Energy Used to Keep EV Battery Warm - Data

[demarpaint]

I'm just curious the scenario. It will happen again. People fail to plan ahead with many things in life. I'm sure the majority only public charge and try to charge first thing when leaving. When it's that cold its just not going to take much charge until it warms up. It sucks that it's not as simple as filling with gas, but most of it is user error. For example when I do get back and make my 40 mile commute I'll plug in when I first get home. It'll be able to start charging while the battery has some heat in it.

I hear ya, people tend to do stupid things, some of them even know better. Why would this time be any different?

 

[Torrid]

I hear ya, people tend to do stupid things, some of them even know better. Why would this time be any different?

For sure. That will do it. Look how many average people don't even think of changing their oil? It's just impossible to save people from themselves.

 

[GrumpyCat]

I remember a couple years ago people in Chicago were stranded in the city because they couldn't take a charge/waiting in line to charge because of the very cold weather. Whats different here? What am I missing?

Either the media didn't understand the situation at all, or knew the truth but chose to portray it as something else.

Those having problems charging in the cold were sold a bag of goods in pretending they could drive an EV the same way they drove an ICE, only go to the "gas station" when the tank is low. Most of those affected lived in apartments without good old slow and reliable L2 (about 50A at 240VAC) charging. With such an overnight connection there would have been no issue preheating the battery to take a charge. There would have been no issue with the car being full (or whatever state of charge desired) each morning.

And then there is the sweet nature polite Chicagoan who gives up trying to charge before his battery gets warm then throws the Supercharger umbilical to the ground getting the connectors wet and iced for the next person to come along trying to use it. In many videos there were people with hair dryers and generators defrosting NACS plugs.

The SNAFU in Chicago was a manufactured failure.

 

[Torrid]

No worries, I'm sure if there are problems it will make the news like it did last time.

This is what I saw. After two days sitting I was down 3%.

The real story here is the drive home, between preheating and driving 40 miles home I arrived at 20%. Far from great. 31% gone to go 40 miles. I did wait until the car alerted me that it was at my set 70F before going to the car which displayed 48% by the time I got in the car, though this precisely explains why people short tripping EVs go through charge extremely fast if they're preheating the car and I'm sure not getting in a cold car when I don't have to. I worked outside in this junk all day!

 

[Sedin26]

Here's a video that discusses preparing your EV for a winter storm...seems like mostly common sense stuff

 

[Ws6]

Why is it wasting energy like that? Oof

 

[IndyIan]

Summary: my Cadillac LYRIQ consumed 10.8kWh (86¢) from my 240v Autel EVSE over exactly 12 hours to keep the battery above 32F with an outside temp down to -17F (-27C). Averaging ~900 watts.

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Cold nights lately so I was curious how much energy the battery heating system in my LYRIQ would consume overnight.

I started at -10F with a heated battery - it had been plugged in and charged to 90% before I started the timer. No significant charging or cabin heating occurred.

Temps got as low as -17F and back up to around -5F at the end of the 12 hours. I couldn’t log the battery temp, but it’s seems the car always tries to heat the battery to just above 32F. It was a bit windy too, with wind chills down to -35F. Not sure how well the battery was protected from that airflow.

Heater cycling on/off.

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10.83 kWh consumed. I think the 7:23 elapsed time gets paused when the car stops asking for power. It was exactly 12 hours.

View attachment 320846
Car Scanner data at the start.

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Car Scanner data at the end.

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I might try it again with my Blazer EV with the smaller ~85kWh battery vs. this ~102kWh pack.

So what happens to the charge level if you leave it unplugged for a couple cold days like that? Our electricity rate is about double, and we seem to use enough without an EV!

When people talk about the cost of keeping the EV ready to go being expensive, the question that really needs to be asked is - compared to what?

You can do nothing with either type at -17F
The EV will ALWAYS at least run if not in turtle mode for a while. It will get you to work.
The Ice may not start. Happens ALL the time.

You can plug the EV in for between 86C and 5 dollars a night (california) and start full every morning and jump into a warm car ready to go. You can do this in a garage, or in the driveway.
Bonus in winter -heating an EV in the garage raises the garage temp a bit.

Diesel heaters vary from about 750 watts to 1500 -so on par or more than the Lyric// EV
It's not really an option with a diesel to not heat it some way at -17.

You can idle the ice in the driveway consuming some fuel and also reducing your range in cali its around 4-5 a gallon. My v6 uses about a half gallon an hour and to get it really warm from -17 and clear the windows it needs about 20 min to half an hour. so a bit less money. Im also fouling the oil at an accelerated rate doing that and shortening my OCI so other costs to consider. It gets notably less mileage in cold weather as well - between the warm up cost and the lower mileage cost Im using at least as much money wise as the EV - and having to visit a remote location to keep the car fed vs just come home and park stinks.
No one can sell me that going to the gas station at 17 below is convenient or fun.

You can heat the garage to keep the ice warm - if you use electricity it will cost more than the EV,

Or run a kerosene heater in the garage - I get about a gallon for 15 hours, and k1 is about 10 a gallon. Id usually start it around 9-10PM before going to bed and kill it around 530-6 AM so get about 2 nights out of a gallon - back to 5 bucks a night. If you can find it at a pump you can run red kerosene for about half of what K1 cost but then you get to smell it. I have a source about a half hour away and I have 4 5-ers for kero.

We had -26F last Saturday morning, and the Impreza hadn't moved since Wednesday, and I just started it up, cleared off the snow, and drove away a couple minutes later. That's with Mobil 1 5W30, and some discount battery from the previous owner, and not using the block heater...
In winter, I always dress for the weather, so its not a bit deal to not have a preheated car, as -26F is not a temperature to be unprepared for, but if you are, its not a big deal either, and we had a great morning skiing.
I can't say I've ever had any problems with starting any FI car due to cold, my record is -38C with 5w30 conventional is not recommended for the terrible noises the oil and PS pump made, but it did start! And lived a happy long life after.

-35-40F is where things get a bit tricky as you probably need 0WXX oil and a block heater, and a good battery, to use a car in that temp regularly. For big diesel equipment, often people do leave that running overnight, if they want to get going early the next morning without a struggle.