Weather Impacts on Range
I will start by saying Range Anxiety is real. Before I purchased my Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, I did a lot of research. One thing that I did not come across in my extensive research was the impact of cold weather. I live in Chicago where winters can be brutal. I got my EV in late October 2021, just in time for Chicago winter. As we entered December, temperatures dropped and so did my range.
Electric vehicle battery range is defined in optimal conditions – think a clear, sunny, 70ᵒF day. Chicago does not see a whole lot of days like this. During the winter with days in the 0 to 10ᵒF, I saw a reduction in range of up to 50%. Depending on the car’s range, you may be ok with an average roundtrip of over 100 miles but my Mach-E GT has an optimal range of 270 miles and my typical maximum range in the winter was ~135 miles and my practical range (defined as 80% battery charge) was around 100 miles.
You may wonder why this happens. Well, with an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, the engine emits heat while running and this is used to heat the inside of the car. With an EV, some energy is used to heat up the batteries for battery health and no heat is produced by the engine, which means that battery energy is used to heat the inside of the car. There are things you can do to minimize the energy used to heat the vehicle like use the seat heaters and steering wheel heater as your primary form of heating you and another front seat passenger in the car. If you have passengers in the backseat, you will likely need to use more of the climate control to provide a more comfortable ride, this will draw more energy from the battery and, therefore, further reduce your range.
If you can charge at home and your roundtrip is under 100 miles, you will be in good shape year-round regardless of the climate in which you live.
For anyone looking to use their EV for road trips, understanding this limited range in winter is critical to create an accurate charging plan and avoid being stranded in a very stressful situation.
Weather Impacts on Charging
Another thing I learned quickly with an EV in Chicago is that charging will be very slow in cold weather, ~30 kW when you start charging at a DC Fast charger. I drive approximately 3 miles to my nearest 150 kW charger. This drive to the charger is not enough to warm up the battery. To protect the battery in cold weather, charging speeds are reduced and slowly increase as the battery warms up and can take on faster charging. Winter charging took approximately an hour accounting for the slower charging speeds at the beginning.