The Hottest Electric Vehicles Leave Winter Drivers Out in the Cold

The Daily Caller ^ | 12/14/13 | Giuseppe Macri

[chiller]

Engineering breakthroughs like the Tesla Model S may be burning up the electric car market (figuratively and literally), but they’re leaving drivers cold and under-powered in the face of Old Man Winter.

Cold temperatures have adverse effects on batteries, slowing down the incoming and outgoing flow of energy and inevitably losing some in the process. The 250-mile average range of an electric car in normal climate conditions can see its performance reduced by 70-miles on a single charge in average winter conditions. The colder it gets, the shorter than range.

Not only that, the average winter driver tends to turn up the heat — a function that also puts a draw on the battery uncommon during other seasons.

[Right Wing Assault]

Oops. The -20 temp was not during that storm. That was another time. The temp for the blizzard was only around zero.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “well not likely a 100% options, does not the electric motor it’s self create heat when in operation?” <<

.
And how do you propose to reclaim that heat?

[Revel]

So that reduction in mileage could be considered lost Energy?

The truth about batteries is that during charging energy is lost in the form of heat. The older the battery then less and less energy put in gets returned in power out. Batteries are very inefficient.

[null and void]

If the power grid goes down hard roughly 270 million Americans will die in the first year.

A few because they can't charge their electric cars, and many because without power they can't get gas or diesel fuel pumped into their cars and grocery trucks.

OTOH, if demand for electricity goes up due to more electric vehicles, the market will respond by expanding and improving the electrical infrastructure to provide for it.

Or would you prefer to raise taxes and impose government mandated [hyper sarcasm quote]engineering[/hyper sarcasm quote] solution (think the universally successful government exercises in social engineering as the model).

Why, they could put Al Gore, the man who brought us the low flow toilet, in charge of the whole project!

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Duct the cooling air directly into the car?

[editor-surveyor]

That would have to be recirculated air from the car.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “If the power grid goes down hard roughly 270 million Americans will die in the first year.” <<

.
Year?

How many millions do you want to die in the first day due to the immobility of their electric cars?

I can go 1000 miles on full tanks in my 3/4 ton pu.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I have invented a vehicle that overcomes this obstacle, because instead of batteries it uses a concentrated liquid fuel that works in all temperatures.

My car runs on compost. It's like totally "organic"...man.

[null and void]

When those electrics fail in large numbers, they can cause large scale loss of life.

Yes. I've seen the carnage that happens when cars run out of gas.

Entire families starved to skeletons on the side of the road, their boney fingers vainly reaching out to implore the uncaring traffic, tragic casualties frozen in their last desperate attempt to live, staring with buzzard hollowed eye sockets in mute testimony to man's inhumanity to man...

[null and void]

That would have to be recirculated air from the car.

Which is, of course, technologically impossible...

[Right Wing Assault]

Duct the cooling air directly into the car?

The old air-cooled VW Beetle gas engines could not heat the vehicle in the winter, so I doubt the heat given off by a modern high-efficiency electic motor would provide much heat on cold days.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

It might smell a little “Ozoney” is all.

[stylin19a]

The 250-mile average range of an electric car in normal climat

is that true ?

[editor-surveyor]

> “Which is, of course, technologically impossible.” <<

.
No, just practically inadvisable.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

That would have to be recirculated air from the car...Which is, of course, technologically impossible

Yeah, happens all the time with automotive A/C.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “Yes. I’ve seen the carnage that happens when cars run out of gas.” <<

.
Childish retort. - What if it were half of the cars on the road? It would effectively stop all of them.

[null and void]

BTW, when the gas pumps don't work due to a downed grid, and millions of people are dying next to their hopelessly stalled gas burning cars, the Tesla drivers will be charging up here:

Or does your hate of electric cars require that both the grid and the sun quit on the same day?

[ROCKLOBSTER]

The old air-cooled VW Beetle gas engines could not heat the vehicle in the winter,

Actually they worked fine going down the highway (when new).

The cables/control flaps would stick, hoses would come off, leaks develop, and of course if the rocker panels rusted along with the heater tubes...fogedaboudit.

[editor-surveyor]

With AC, the air never leaves the cab, it just passes through the expansion coil.

[steve86]

I don’t know; the brushless high-efficiency DC motors we use in R/C can get real hot — you wouldn’t want to touch the case with a bare finger in some cases. The motors are much more efficient than the older ones in terms of runtime for the same energy input — but so much energy is going through them they can get plenty hot. Gearing and load and other issues affect the running temperature. Also, an electric brushless motor scooter I had needed a huge heatsink for the speed controller — big loss there.