Winter electric car: slower charging and shorter range

Winter also came early to southern Norway this year, and with it snow, affecting shipping. According to the survey Electric car 2023 25 percent feel the problem is that an electric car charges slower when it’s cold.

Electric Vehicle Association Secretary General Christina Bo has some tips to make sure the cold doesn’t pose a problem for electric drivers:

– It’s a good thing that so few people have problems with slow fast charging, says Bo in a press release and lists some simple measures to avoid the winter cold becoming a problem:

– In everyday life with short trips and mostly home charging, you will not notice a big difference in driving in winter compared to otherwise, but if you are going on a long trip, there are some winter tips that you should take with you, explains Christina Bou, Secretary General of the Association. Norwegian electric cars
picture: Electric Vehicle Association

Heating

– When more people don’t have a negative experience with slow charging in the winter, it may be because people only fast-charge when they’re on long trips, and some have pre-heating so the car is warm when it’s fast-charging, he says. Poe, who asks EV personnel to check whether the vehicle has pre-installed heating.

Some models do this automatically when you plan to stop charging in the navigation system, while in others this must be activated manually. Preheating the battery consumes some of the battery’s capacity, but this can be recovered by charging much faster in the charging column.

Shorter range

– If it’s very cold, you’ll find that fast charging takes longer, because the car has to warm up the battery pack first, says Christina Bo.

Also remember that electric cars have a somewhat shorter range in winter. Like the slower fast charging, she believes this is not a big issue on a daily basis.

Our tests show that electric cars often retain about 70 percent of their range in the winter, compared to their range in the summer, says Bo.

Here are the Electric Vehicle Association’s five winterization tips:

Do not charge a cold battery. By driving, you make sure that the battery heats up. It often takes several hours on the road before the battery warms up. Therefore, it is better to charge at the end of the trip rather than the next day.
Preheat the battery. Charge at home just before leaving and pre-warm the car before fast charging on the way.
Heat the passenger compartment while connected to the charger. While you’re charging, you can also use power from the charger to heat the passenger compartment, so your car doesn’t need to use power while you’re driving.
Allow for a slightly shorter range. Electric cars have a shorter range in the winter, so plan your trip accordingly.
Drive carefully according to weather and road conditions. In addition to a safer flight, you can save energy and get a longer range.