Norwegian 20-car Winter Driving Range Test

BMW i3 Forum

Help Support BMW i3 Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jadnashuanh

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2014
Messages
5,192
Location
Nashua, NH USA
Green Car Reports has an interesting video/article posted today on their webpage. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1127488_test-of-20-evs-in-cold-norway-no-big-surprises-but-some-lost-more-range-than-others

Without preconditioning, the i3 they tested lost about 20% of its range in the cold without preconditioning, but charging in a garage overnight (they didn't say how warm the garage was). That was right in the average of those vehicles tested, and if you'd set a departure time and cabin preconditioning, probably would have seen a better result.
 
Interesting.

That was a 120Ah i3.

My assumption had been that if driven continuously, the battery comes up to temperature, so the greatest impact to range would be in the early miles.

But in this test, lower and highet range vehicles had mostly similar decreases percentage-wise, so that assumption is incorrect.

It was mentioned that they charged more slowly in the cold, but also that the vehicles were driven directly to the charger to begin their sessions for this part of the test. So can I conclude that the batteries stayed relatively cold despite just having been driven for 2+ hours?

Also, if they were in a garage overnight but not preconditioned, though began the test at 100%, I'm curious not only about the temperature inside overnight (why else would they bother to mention that), but whether the batteries retained any latent heat from charging.

Winter conditions for me is temps in the 40°F range as an extreme, but this is interesting all the same.
 
This is pretty consistent with my experience in this, my first winter with the i3. With temps in the 20's and low 30's I lost about 25% of my range. On days where I could pre-condition the battery before leaving the house things were a bit better, but I couldn't always do that due to a non-predictable schedule. And even on days where I could, I would usually drive 10 miles, park the car for an hour or two, and then drive again, so the battery would lose that heat before my second drive. Add to that the need to run the heater for comfort and keeping the windows defrosted and the cold temps definitely take their toll on range. We're now warming up to high 30's and low to mid 40's and I'm seeing an improvement in range already.

Of course the same cold weather driving also causes my ICE vehicles to take a mileage hit, although nowhere near 25%. And when you've got a 400-500 mile range in the tank, you don't notice it and don't care.
 
An ICE has an overabundance of waste heat, so other than maybe the alternator load from running the fans and maybe seat heater, etc., that has a minor effect on overall efficiency. Course, other than heat and the lowered ability of a battery to move electrons when cold, an EV isn't bothered by a cold start. So, wear good clothing, and you may be able to minimize your electrical load!?
 
An ICE also loses efficiency in cold weather due to things like warm ups before driving. Anytime the engine is running and the car isn't moving you're getting zero mpg...

And yeah, if I'm by myself I tend to run the heat only enough to keep the windows defrosted/defogged. However, when my wife is along we keep the dial at 70-72.
 
Fisher99 said:
An ICE also loses efficiency in cold weather due to things like warm ups before driving. Anytime the engine is running and the car isn't moving you're getting zero mpg...

And yeah, if I'm by myself I tend to run the heat only enough to keep the windows defrosted/defogged. However, when my wife is along we keep the dial at 70-72.

Looks to me, the vehicles with less aggressive driving modes, had a lower impact on their driving range.
 
panamamike said:
Looks to me, the vehicles with less aggressive driving modes, had a lower impact on their driving range.


Also, the Tesla, which featured the longest driving range in the group, was the only one to finish the course in deep snow, an added detrimental impact to its efficiency vs. the others. As my son would proclaim, "NOT FAIR!"
 
Back
Top