E-Car Pioneer Stories

Like a reptile, the car warms up in the morning sun, removing the ice on the windshield and drying.

My First Electric winter

December 30, 2011 Maarten Vanneste
Just have done 5.000 km when the first cold arrives in my county.

The cold season changes the whole energy consumption and therefor the battery capacity of my electric car. While in the summer, I can open the window to cool down, in winter, that doesn't work to get warm. I have to turn on the heat. And heat in an electric car is not a (50% of the time wasted) by-product of the fuel burning engine. An electric engine doesn't generate heat that is wasted in the summer and used for heating in winter. No, an electric car has ... an electric heater. And an electric heater uses... right, electricity. And that electricity comes from the battery of course. Since this car is driving a limited range with one battery charge, I care about the influence the heating has on my battery capacity... And that influence becomes very obvious when you switch on and off the heating while watching the battery capacity indicator... This morning I had 107km capacity on the battery. When I switched the heating on, it immediately drops to 88km (18% less). And in maximum heating, it goes down to 75km: 30% less. And adding full Air-conditioning takes it down to 64km. or 40% less. Driving range is limited to about 2/3rds, but of course, you dont drive the whole time with the heating on full capacity, let alone combined with the Air-Conditioning on full speed. I would say it is very reasonable to say you have of your normal capacity when it is winter in a country with reasonable winters. Where I live, winter also brings rain and rain means wet clothes leading steamed windows but that shouldnt be problem when your car has air-conditioning. Air-conditioning however also uses electricity, and again this electricity comes from the battery. And again I see my cars battery capacity go down with a little more than20%. When it freezes, and my car stands outside, a thin layer of ice covers the whole front window. In the past, I used to turn on the diesel engine 5 to 10 minutes before leaving and the heating would defrost the window. Here the electric car has an advantage: you don't have to switch on the engine, to generate the by-product heat, to defrost the window. With my electric car I just switch on the heating turn it to defrosting stand and the battery does its work. After a few minutes, step in my warm car with a clean window. But off-course this diminishes my available energy to drive... Finally, the outside temperatures that are lower in winter than in summer. This year temperatures have been quite mild but the manual of the car warns that with very cold temperatures the car may not move at all. Last year we had temperatures as low as -20 Celsius which is rare here, but this year, no freezing temperatures yet. However with temperatures of 5 to 10 during the day and 2, 3 degrees at night is different from the 20 to 30 degrees in the summer: this too gives a lower battery capacity. This makes me wonder, will in Scandinavian countries or Canada, electric cars remain impossible for the coming decades?

MANAGING CAPACITY With a little fantasy I project myself a few centuries back in time and I sit in a horse carriage. there is no heating in most carriages. Like anyone else, I hare warm clothes and us a blanket to stay warm. Today I get my winter gloves out and a shawl and I even put an old little blanket in the car. That blanket is for the passengers of course, it would be dangerous to use that as the driver, the blanket could get in the way of the break so I don't use it. I must report it hasn't been used all that much; but again, the cold season has been much milder than last year. What I do is save on energy by putting the heating in a low stand and switching it off as soon as I can. I also switch it off, a few minutes before I arrive home to optimally use the remaining heat. I makes me think about the luxurious environment we have gotten used to. Stepping out of a warm house into a warm car, driving to a warm and dry parking, walking into a warm shopping mall, into warm stores and back... This is all part of the 'Matrix Syndrome' where ultimately; our entire life is spent in a warm bath. Anyway, this little energy challenge of mine is nothing compared to the global energy challenge that the electric car is helping to solve. ANOTHER TRICK OR TWO Did You know that cold blooded animals sit in the morning sun to collect heat to they can move faster. With my car I do the same. If there is a morning sun - not recently here, since we have had weeks of almost constant clouds and rain - but if there is a morning sun, I move my car a bit so it stands in that sunlight. This heats up the car and when needed, defrosts the front window. While driving I will stop in a sunny spot before a red light. And if I can park in the winter sun I will. All in all I have had no problems in winter yet. We didn't have snow yet or really freezing temperatures; that may lead to another chapter in this book... I can still do my daily commute and a few other trips. Only now I have to charge every two days rather than every three, shortening the life of the battery. On one occasion I even used the outside power plug of a restaurant. My car was parked close to the one outside power plug from this restaurant. I plugged in and informed the owner. I told him I would pay for it but he said he didn't think that would be necessary. I did see some doubt in his eyes though. He didn't know how much electricity at what cost my car would consume, or maybe he was worried my car would consume too much electricity, making his main power interrupter to switch off? He also told me this plug is used a lot for electric bicycles, but never before to charge a car. Again, this makes you wonder: will one day, all parkings of all restaurants have electric plugs? When leaving the restaurant, I paid one euro for the electricity, which was probably double of what my care used in those 3 hours. In my country it is illegal to sell electricity with a profit, but I'm sure that for electric cars, this law will be amended soon...

That I better charge in time, I learned the hard way. Coming back from sports training with one of my sons I was going beyond 'empty' into reserve energy. And as I had experienced in the past, I counted on at least 15 km reserve capacity. But the car came to a halt at 9km. No idea why that was. Did I leave the heating on? Not possible since the energy saving mode automatically switches of the heating while riding the last kilometres. Outside temperature? Maybe. Diminishing capacity of the battery? I hope not! I only did 5.000km with it so that should not have an effect on the battery capacity yet. The guarantee is more than 100.000km. Anyway, I stranded luckily only 500 meters from my house. We both pushed it and I learned that 'only' 500 meter is one serious half kilometre, the small car weighs 1.2 tons so I better charge in time from now on... WINTER CONCLUSION: The situation is different in winter; that is clear. If you buy an electric car, calculate its winter capacity that is roughly 3/4 of what the sales brochure says it can do. For my car the brochure says, 150km. This morning I unplugged it after overnight charging and based on the winter regime of the past few days it shows a total capacity of 108 km. This takes the heating and driving style of the past few days into consideration, so when I drive without heating, I will maybe do 120km or so. For me the current winter capacity is okay. I can still do my daily commute of about 40km at least twice; that looks like a nice minimum. One thing is sure; I don't use any fuel anymore! I don't sponsor the Saudi government; my car produces no CO2, no toxic fumes (like carcinogenic benzene) and no fine dust. And that makes me proud, every day, every mile. For those reasons, my car provides a nice maximum of driving pleasure.

Maarten Vanneste