The major offender for causing range loss in cold and hot temperatures is auxiliary load. Minimizing auxiliary load will help extend those miles and kms:
1. Heat or cool the human, not the air
Be sure to use those heated seats and steering wheel.
Heating the cabin air can draw 3000-5000 watts
Heating your seat and steering wheel draws around 75 watts
2. Pre-condition your vehicle
Just like you would before exercise, warm up before a long trip! If it’s hot, cool down. Turning on your car’s heaters while it’s still plugged in will minimize the auxiliary load by warming (or cooling) your car before it starts its trip.
3. Keep your vehicle plugged in on extreme cold or hot days
In addition to the benefits of preconditioning before your trip, automakers recommend vehicles are plugged in during very hot or very cold days when the vehicle is not in use.
4. Use the eco mode
Every EV has a slightly different function to their eco mode, but generally they all work to reduce power consumption and increase mileage by reducing the energy supply to the drive motor and high energy consumption features such as cabin heaters.
5. Check your tire pressure
Tire pressure drops as the ambient temperature falls, leading to greater rolling resistance and reduced mileage range.
6. Know where your fast chargers are
Cold batteries have a greater resistance to charging, meaning that EVs charge slower in low temperatures.
As battery sizes have increased with new EV models, range loss has become less of an issue. Larger capacity means little impact on most daily trip needs, and charging infrastructure continues to expand for that occasional road trip.
