Heating, lighting, windscreen wipers: some functions reduce the range in winter – both for combustion engine and electric vehicles. With e-cars, however, the fact that the chemical reactions in the battery are inhibited when it is cold also plays a role. The more uninhibited the filling level drops. A test by the University of Wismar now shows how much Stromer consumption increases in winter.
A year on the road in the VW ID.3: for the test, the electric car covered exactly 30,594 kilometers – through the summer heat, the autumn rain and over the icy ice of the winter. And just like the temperatures, the range went up and down:
- The annual average consumption of the VW ID.3 is 14.4 kWh per 100 km.
- In the summer (June to August), consumption is slightly below average at 13.3 kWh per 100 km.
- In winter (December to February), on the other hand, consumption rises to 17.0 kWh – a good quarter (28 percent) more than in summer. The range of the 62 kWh battery shrinks from 404.8 km to 317 km.
- In another test by the Norwegian automobile club NAF with the larger 77 kWh battery, the ID.3’s range fell by 19 percent in cold conditions to 435 km (compared to the stated 539 km according to WLTP).
- In a test by the Norwegian Automobile Club with 31 models, the e-cars lost 11 to 32 percent in winter compared to the specified range according to WLTP.
E-car much more economical than combustion car
A combustion engine model was also tested for comparison. The diesel Golf was also on the road for a year. It has been shown that the range of the combustion engine decreases less when it is cold than with an electric car. But: the diesel consumes considerably more energy. The average annual consumption is 50.7 kWh per 100 km (electric car: 14.4 kWh). “From an energy point of view, the ID.3 is the clear winner in this comparison, without having to accept any significant limitations in everyday driving,” says test leader Prof. Ansgar Wego of Wismar University.
The efficiency of the electric car is therefore much better. In the whole test, the diesel car consumed about 3.5 times more energy. The cost advantage of the Stromer in this comparison: more than 800 francs per year.
Source: Watson
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
