Range decrease due to cold weather [merged thread]

[GaryMG4]

Talking about olden days I remember my father had a paraffin sump heater, looked like a land mine. On winters nights he would light it and place it under the sump so the oil was warm in the morning and the car would turn over easier. More recently I've seen Bjorn Nyland putting a fan heater under an EV in the garage to warm the battery.

 

[Starplots]

Talking about olden days I remember my father had a paraffin sump heater, looked like a land mine. On winters nights he would light it and place it under the sump so the oil was warm in the morning and the car would turn over easier. More recently I've seen Bjorn Nyland putting a fan heater under an EV in the garage to warm the battery.

Fireman’s strike 77/78, I was part of an RN detachment in Dumfries based the the Ta barracks. The green goddesses petrol engines were ok at -10 but the coolant wasn’t and neither was the onboard water tank, so we parked them over inspection pits and put open flame greenhouse heaters under them!

Oil viscosityis a problem, not just the engine but gearboxes and transmissions too. And keeping the radio volume higher to overcome the engine noise and heater fans running at full whack to stay warm!

 

[tsedge]

I assumed it went without saying but some of comments here indicate people don't know...

All EVs suffer significant range loss in winter, typically 25-30%, as batteries perform worse at low temperatures and heating draws a lot of energy (without a heat pump).

This is normal - finding your range decreasing in winter is not a sign that your battery is failing, it will recover again when the temperatures rise.

Some EVs do handle this better than others but all suffer from it.

 

[Rolfe]

Unfortunately it seems a lot of people go into EV driving without any research and/or poor info from dealerships. Anyone with a mobile phone surely knows that if they sit and watch YouTube all day it'll drain the battery faster than just moderate usage. That's batteries for you! Use the predicted range figure as an approx only (I hate the usage of GOM - companies spend millions to try and use algorithms and efficiency/topography etc to calculate estimated range and people just refer to it like it's totally made up). Check your current efficiency which is based on how you're driving and what extras you're using like HVAC and multiply this by the usable battery, this is far more accurate in my 10 years of EV driving experience.

The GOM on my MG4 is a hell of a lot closer to reality than the GOM on my Golf ever was.

 

[Ian Key]

The GOM gives the average of the cars past usage combined with what the car is using now and after the recent cold spell the average will be low and affecting the reading.
Reset everything and after a few days it will retrain the GOM to give a better guestimate of the mileage available.

 

[Rolfe]

I'm not resetting anything. It says 147 miles at 100%, and I'm not kidding myself it will be any better. If things warm up it will gradually up its estimates anyway.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Talking about olden days I remember my father had a paraffin sump heater, looked like a land mine. On winters nights he would light it and place it under the sump so the oil was warm in the morning and the car would turn over easier. More recently I've seen Bjorn Nyland putting a fan heater under an EV in the garage to warm the battery.

This is why EV destination charging took off fast in Scandinavian countries. Most car parks were already wired with a mains socket at every space for an electric block heater built into the engine of an ICE car.

 

[securespark]

We have pretty much been getting 2 miles per percentage point, except for the very cold days.

 

[llarrycr107]

I normally charge my MG4 Trophy to 80% and at the end of the month carry out 100% balancing charge. Carried this out yesterday and my range as reduced to 196 miles at 100%. Not sure whats going on. When I got the car new in June it was at 100% with a range of 280 miles. Normally I have at least 250 miles range when fully charged. Anybody else have a range drop off?

Had the same . . Charge car to 100% then zero all the trip counters . Do this a few times and it will get back up to the normal. Was told it gets used to your driving style . . .

 

[Rolfe]

Mmm. But your range is still reduced in cold weather. Isn't it better to have a true indication of that, and let it come back up naturally as spring appears?

 

[llarrycr107]

Yes it's lower
In summer I get 288 on 100% charge went down to 228 when I spoke to MG and reset the trip meters went back to 272 . I'm happy with that

 

[Rolfe]

Does it mean you'll actually get 272 though? It could lead you into trouble.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Yes it's lower
In summer I get 288 on 100% charge went down to 228 when I spoke to MG and reset the trip meters went back to 272 . I'm happy with that

It's called a Guess-O-Meter for a reason.

 

[Rolfe]

I think it's actually pretty good, and a lot better than the one on my Golf. The trouble is that it doesn't have a crystal ball. Only we know how we intend to drive in the future. But seeing the car's estimate based on how we drove in the past can be invaluable in predicting how it will perform under the conditions we have in mind.

 

[llarrycr107]

Does it mean you'll actually get 272 though? It could lead you into trouble.

Who actually knows? With heater on it drops its usual faster rate. It starts there and as always keep my eye on it . Normally takes 10% to work . Before I reset it was taking 16% . It's back to 10% again so it works for me

 

[TheWood]

Yeah thats cos when you reset it wipes all driving activity from the calculation. It is more realistic using your driving history to calculate the available miles rather than the 'reset values'.

 

[llarrycr107]

Not for me . . Its not realistic to lose 60 miles of your top end . But Do what suits you

 

[siteguru]

You can lead a horse to water ..............

 

[llarrycr107]

I was asked . . I passed on what mg told . . The end

 

[Archev]

You can lead a horse to water ..............

Ah yes but how many miles does that horse pull that cart in summer / winter on that gallon of water eh - they were careful not to warn you of any discrepancies before you bought it ?