What’s An EV Worst Enemy? Extreme Cold Or Heat?

A new report now highlights how high and low temperatures reduce the range of electric cars. An extensive study by the Automobile Club of America (AAA) shows that extreme cold has a dramatic effect on the performance of electric cars.

When the temperature drops to about seven degrees below zero, the range drops by up to 39 percent compared to driving in mild spring weather. This is primarily due to the fact that the chemical processes of the battery become slow, while heating the cabin requires huge amounts of energy.

The summer heat also affects electric cars, but here the effect is much less noticeable. At 35 degrees, the range is only reduced by about 8.5 percent, which is primarily due to the energy consumption of the car’s air conditioning. The study shows that chemical battery loss in the cold actually accounts for only about 10-12 percent of the range loss. The rest is solely due to energy consumption for heating the cabin.

Cars equipped with a heat pump perform much better. In practice, this means that electric cars with a heat pump typically achieve 10-20 percent more range during the winter months than cars without one.

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