this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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[Dormant] Electric Vehicles

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What happens to very cold but unused batteries? (lemmy.sdf.org)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I'm considering buying an EV to replace my aging diesel. I live in a very cold country where temperatures regularly dip below -30C in the winter.

I understand that EVs lose range in cold temperatures and that they need heating to use and charge without damage.

My question is this: if I plan on not using my car for several weeks, can I leave it unplugged and/or tell it to stop managing the batteries' temperature to save energy and not damage the batteries?

I'm okay with spending half a day preheating it when I plan on using it again regularly, but I don't want it to draw current all the time for nothing when I'm away on long missions.

For some reason, I can't seem to find out if it's safe to keep a fully unpowered EV in the cold for a long time...

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That should be good! My commute was 18 miles with free charging at work and I never had to stop to charge on a direct ride home.

I did once nearly get fucked by stopped traffic in the winter- I had the heat on normally until the jam, and then turned it on for 5 minutes every fifteen minutes while standing still. After about 90 minutes, the traffic cleared, but I was very cold and had about 20% battery by the time I got home. That’s a good amount, but I’d started less than 20 miles away with a full battery. ICEs are also less efficient in traffic, but they heat the car with excess engine warmth, so it’s not an additional drain on mileage.

I’d advise people to keep a space blanket and hand warmers in any car, but especially an EV. If you’re in an area prone to heavy traffic, maybe keep them close enough to reach from the driver’s seat.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

ICEs are also less efficient in traffic, but they heat the car with excess engine warmth

Not mine 🙂 My car has a very small turbo-diesel (1.3L), I tend to hypermile so I drive slowly and in higher gear, and in the winter, below -15C, the temp needle only gets close to normal operating temperature and starts warming up the car on the highway.

That's also something I learned when I moved here in northern Scandinavia: bigger engines are better because they reach normal operating temperatures in almost all conditions. My little underutilized engine just plain can't get warm enough to heat the cabin significantly.