EV's Don't Have to be Difficult in the Cold! Diving Into the Chicago EV Freeze Fiasco
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
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Writer: Alpha DeWolf
Actor(s): Alpha DeWolf
Camera Operator: Alpha DeWolf
Editor: Alpha DeWolf
Production Manager: Alpha DeWolf
The most likely reason why your hybrid mileage efficiency dropped was due to the effect of the cold on the high voltage battery, not the effect of the cold on the internal combustion engine. Increased air density caused by cold temperatures actually allows internal combustion engines to run better by allowing more fuel to be burned. The largest impact of the cold on an internal combustion engine is in the first 5-10 seconds of the key being turned (or start button being pressed). The cold will also affect a 12V battery and the vehicle may need to be jump started. Once turning over, cold oil lubricates the engine much slower than warm oil (especially below 0 degrees). And most catastrophic, extreme cold can cause cooling fluid to freeze and crack the engine if improperly mixed, or more likely, repeatedly replaced with just water on a vehicle that has a coolant leak. But yes, as a Chicago resident, home installed chargers would have solved a lot of the issue of the EV Freeze, however, many Chicago residents park on the street and only have 120V chargers that they basically never use. Most dont want to spend two grand for an electrician to run 220V to their garage.
Since I have a garage, mine was inside..... but basically sat there while I drove my truck during the cold temps because 12 hours outside while at work would have been problematic as well.🥶
Honestly after all this.... not completely sold on EVs even as an owner of one and having all the charging conveniences. There is a market for EVs but its not for everyone.
Not to mention the cost the my EV cost me sitting in the garage warming its batteries. 🤬My truck cost me nothing when it was sitting....😎
Just one question, if you say I lost a 1/3 of my range in my hybrid because of the high voltage battery being cold, then how did my old 2007 Buick LuCerne with a V6 (no high voltage battery) also lose 1/3 of it’s range? I also noticed minimal change between my Hybrid’s efficiency in the period where the HVB disabled itself outright.
Also sorry if I made it sound like higher air density = worse ICE performance. I meant to say it = higher air/wind resistance (meaning the powertrain has to work harder to achieve the same speed).
@@TheRandomAlphaDrive Aha, ok. I see what you meant. And hey, dont apologize man lol. This is gearhead talk. lol. I'll even add to your case in a way and say that the weight and aerodynamic impact of snow on the vehicle has more impact than the air density.
Have no idea what the tradeoff scientifically is, but my drag car is always faster at sea level (denser air)
An individual case would only be able to be found with a scanner, but a common issue in very cold temps on older vehicles is that an old coolant temp sensor will give false readings, usually showing something like -40 degrees in the actual ECM reading, which causes the car to dump loads of fuel into the cylinders. Just one example I say from experience when my Silverado started guzzling gas on the highway during the infamous "Polar Vortex". Nobody could tell me what was up until I gave a guy live data from it running and he noticed the ECM never saw the engine "warming up" even though the dash said the coolant was 180 Losing 1/3 of your range on an ICE because of cold temps is a problem though.
I still absolutely love my Tesla in the warmer months, I'll still have an ICE winter truck though. Just glad I didn't follow through on trading in everything and getting a Rivian 😬