With rapid acceleration, low energy costs, and affordable prices, the “real” reasons for electric vehicles seem to falter in the cold winter. The range drops sharply, and one can easily find themselves stranded on the road. Who can withstand that?
Written by | Song Meilu, Pan Tao, Li ZhuoEdited by | Zhang YangSource | Baobian (ID: baobiannews)
As winter sets in, the range of electric vehicles becomes a mystery; you never know how far you can actually go.
With the cold wave hitting, Beijing’s temperature dropped to -20 degrees Celsius, setting a record for the coldest since 1966.
Electric vehicles face a brutal test; some Tesla owners found their windows and doors frozen shut, having to hold the steering wheel with one hand while pulling the door with the other, with the wind whipping against their faces. Others with Xiaopeng P7 parked in open lots lost 15 km of range overnight. Some BYD vehicles dropped from 9% to 0% battery, leaving them stranded on the road, necessitating a tow back to the office.
Electric vehicle owners can’t bear the sudden inquiries from friends, as most are just there to mock their choice of vehicle.
Even with soaring sales of new energy vehicles and skyrocketing valuations for new car manufacturers, electric vehicles revert to their true nature in winter.
The root cause lies in the batteries. Currently, the mainstream batteries are lithium iron phosphate, nickel-cobalt-manganese ternary batteries, and nickel-cobalt-aluminum ternary lithium batteries, all of which suffer from reduced discharge efficiency in low temperatures, potentially causing irreversible damage to the batteries and severely reducing range.
The batteries in pure electric vehicles not only supply power but also need to provide heating for the air conditioning, leading to faster energy consumption, making it less surprising to find oneself stranded halfway.
Charging 5 kWh in One HourLi Youqing | BYD | Private Car Owner
I have been driving an electric vehicle for three years, and this is the first time I have encountered such extreme weather.
Last Saturday night, our family of three set off from Changyang in Fangshan, with our home near the Chang’an Shopping Mall in Beijing’s Xicheng District. I checked and saw we had 60 km of range left; based on past winter experiences, 60 km should get us about 30 km, so I thought we would be fine.
However, the range dropped much faster than I expected. After driving 13 km, the display showed only 18 km of range left. At this rate, we definitely wouldn’t make it. So, I searched for nearby charging stations and found the public charging station at the Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese War Memorial Sculpture Park, where there was no place to get out and warm up, so we had to wait in the car.
When charging the electric vehicle, the air conditioning cannot be used.In extremely low temperatures, charging efficiency is also very low. In autumn, it takes 90 minutes to fully charge, but that night, after charging for over ten minutes, we hadn’t even reached 1%. In such weather, my phone also drains quickly; mine was already dead, and my husband’s phone needed to be saved for scanning the code to end charging, so we didn’t dare use it.
We sat in the car waiting, which should have been a good opportunity for family conversation, but it was so cold that we didn’t want to open our mouths.
Time passed slowly, almost to the point of despair. After about half an hour, I remembered that I had some heat packs in the car, so I pulled them out—there were ten. I gave my son four, one for his belly, one for his lower back, and two for his feet.
The heat packs are white rectangles, stuck to my son’s body, resembling the Michelin tire mascot. My husband used two, and I used four. The heat packs take time to warm up; for the first five minutes, they hardly generate any heat, and my legs and feet were freezing.
I gave the blanket and all other heating devices to my son; he is only eight years old, and I was worried he would catch a cold.
We sat there for an hour and charged only 5.31 kWh.My husband said we could go 17 km, but I calculated it and disagreed, leading to a bit of an argument. In the end, we agreed that if we didn’t make it halfway, my son and I would take a taxi home while he continued to look for charging stations.
However, strangely, once we reached the city, the range didn’t drop as quickly, and we even regained some range, allowing us to get home safely.
After this experience, we no longer dare to charge once a week; we now charge every other day.
130 km of Range Dropped to 5 kmLiu Xiao | GAC Aion V | Private Car Owner
In the past few days, the temperature in Beijing has plummeted, and my car is only five months old; this is its first winter.
The electric vehicle is primarily used for commuting, with only 8 km from home to the office. That day, my car displayed 130 km of range, which should have been more than enough for a round trip.
However, after driving just 5 km, the range dropped to half, and it continued to decrease rapidly, especially in the last few kilometers. I even stopped using the air conditioning, but it was still the coldest day in Beijing, and I was freezing to the point of pain in my back, feeling that riding a two-wheeled electric vehicle would have been warmer.
As the range dwindled, I realized I wouldn’t make it home and had to find a charging station. Charging stations are not easy to find; some are broken, and others have no parking spots. Eventually, I found one, but I don’t know if it was a signal issue or what, but I couldn’t scan the code with WeChat or Alipay. I had to restart my phone to ensure the signal was good. In Beijing’s -10 degree weather, I stood in the wind for over ten minutes, nearly freezing my hands off.
