OT: Driving electric cars in winter

[charles]

Having done one "electric car" journey this morning, I'm driving someone to a hosptal 20 miles away this afternoon. I'm glad i've a liquid fuel engine.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Exactly.

Its 2 a.m. and you get the phone call - a relative is seriously ill possibly dying in a hospital 150 miles way.

No chance of a hire car, a taxi takes forever to find and costs a fortune, public transport is nonexistent..

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And the battery capacity is likely reduced too on a very cold day.

Mate of mine who is a wildlife cameraman had desperate problems shooting in the Antarctic. Had to keep the camera batteries inside their sleeping bags at night. ;-)

[harry]

Range is reduced slightly when it's cold. Lights are negligible. The cab heating is the biggest parasitic drain. Even by day.

The biggest other factor to consider is hills. There is regeneration when descending but I would estimate you only get around half of the power back that you used ascending the hill.

On the other hand driving in traffic makes little difference to range. At rest you use nothing at all.

After a while you get used to all this. Mostly because you've made the journey before.

However a new journey to extreme range needs Google maps/distance calculation. It doe seem to be very accurate.

[harry]

What drivel you talk. I could do that journey twice without recharging. For a tenth of the petrol cost. If there was a charging point in the hospitalcar park I could do it endlessly.

[harry]

I don't live in Antarctica. I don't believe there are any roads there anyway. So a pointless remark. However,in very cold climates (ie -20degC) the car can't be used or even the battery charged. But then ICE cars need special arrangements for very low temperatures.

[NY]

How long does it take to charge the battery to replenish the full range that the battery gives you? Are there ever any situations when you'd like to set off on the return journey but have to wait while the battery charges?

If you'd been doing the opposite of what the previous poster said - driving to the hospital to pick someone up - you wouldn't want to have to wait there until you had enough power to take them back home.

When electric cars have a similar range to liquid fuel cars (eg about 650 miles for my diesel car) and that range can be replenished in the same type as for a liquid fuel car (a couple of minutes at most) then electric cars will be serious contenders as complete *replacements* for petrol/diesel.

Until then, they are add-ons: very useful for shorter journeys to the supermarket or to work if you work reasonably locally, but much less so if you are making a longer journey and don't want to have to stop for however long it takes to refuel every so often. If you can charge the batteries while you are at work or while you are doing the shopping then that's OK. If you are wanting to make a longer journey than the car's range, it will be a slow business. So you'd need a second car for the longer journeys, rather than being able to use one car for both local and long journeys.

But it will come. Technology is improving so hopefully range will increase and refuelling time will reduce.

I remember when I was at university in the 80s, the prof of electrical engineering said that the only way that electric cars of that time would be viable for anything more than around town was if the battery pack could be dropped out of the car at a refuelling station and replaced with another one that was already charged, as this was a lot faster that charging the batteries in situ while you waited.

[bert]

As you said "If range is a problem I use my other conventional car".

[bert]

Which is where Harry by his own admission has to use a conventional car.

[bert]

In article , harry writes

They may do but at least you CAN make such arrangements.

[The Natural Philosopher]

ER, Its 'IF' Not 'When', there are no guarantees whatsoever that they ever will be able to achieve that on electrochemical batteries. Indeed theory makes that look rather optimistic,. You would need to be within a few percent of the absolute theoretical limits to make it work.

It may not. Many hoped for things have never happened, Like an anti- ageing drug, or teleportation.

Technology is improving so hopefully range will

A bit. Not that much. More hope on refuelling time

He still ain't far wrong.

I'd day its more likely that you will connect to an Uber with an app, and a driverless ready charged heap of crap will arrive minutes later, and take you where you want top go, switching top a freshly charged 'pony express' pony if it gets breathless.

[Adrian]

The "special arrangements" are minimal. A block heater, simply plugged in to a 230v socket, minimises engine wear by gently pre-heating the coolant. Winter tyres would apply to an electric car, too.

Strangely, Tesla sell a LOT of cars in Norway - but really only in the south, and mainly due to massive government subsidies.

[Clive George]

I think somebody worked out the subsidies to electric cars in Norway could have paid for everybody to have free bus travel or something like that.

[Adrian]

Understandable, of course, in a country so abundant in solar energy and devoid of any kind of oil exploration.

[harry]

Lithium batteries are about as far as they can go. Any improvements will be minor. Fast chargers will do 80% battery capacity in 20 minutes. I charge mine at home free when possible with solar panels. On the very are occasions when this is a problem,I take my other car.

[harry]

I might need it two or three times a year. I could take the train/bus /taxi. I drive it when I want to mostly & when the beast needs exercising.

[harry]

IF I go anywhere that cold, any car I drove would be hired. Not that it's likely I'd be going in Winter

[harry]

Drivel. When it gets really cold, coolant has to be drained, normal tyres crack, fan belts become rigid, batteries freeze and brakes don't work, oil turns to jelly, grease solidifies..

[harry]

They have abundant hydro power. So electric cars are a no-brainer. At least in Summer.

[harry]

Only the Mekon had one of those.