Batteries don`t like it .

[RoadieRoger]

My ride yesterday was on my Lanarkshire E Bike`s Fat Tyre delivering Christmas Cards and after nearly 20 miles with the temperature at 1C I had to terminate the ride through range anxiety . I wasn`t the only one that was cold, as the battery also seemed to be suffering . Normally I would expect 25 miles on this machine and was surprised at such a reduction in mileage . Last night I charged it in the Kitchen instead of my rather cold shed after reading that batteries shouldn`t be charged at 0 C .

 

[Nealh]

Lots of differing views regarding cold and battery use, imho they do suffer with range when the ambient is very cold and as much as 10% or more capacity can be lost, even when charged at room temps.

 

[sjpt]

The pretty reliable bosch range assistant https://www.bosch-ebike.com/en/service/range-assistant/ shows a loss of between 15% and 20% between summer and winter. They don't have any in-betweens; I suspect that when they say 'winter' they mean real continental winter, not the mild pretence we see in most of the UK.

Not much to do about it except live with the reduced range, and critically making sure (as already commented) not to charge at low temperatures.

 

[Gringo]

A popular subject, here’s a current thread on the subject

Battery life in the cold

OK - firstly - by cold I mean normal UK cold weather and I also mean England/Wales - not serious Scotland stuff Anyway - I went out today for a ride - Bosch ActivLine with the 300 battery pack Over the summer I could easily do 2 rides of over 20 miles and still have enough battery left to get...

www.pedelecs.co.uk

 

[Croxden]

Don't electric cars have a much shorter range in the cold?

 

[sjpt]

Don't electric cars have a much shorter range in the cold?

Also regular cars are using the waste heat resulting from engine inefficiency to heat the car.
An electric one must be using the battery for a yet greater range reduction?
(I like cool, but not completely unheated cars in winter.)

 

[flecc]

Also regular cars are using the waste heat resulting from engine inefficiency to heat the car.
An electric one must be using the battery for a yet greater range reduction?

Surprisingly little though, now they use air compression heating or cooling in the air-con. I can check mine anytime on the dash of my latest Nissan Leaf and the range that can be gained by turning off the heating is always a single figure. The highest I've ever seen is 9 miles lost by using air con/climate control to the full.

That varies of course, depending on the outside temperature and whether cooling in summer losing it from up to 170 miles range or heating in winter losing it from as low as 110 miles range at the coldest outside.

The earliest model a decade ago using direct electrical heat was very greedy of course, capable of greatly reducing it's best practical range of just over 70 miles! They didn't sell too well then at £32,000 each!

But of course it has to be remembered that ic cars don't have any waste heat, it all cost money to produce. My 200 mpg equivalent cost of my e-car illustrates that well, especially since even 400 mpg cost is possible by charging at selected times using its charge timers.
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