It’s good to have a friend with some Gaz when you run out of juice.
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This is where I like liquid fuels. Hard to just go and get a few gallons of electricity.
(Also, nice price on the KFC wrap thingie.)
What’s the conversion? Is this Russia?
Range anxiety must be worse in an electric for just that reason. A little overconfidence goes the opposite of a long way.
Ever slam on the brakes just to see the gas needle jump, confirming there’s something in the tank? Puts your mind at ease.
What’s the conversion? Is this Russia?
Looks like it, 60 rubles is about 1 USD. But keep in mind that the money markets are punishing Russia – again – and that the price of the ruble right now is totally out of whack.
This is why charge time + infrastructure > range for me. If EVs only gave me 100 miles, but could be charged in under 5 minutes almost anywhere, then there is no problem. After all, that’s the sort of effective range you can get in something like a Mitsubishi Evo or even an old school hot hatch when you’re hooning it down a back road.
Anyone experienced an electric car in sub-freezing weather? Everything I’ve ever experienced related to electric heaters makes me think they’ll be a disappointment to climb into in the morning. On the other hand, so is waiting for a 351 Windsor to heat up 3 gallons of ethylene glycol.
I wonder how the range is affected by running the heater? It can’t take that many watts to heat the cabin.
I don’t have specific winter experience, but my understanding is most manufacturers encourage using heated seats over the heater as much as possible, as it drops the range less to focus the heat where it’s needed most.
That’s the way it works in my Bolt. I haven’t driven in sub-zero temps yet, but even in relatively mild cold weather (high 30s -low 40s at night) range takes a hit. After a full charge in, say, May, the estimated range “guessometer” shows 250 – 260 miles. After its last charge it showed 204 miles. I f I’m out driving and turn the heat on, the guessometer drops ~10 miles off the expected range. So, as much as possible I use the heated seats (front and rear!) and heated steering wheel. That’s generally fine, given our mild winters.
As for the defroster, it uses the same electric heater used to warm the cabin, so the range hit occurs. So as soon as the windshield is clear, I turn the heat off. The (huge) windshield stays pretty clear even with cool air coming through the defroster.
I have had a Nissan Leaf and currently have a Chevy Volt. While I haven’t driven either in weather that cold, even temps in the 20s and 30s that cause the heater to run a lot kill the battery range. I’m talking 30-40% reduction in EV range. The Leaf attempted to help some of this with seat heaters and a steering wheel heater, which apparently use much less power than the cabin heater. The Volt does without, they might have been options. I know that the Volt will sometimes kick on the gas engine just for the heat when it gets really cold.
If engine use is inevitable in a hybrid, it’s definitely more efficient to heat the cabin with engine waste heat.
Best is to use shore power to do the conditioning while still plugged in.
Heated seats and a heated steering wheel would take a lot of the cold weather pain away (they do in my gasoline powered car), but what I don’t know is how a Tesla et al defrosts the windshield. Just never thought to ask. Anybody? Bueller? I guess it’s like Etorre Bugatti said of his cars, “If you can afford a Tesla, you can afford a heated garage”.
All EVs sold in Norway come with battery heating – which makes foreign used imports without this feature less popular – and the usual ammenities, but people expect range to be about halved in winter. Some people say the electric heaters are faster than a modern diesel car, which are notoriously cold in freezing temperatures. It is also pretty common to warm up the car while it is still on the grid.
Ivan’s aftermarket range extender service!
I’m positively intrigued by Ford’s new cam-in-block 7.3L gasoline super duty engine. With a clean sheet design, I’m imagining the big-block equivalent of the ubiquitous GM LS engine.
I always knew that pushrod engines would someday rule the world over the hotsy totsy, overly complicated, need the belts changed once a week OHC engines. Sure OHC engines, especially the trendy DOHC cousins can rev to a gazillion RPM but the torque, oh the torque of a big pushrod engine loafing along is so satisfying. My favorite pushrod was the I6 Ford in my old F150. That was a real workhorse. Now if they could only bring back the flathead…that would be a great post-apocolyptic power source.
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