Winter battery performance

Drove 4 miles in Green+ in this chill & took a cool 11% off the SoC. Sometimes the guess-o-meter doesn't cry wolf.

 

Last Thursday we had a high of -9 ºF, it was basically -10 ºF all day. My poor SE batteries got cold-soaked because I had it charge right away the night before, so it was finished charging by about 1am. The climatization was also off, so no warming before I left. I drove to work (40 mile trip) in green+ mode using a green route (minimal freeway), and here's what EV Range showed on arrival.



I wasn't going to make it home, but I foolishly thought I'd get some charging in on the way home instead of during lunch like I normally do on days like this. So my SE continued to suffer -9 ºF for the whole day. By the time I left my SE had been in extreme subzero weather for over 16 hours without charging. Lo and behold, I had 30% e-power driving home!



Amazingly I didn't really notice a performance difference other than my acceleration was capped. But since I was driving in green+ mode and taking surface streets going fast wasn't an issue. But the range, yikes. The photo above is when I arrived at the Level 2 charging station I had chosen (the DC Fast charger I usually use is currently broken), and it was a sight to behold. A brand new location in a Target lot near the Minnesota United FC soccer field. I was greatly amused to be charging next to about a half dozen Teslas.



About half an hour charging (and going into Target to warm up) and I was able to make it the remaining 20 or so miles to my home. Lesson learned: try to do some charging every four hours or so in subzero temperatures.

But hey, if I can get through a day like that I can get through anything. Range in EVs is overrated, I'll take the SE any day!

 

And to think I just did a "cold weather" range test at 28degF or so.

Still, the results will be useful for you guys when summer comes, lol!

I had a few days in New York City the week I moved there that were at -15degF. Decided at that point I would no the staying...

 

@GvilleGuy wrote a shortcut for the iPhone, see his In Focus: Range thread. The YouTube page has a link to the shortcut.

 

My IOS shortcut seen in the wild! Cool. Thanks for sharing your range story, @Puppethead . This is valuable information for fellow SE owners who live in brutal cold.

 

Did it charge to 100% when it finished charging at 1:00 am? And what was the indicated SOC when you left for work that morning?

 

Yes, 100% SoC when I left in the morning. I had about 50% SoC when I got to work, which was a 40-mile trip. So not quite enough to make it home without being filled with range anxiety. The half hour charge session added 10%, so I did my full 80-mile commute for slightly under 110% SoC (had 8% left when arrived home).

 

Hey, I know that Target location!
BTW, my SE has been doing fine in this sub-zero Minnesota weather but my drive is shorter than yours. I am amazed how well it handles treacherous winter road conditions.

 

Welcome! Good to see another Minnesotan. I don't know about other EVs, but the SE is amazingly capable in our extreme winter weather. It far exceeds my most optimistic original expectations. I actually took it down to Rochester last winter during our -20 ºF cold spell, with a charge stop in Red Wing. It worked out great.

 

Holy smokes. That is cold!!! What kind of eff were you getting in that weather? I assume you were driving in green mode…

At some point in my life I would love (I think) to experience that frigid of temperatures… only been in -1F once, and that was amazing! Here in Ohio, we are lucky to hit single digits.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

Joys of living in the center of one of the largest northern continents. Common, but usually not more than a couple week's worth of that cold per season. We actually like it because it kills off nasty insects like Emerald Ash Borer.

I did drive in green mode but kept the heater going at a comfortable 72 ºF plus had a passenger. Rochester is about 100 miles from the Twin Cities, so I would be able to make it on a single charge in warmer weather. Red Wing (my intermediate point) was about 60 miles, so slightly more than half way. There is a fast charger in each town so it only took about 15-20 minutes to add enough SoC to finish the trip. I probably had a total range of 90-100 miles during that cold spell.

 

You must be a youngster: See January 19, 1994:
Coldest day ever recorded in Columbus at -22 degrees

 

I was in North Carolina during the early 90s, missed out on that one! As far as being a youngster…


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Yesterday I drove 51 miles when temperature was between -2 ºF and 1 ºF. Battery was cold-soaked so I only had 60% e-power (after an earlier drive and sitting outside all day). I charged from 53% up to 70% SoC mid-day and ended up at the end of my 51-mile trip with about 11% SoC left and GOM showing 7 miles of range.

All of that description of my journey leads me to question the output from @GvilleGuy's EV Range shortcut, look at the numbers!



My SE had 11% charge left and I was supposedly able to go another 36 miles? Unfortunately I failed to get a photo of the instrumentation cluster for illustrative purposes, but at the end of my journey I had 70% e-power, GOM showed 7 miles left, and there was only one bar left for battery %, being the "warning zone" at the bottom.

Now I really want to drive the SE until it quits, but I need some sort of portable charger so I can get it off the road. I'm surprised there are no EV-charging generators available yet.

 

Any generator that can output enough juice for the L1 charger would work, but you'd be running them for hours to get meaningful charge.You'd want a generator outputting 240v for L2 and that's a big old thing to carry around just in case.
I have a 2kWh portable battery (they call it a solar generator) that output to 2kW at 120v but that would only add maybe 6-7 miles of range over 90mins in your weather and it weighs 60lbs...

So your total trip was 51 miles with about 5 or 6 miles left?
And you started out with 100% charge and also charged from 53-70 mid day?
So in essence you used 106% (47+59) battery to go 51 miles?

Something does not seem right...
Even in a cold soaked -2F 1.66 miles per kWh seems suspiciously low...
Where you doing 80 up a mountain or something and into a headwind at that?

The heating system is rated at what, 5 kW max? So you could only use 5kWh in an hour for cabin heat so that leaves 23.9kWh for moving the vehicle.
I find it hard to believe the battery itself being so cold takes the motive power usage from close to 6 miles per kWh to like 1.5 when going from perfect temp to (admittedly extremely) cold temp.

Are you sure all the cells in your battery are working?

We need more info about your driving, any chance you could do a timelapse vid in these temperatures????

 

If you are really curious you could drive to the MSP Airport Terminal 2 orange ramp value parking (Level 7) and drive around in circles. Maybe bring a portable generator (solar generator if you have $$$$$) so you can creep back to the complementary J1772 chargers.

 

The 51-mile trip was from 70% SoC down to 11% SoC. Here's my morning trip, using up the initial 47% (from 100% to 53% Soc, 100% e-power). Temperatures were lower, like -5 ºF and I went about 37 miles. The 37-mile trip minimized freeway driving, staying under 60 mph. The second leg, 51-miles, involved more freeway but again never above 60 mph.

I'm no @GvilleGuy when it comes to videos, but it would be interesting to do that focused on the instruments.

It also occurs to me I should do one of these really cold drives in green+ to see how much of the battery is actually lost to heating. (un)Fortunately, we're out of the arctic cold weather pattern for at least a week.

 

Another Minnesotan here!

My calculated range for the last week, based on % used.