Cold weather and electric cars

dieselfan1 · February 16, 2021

This is getting old.

At least -25° for the last 5 nights.

How's your electric car going to work in this? I bet the range is cut in half.

This is a dumb idea GM.

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ThatredneckguyJamie · February 16, 2021

buddy of mine moved to the Chicago area for work and bought a Chevy Volt for driving into the city instead of his truck. he hasn't had any issues.

dieselfan1 · February 16, 2021

It ain't -25° in chicago

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garagerog · February 16, 2021

10 minutes ago, ThatredneckguyJamie said:

buddy of mine moved to the Chicago area for work and bought a Chevy Volt for driving into the city instead of his truck. he hasn't had any issues.

Wouldn't expect he would, the Volt has a small gasoline engine to charge the batteries once the all EV mode has depleted the batteries to a certain level. Might be a different story altogether with the Bolt though which is a true EV.

ThatredneckguyJamie · February 16, 2021

14 minutes ago, dieselfan1 said:

It ain't -25° in chicago

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-25, -10...yall can have all that mess. It was even a little chilly here this morning, had to wear a long sleeve shirt

aseibel · February 16, 2021

I was visiting the in-laws this weekend, we stayed up by Mille Lacs Lake. Temp was -33 yesterday when we woke up. Took the wifes Acadia. I tell you, that thing started a little slow....

Grumpy Bear · February 16, 2021

57 minutes ago, ThatredneckguyJamie said:

-25, -10...yall can have all that mess. It was even a little chilly here this morning, had to wear a long sleeve shirt

Ever see a Bears fan in the stands at -10....Bear chested. Tee shirts come out around -30. :crackup: My self no a true son of Illinois have my parka on by 25 above.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Grumpy Bear

Slizzo · February 16, 2021

1 hour ago, dieselfan1 said:

It ain't -25° in chicago

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Norway says "hi".

Honestly, if you have grave concerns about electric vehicles and the cold, you haven't been looking around lately. Norway's car sales as of January 2021 are 50% electric. They seem to be doing just fine over there in the cold and bad weather with their electric vehicles.

Co worker has a Tesla, while his range is reduced in cold weather, realistically, it's only 10-20 miles off the top of his range in the cold months. It's nothing as drastic as you say at "50%!!!!"

Fearmongering about electric is ignorant.

EDIT: I suggest you check out some Bjorn Nyland videos on YouTube, he lives in Norway, and posts lots of videos about electric cars and the weather they have there. This one for instance seems to address some of your fears :

Edited February 16, 2021 by Slizzo

dieselfan1 · February 16, 2021

Until they make a reliable electric truck with 500 miles range, 5-10 minutes to recharge, and look as good as my current truck , I have zero interest in them. Lets not even get into towing.

Not to bash you but, and I really mean that, This is the USA not Norway. It would take forever to get the infrastructure to run 100% EV here.

The state I live in ( Minnesota) has more population than Norway.

They may work for city slickers but not for me.

I'm glad they work for you though.

BTW let's not forget about all the motorsports. Electric snowmobiles? Now that's funny?

The battery would weigh half as much as the sled .

What about big boat outboard motors. Talk about heavy.

A 4 wheeler would weigh 1000lbs.

And so on and so on.

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newdude · February 16, 2021

20 minutes ago, dieselfan1 said:

Until they make a reliable electric truck with 500 miles range, 5-10 minutes to recharge, and look as good as my current truck , I have zero interest in them. Lets not even get into towing.

Not to bash you but, and I really mean that, This is the USA not Norway. It would take forever to get the infrastructure to run 100% EV here.

The state I live in ( Minnesota) has more population than Norway.

They may work for city slickers but not for me.

I'm glad they work for you though.

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What is your daily commute to work like? Most everyone who's gone partial or full EV, you are almost always in a position to be charging. At work, home, etc. Just like battery power tools. I drive 32 miles round trip. We have 2 outdoor charging stations at work (Chevrolet dealership) plus three indoors in the shop, a DC fast being one of them that can be used outside. Plus I could always hook up at home if I had one.

