasons can't and _wont_ cut it in some areas, and having tires that only work 3/4s of the year for traction is dicey at best. Source: I drive a Miata in winter up in Saskatchewan
  - autoliteInline 5y ago
    'round these parts (which is hilly and has wet snow), the limiting factor (given decent snow tires) doesn't tend to be traction, it's high centering.

com2kid 5y ago

From what I understand, upgrading a 2 wheel drive EV to a 4 wheel EV isn't a horribly hard thing to do. Driving on snow/iced doesn't require power, it requires good tires and an understanding of how to drive on snow and ice. I do wonder if the engine in it could get up Seattle hills though, my family's old Geo Metro had problems, so something with a fraction of the power could prove problematic.

murderfs 5y ago

> These small, lightweight, weak EVs are a bad joke in that context, they'd be useless. [citation needed] Power is not the limiting factor in icy road conditions, traction is. While a heavier car is easier to get moving due to increased normal force, it's equally harder to stop. The actual difference makers are snow tires so you have more traction, and electronic stability control/antilock brakes so you never lose traction.

autoliteInline 5y ago

You do have to wonder how people drove around when scarcely any vehicle was AWD/4WD. Having said that, good snow tires are magic.

germ 5y ago
This. Regulating seasonal snow tire/chain usage in areas with lots of snow/ice is imperative to reducing collisions and improving safety. That and decent infrastructure for clearing snow in a fairly timely manner. All seasons can't and _wont_ cut it in some areas, and having tires that only work 3/4s of the year for traction is dicey at best. Source: I drive a Miata in winter up in Saskatchewan
- autoliteInline 5y ago
  'round these parts (which is hilly and has wet snow), the limiting factor (given decent snow tires) doesn't tend to be traction, it's high centering.