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The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

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211–220 of 549 posts

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2035 US is 2022 Europe, if your garage has power - you have 220v

Or indeed 1960s Europe for that matter. I believe most US homes have a ~240v supply, even if they don't have any outlets that allow them to use it.

in the very early days of utility serice some houses got 110 volt only, but most of them got upgraded to 220 in the 1950s.

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#212
post #207

Yet another reason why EVs won’t save us from the inefficiencies of car centric transportation. Americans, can we stop this failed experiment and let’s (re)build our cities with public transportation and alternative forms of transportation (ie, biking, walking, micro-mobility). Return the spaces occupied by parking lots, parking garages and use that space to house people. End these implied subsidies on “car housing”.…

100%. Someone who beats the drum on this regularly and effectively is Brent Toderian, @BrentToderian@mastodon.online. He's a city planner and strong advocate for precisely this position. Another resource is strongtowns.org. But yes, just speaking up, getting involved at the local level, is something that every citizen should get involved with if they can.

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#213
post #172
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoken by someone who's never had their diesel fuel begin gelling in the fuel line at night on a frigid, remote highway and trying to figure out if you can make it to somewhere with heat before you stop completely. Then finding out they only have gasoline, so you try to figure out how much gas you can add to the diesel tank to keep it from gelling but still run adequately to move you along. Sometimes we forget that w…

Is that something that actually happens to diesel engines? I have multiple diesels and while they are difficult to _start_ in the cold they are fine once started for me. But yes, cold enough and combustion engines are hard to get going. My Subaru hates cold days, it'll go a few seconds on a below freezing day before ignition. My diesel tractors actually have electric plugs to keep the manifold hot.

number 2 diesel fuel will turn to jelly at a bit over 40f. That is warmer than water freezes. Number 1 diesel will be fine to well below zero, and you can mix them to get different gel points. There are also anti gel additives you can add to prevent gelling. Number 2 diesel has significantly more energy than number 1, and is also cheaper, so you want to run number 2 if possible.

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#214
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But......EVs do work in cold weather? You lose a bit of range, but so what? My ICE car also gets worse mileage in winter. And if you're talking about extremes - then there's a reason why block heaters with external power connections are very common in certain places - even the best ICE struggles to start in -40C or less.

18Mpg becomes 10Mpg or worse in the winter in my experience. EV driving can be more efficient if you don't let your battery cold soak for hours, or equally inefficient if you do leave your car unplugged overnight.

Something must be wrong with your vehicle. I've tracked every tank of fuel I've put in either of my vehicles, and the efficiency does drop in the winter, but nowhere near that amount.

I actually just looked at my economy graph, and I can't tell how much winter affects it. The variance is less than the variance of my driving habits. So less than 20%.

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn't really need a heated garage (at home, anyway) if you had a 220 volt charger. That should be able to overcome any charging challenges in extreme cold, anyway. Relatively easy to get that into your garage. Also - if you arrive at your friend's place in the winter and park overnight, you won't lose a ton overnight if the car's just parked there.

Meanwhile, with an ICE car, you don't need to worry about having a garage, nevermind a heated one; the right charger, warming a pack, losing fuel overnight, or taking three hours to fully charge. I can pull up to any gas station and fill my tank in 2 minutes. And my gas isn't magically evaporating if it's a little chilly. The 30 different requirements for EVs to work in cold weather are too complex and prohibitively…

You sound like somebody who's never had to plug your car in at night to make sure that it'll start in the morning.

ICE cars still need electricity to start

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#216
post #189
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly it's the start battery that have problems in the cold. The diesel sold in Norway have anti-gelling substances added; cars run fine in -20 degC/-4 degF.

I live in the southern USA. So it makes sense that I have never heard of this. We had a -6°F night the other night but usually it'll freeze at night and be back above freezing by noon.

diesel starts gelling at warmer than water freezes.

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#217
post #116
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoken by someone who's never had their diesel fuel begin gelling in the fuel line at night on a frigid, remote highway and trying to figure out if you can make it to somewhere with heat before you stop completely. Then finding out they only have gasoline, so you try to figure out how much gas you can add to the diesel tank to keep it from gelling but still run adequately to move you along. Sometimes we forget that w…

> But you know what I don't do? Freeze my ass off standing in a gas station in subzero temperatures and howling winds! Not missing that at all. Right! And I suspect by 2035, not having a 220v outlet in the garage will be like not having a microwave in your kitchen in the mid 90's.

> not having a 220v outlet in the garage will be like not having a microwave

What about the millions of people who live in apartments and rowhouses?

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#218
post #207

Yet another reason why EVs won’t save us from the inefficiencies of car centric transportation. Americans, can we stop this failed experiment and let’s (re)build our cities with public transportation and alternative forms of transportation (ie, biking, walking, micro-mobility). Return the spaces occupied by parking lots, parking garages and use that space to house people. End these implied subsidies on “car housing”.…

Even if we got rid of all private passenger vehicles we’d still need some small commercial vehicles and they’d have the same technical issues.

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But......EVs do work in cold weather? You lose a bit of range, but so what? My ICE car also gets worse mileage in winter. And if you're talking about extremes - then there's a reason why block heaters with external power connections are very common in certain places - even the best ICE struggles to start in -40C or less.

At those temperatures you're up against the flash point of gasoline, which is already the lowest of any (liquid) fuel I can think of.

Remember that compression raises the temperature.

Re: The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are not in North America. Most of the rest of the world have a base voltage of, and all domestic outlets are 220-240.

In the US "220V" refers to a high current outlet normally, in a country where household outlets are 220V, you still need a high current outlet and, for safety reasons, most outlets are not high current, just like in the US.

A 220V outlet will always give you more power for the same current limit than a 120V
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