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Electric car batteries are a bit like us humans. They don’t like the cold, but they don’t like the heat either. Both cause the battery to perform less well, which has a negative effect on the range.
However, low temperatures affect the energy stores at the bottom of electric cars much more than hot ones. On the one hand, this is due to heating, which also draws power from the battery. On the other hand, cold also limits the physical processes inside the battery cells, reducing performance.
28 Stromers in the test
What does this mean for electric car owners and their daily lives? TCS, together with Norwegian automobile club NAF, put 28 electric cars through a range test to determine how much less the vehicles can travel in winter conditions. Stromers lost an average of 25 percent of the lab range specified by the manufacturer from the official WLTP cycle. TCS and NAF had already run the same test in the summer. At the time, Stromer went even further: Its actual range was only about five percent below factory spec.
New winter record
On February 1, 2023, TCS and NAF sent 28 electric cars on a 485 kilometer route from Oslo. From 0 to -19 degrees, they drove through the city, on the highway and country roads, up a mountain pass and down the other side. However, only one electric car managed to make the transition with the Tesla Model S Dual Motor. The remaining 27 models ran out of power before that.
Model S’s battery was completely empty after driving 530 kilometers. According to TCS and NAF, no electric car has gone this far in winter. Another Tesla, Model X Plaid, came in second after 444 kilometers. BMW i4 eDrive40 takes the third place on the podium with 434 kilometers.
A Stromer from China, not found in Switzerland, had the shortest range. Hongqi E-HS9 covered only 303 kilometers. VW ID had the lowest winter range of any Stromers available from us. Buzz Pro with 310 kilometers.
Who is the most honest?
Regarding the promised range, the Tesla Model S also performs best. The US sedan only loses 16.4 percent range in winter. The Kia EV6 GT is in second place (-17.7 percent), ahead of the Tesla Model X Plaid (-18.23 percent). At the bottom of the ranking, the Toyota bZ4X is behind the Skoda Enyaq Coupé RS with 33.7 percent and the Mercedes EQE 300 with 33.4 percent, with a 35.8 percent range loss in winter. Of all the cars tested, the Chinese Maxus Euniq6 did the best (only 10.5 percent range loss), with the Toyota bZ4x losing the most range out of the 28 Stromers, also taking into account the Chinese tested.
More winter insights
In addition, TCS and NAF determined the consumption and the new car price-to-range ratio. Here, too, Tesla is in the foreground. Model Y has the lowest consumption with 16.6 kilowatt-hours (kWh/100 km) per 100 kilometers and ranks fourth in the price ranking with a range of CHF 126 per kilometer. The Kia Niro EV impresses with its podium positions in both categories. It has the second lowest consumption at 17.2 kWh/100 km and the third best price-to-range ratio at 123 Fr. The Chinese Stromer offers the most range for the price. Among the models available in Switzerland, the Chinese JAC e-JS4 is the cheapest at 106 francs. The BMW i7 is the most expensive at 403 francs per kilometer of range.
Important addition: In everyday electric car driving, the ranges in the winter test are almost never reached. Since experts run the battery completely empty, it should be avoided in everyday life if possible in order not to damage the cells – the key word is deep discharge. Apart from that, besides the outside temperature, many other factors such as driving style, traffic or topography also affect the range.
Source: Blick
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.