In the city, it’s somewhat better; once we returned to our hometown, which is about 200 km away, I charged the car the night before. Our range is 500 km, so I thought it would be fine, but as we approached the highway exit, the range was nearly depleted.
Charging in the county town is slow and often lacks available spots, so we had to find a charging station on the highway, where we charged for two hours. We waited at the highway service area for two hours, which was fortunate since we weren’t in a hurry; otherwise, it would have been troublesome.
I asked the salespeople about this issue, and they said it was due to the cold weather and using the air conditioning, suggesting I take it to the service center for inspection. I feel that inspection is pointless because the power consumption is accurate when fully charged, but it drops rapidly afterward. Once it goes below 10%, the drop becomes significant.
Currently, I only dare to use the air conditioning when fully charged, and I’ve bought gloves to avoid excessive power consumption.
To be honest, I somewhat regret buying an electric vehicle.
Actually, we have both gasoline and electric vehicles, and at the time, we thought electric vehicles had reached a stable phase and were a mainstream direction compared to gasoline vehicles, expecting better policies in the future, so we chose new energy vehicles.
Displayed Range is Three Times OffZhang Shan | BYD | Private Car Owner
I bought this car in April 2020 when I couldn’t get a gasoline vehicle license, so I had to buy a new energy vehicle.
Recently, with the cold weather, the range has become a significant issue. The distance from my company to my home is 25 km, but the display shows a consumption of 75 km.Just a few days ago, the displayed range was 1.6 times off from the actual range, and now it’s reached three times.
Once, the display showed 51 km left when I was at work, but after driving 17 km, it showed only 6 km remaining. I was still 8 km away from the office, so I had to find a nearby public charging station and charged for 15 minutes to make it to work.
The charging stations in my community are mostly broken, so I usually charge at work. I used to charge once a week, but now I have to charge every 2-3 days. When going out, I have to plan ahead; generally, if I plan well, I won’t run out of power halfway. In Beijing, there is a charging station every two to three kilometers, so they are relatively easy to find. My car has a range of 421 km, so I need to look for a charging station when I have about 130 km left.
In this weather, 130 km is equivalent to about 40 km. My vehicle expenses have also increased; I spent over 300 yuan on charging in the past month, whereas it used to be around 200 yuan.
Aside from the range issue, I have no major complaints. One thing I like about electric vehicles is their quick acceleration, as I tend to drive aggressively and change lanes frequently. Especially in congested Beijing, if you’re slow, you can’t get through.
Of course, if I have the opportunity in the future and my family can get a gasoline vehicle license, I would definitely want to buy another gasoline vehicle.
Wearing a Coat and Leather Hat While Driving a Taxi
Sun Dahai | BAIC New Energy | Taxi Driver
Electric vehicles are a real pain!
Just look at the current weather; they claim an NEDC range of 300 km, but in reality, it barely runs 140 km! On average, you can only get over 40 km from 100 km of data.
I don’t even dare to turn on the air conditioning fully; if I do, it drops at least three kWh. I only turn it on when I have passengers, and once they leave, I have to turn it off to save range.
I had never driven an electric vehicle before, and I wondered why everyone was wearing leather hats and coats while driving. Later, I chatted with a driver who said, “Don’t mention it; it claims a range of 200 km, but if you turn on the air conditioning, you can’t even run 50 km. If you conserve energy, you might manage 80 or 90 km.”
After a few trips, when I still had 100 km of range left, I had to hurry to find a battery swap station. I woke up at 4:30 AM today.Why get up so early? Because if you arrive early at the battery swap station, you can get a full battery; if you come late, you might miss out.
I visited four or five battery swap stations today, but they were either out of batteries or had long lines. I waited for over an hour, and when I finally got a battery, it was only 40% charged, so I had to look for a charging station. Due to the cold weather, all vehicles, including taxis, needed charging, and I drove around to several charging stations, all of which were full.
From around 10:40 AM until 1:30 PM, I finally resolved the charging issue.
My previous gasoline vehicle could run 849 km on a full tank. For this new energy vehicle, we don’t have high demands; at least the range should reach 260-270 km. Normally, I would drive about 230-240 km a day, but in this weather, I have to start looking for a charge after just 100 km.
I have a friend who is even funnier; he had a lot of range left, but when he saw he had 30 km left, he ran out of power before reaching the battery swap station. Later, some taxi drivers had to push his car.Now, when I drive, I always keep about 100 km of range left; I make sure to never go below 50 km.
In warm weather, I don’t find it so difficult to locate charging stations, but once it gets cold, it’s a different story. Now, I can’t think of anything else but finding power; I used to think about where to pick up passengers, but now my top priority is finding electricity.
Even if I had a broken gasoline vehicle, I would want to replace it.
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