Cold weather. Yes, range does drop. They use electric coolant heaters to get heat in the cabin as quick as possible. Ever bother to consider that the same happens in a gas/diesel vehicle however? Oh wait, it does. Average per tank, I can do 17-19mpg in the summer. Winter with remote starting and what not, 14-15mpg. Total tank range goes from 460mi in the summer to 360-395mi in the winter. My Colorado diesel was similar. 27-29mpg in spring/summer/fall, 22-24mpg in the winter.

Towing. Hummer EV and the Tesla Cybertruck will both tow more than most 1/2 tons on the market. Its all torque at 0 rpm.

If the infrastructure catches up at the rate they are trying to go EV, it will all work out in the end. Unfortunately, the # of EVs to charging stations and the time to charge has a lot of catching up to do. DC fast on the Bolt gets you 100mi of range in 30 minutes. If you had 50% battery when you arrive at a store or whatever, and they have DC fast, you'll have a fully charged car in 30 minutes while you mosey on inside buying stuff. Not bad, could be better.

I do however, think going full EV is a stupid move on any of the big automakers right now. Not even 10 years from now. Too much, too fast. I do also think that the Chevy Volt was a great balancing act and that there should have been more Voltec products made. Figure if they got to 100-150mi EV range, and then had a super efficient gas generator range extender if you needed to go further than the initial charge could go.

If you don't like EVs, that's fine. You don't have to. Nobody is forcing you. Gas and diesel will be at the pumps for quite some time still.

Edited February 16, 2021 by newdude

dieselfan1 · February 16, 2021

I want to drive cross country towing a travel trailer getting less than 10 mpg. so it will never happen I'm not worried.
In the winter I waste more gas than some people use in a week and I really don't care . Last tank I got 10 mpg. There's plenty of it available.

How does an EV warm up the inside before you leave your house in the morning when it sits outside in below zero weather?
I'm not getting into a cold truck. I'm old.[emoji24]

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ThatredneckguyJamie · February 16, 2021

When, not if...they come out with a EV in a truck body that can do what I need it to do it, I'm all in...I guess I just dont need to prove how manly I am by how much fuel I waste doing the things I need to do. If the Rivian R1T lives up to the hype I'll get one, after they've worked out the kinks. Will say I am not so sure about the 21" wheels though

Salsa De Piña · February 16, 2021

1 hour ago, Slizzo said:

Norway says "hi".

Is that the same Norway where most people live in cities along the coast where the coldest temperatures are just below freezing? Yeah, I'd like a word with them.

I'm not here to poo-poo the idea of an electric car. Heck, my wife and I have considered replacing her car with an electric one when the time comes, and I'll have my truck for whenever we have to travel any distance. Unfortunately, a 400 km range in summer (probably closer to 250 km in the winter) doesn't get you much on a road trip across the prairies with few charging options.

On the positive side, you Yanks should be happy you aren't paying a carbon tax for the 'privilege' of heating your homes when it's -40 out, like we had this past weekend.

Slizzo · February 16, 2021

With a quick glance at that YouTube channel I posted earlier, their temps have consistently been well below 0* for quite a while.

Texas Daddy · February 16, 2021

-3C is 27F which average Oslo temp in Jan. We got power outages here in TX because (in part) frozen windmills. Solar sucks in snow too. Thank God we have gas vehicles to drive and get warm in during all of this crap. Every quick charge station around us is offline. If anything, this convinces me that electric vehicles are niche. Guess how easy it is to control population when you shut down power which also includes the ability to travel? Just imagine 5 years from now: "We need to flatten the meat consumption curve as its swelling CO2 levels. Shut down the grids!"

Plants need CO2, and we also will require a lot more land to grow food for the billions yet to be born. A nice warm Siberia and Canada will provide that much needed farm land. Climate change, like greed, is good. Is LA and NYC going underwater too great of a sacrifice to feed the rest of the world? I say NO! 6.2s for everyone! Do your part to stamp out hunger!

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