NPR’s Juana Summers speaks with Michael Crossen, a technician with Consumer Reports’ Auto Testing Center, on the impact of cold weather on EV batteries and how to maximize range in the cold.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
I am not sure how many ways we can express the fact that it is just really cold in much of the country, but here’s another one. In Chicago, electric vehicle owners are having a hard time with their car batteries. It is so cold that, if they reach a charging station before their batteries give out, they are facing long lines and slow charging times once they do plug in. So what gives? Why is it so hard?
Michael Crossen has spent a lot of time evaluating how EV batteries behave in extreme cold. He is an automotive technician with Consumer Reports’ Auto Testing Center. He joins us now. Welcome.
MICHAEL CROSSEN: Hi. Thank you for having me.
SUMMERS: So Michael, if you could, can you just start by breaking down the challenge that these awful cold temperatures pose to EV batteries and their ability to charge?
CROSSEN: Yeah, it’s definitely something that is certainly current, you know, with the weather that we’re all having. And EVs tend to do worse in cold weather, mainly because of the need for heating in the cabin. Gas cars are less efficient in the cold, too, but it’s less of a consideration because, you know, if we’re getting a little worse fuel economy, when we run out of fuel or run low on fuel, we can stop and just fill up the tank pretty quickly. But all of the heat that we get inside the cabin is coming from the battery of the vehicle, so that is affecting our range. And in our testing here at Consumer Reports, we see anywhere from 25- to 30% reduction in overall range in colder temperatures, and a big portion of this is due to using the climate control in the vehicle.
SUMMERS: OK, so I have a question here. I don’t drive an electric vehicle myself, but my neighbor does. And one of her constant complaints…
Read the full article here