Cold-climate winter range with non-heatpump models

[subnivean]

Hello all,

I'm looking for a Kona EV driver who fits these criteria:

• Lives in a colder-than-average climate (e.g. northern New England or the Adirondacks of NY)
• Is currently seeing estimates of 295+ miles on a full charge
• Has driven the car through the winter (or at least February on)
• Your Kona EV does not use a heat pump for cabin heating (i.e. not a Canadian or Euro model).

If that's you, I have a question: What was your experience with range reduction during the coldest days of winter (up to -20 deg F)? Was it 30%? Or closer to 50%? How about at 0 deg F?

There's lots of information out there from Canadian and European drivers, but I haven't seen anything specific from the Northern US and the resistance-heater-only model.

I live in Vermont and I'm wondering if I should install a charger at my sister's house, which is about 80 miles from me.

If there's a thread out there that's already covered this, apologies - please point me to that instead.

Thanks in advance.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

I don't have a Kona EV, but I have been driving 5 different EVs over that last 5+ years; and I live in eastern Massachusetts about 20 miles from the coast.

The biggest factor is how you use the heater. The way my family use our EVs (Leaf S, e-Golf SEL, Bolt EV, e-Golf SE, and Smart EQ - only the e-Golf SEL had a heat pump) is to use the seat heaters first, and the steering wheel heater if it is there (all but the e-Golfs) - and ONLY use the heater at all if you need to clear the windows.

The e-Golfs are unique in one thing: they have a direct heating windshield defroster, that can keep the windshield clear with NO noticeable loss in range.

Heat pumps only save range in temps down to about the low 20's (F), or maybe the upper teens. And they usually add in a resistance heater as temps drop lower.

The energy loss from battery conditioning varies - I don't remember how the Leaf did, but the e-Golfs lose less than the Bolt does. If the heat pump is also used to warm the battery, then that would be a good thing.

Our Bolt (2017 Premier) has all the seats heated (fronts are wimpy) and the steering wheel is heated. It has a resistance heater, and a 60kWh pack. The Kona has 30 more miles range, and 4kWh more battery capacity.

The WORST range we have see was 150 miles - single number temps, a stiff wind, all four of us in the car, and driving on the highway up to Freeport ME. We used all the seat heaters, and the steering wheel heater, and we wore our coats, and had a couple of blankets. We used the rear defroster and the side mirror heaters, too.

We HAD to use the defroster, with all of us causing the windows to fog up pretty quickly, so we set it at 61-64F most of the time.

The heater used about 20-25% of the energy, and the battery conditioner used 10-12% of the energy. If the air temp was in the mid-20s, then we probably would get 170-180 miles range. If there was snow on the road, and still really cold then we probably would have seen another 20+ miles lower range. If we were driving slower (up to 45MPH, say) then that can save a lot of energy. If you are on steep roads, you can lose some.

I have driven up to Castleton VT (in the summer) and covered 190 miles (mixed highway and slower) with a full car (3 people and all our luggage) and had 70 miles range left.

 

[KiwiME]

Try the Facebook group Hyundai Kona Electric (EV), a number of US owners there and a few in cold regions.

 

[brulaz]

...
What was your experience with range reduction during the coldest days of winter (up to -20 deg F)? Was it 30%? Or closer to 50%? How about at 0 deg F?
...

Have to agree that from 0 to -20F (-18C to -29C) the heat pump is not going to be effective. It will all be resistive heating, so I think the Canadian experience should be helpful.

There's one guy here from Ontario who says he had 1/4 less range at -20C on a trip that included a 2 hr cold-soak stop: 120km trip + 2hr stop + 120km return + 80km left. That's a range of almost 200 miles at -4F. Pretty impressive, especially with the 2 hr cool down. I assume that when he started it was fully charged and heated at home, and he traveled at 100 km/h (~62mph).

But I suspect that at -20F the range will be exponentially less. 40% less than EPA?

Perhaps a 120V charge at your sisters would be sufficient to keep the car warm while visiting.