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Bolt EV in a fender bender

9K views 43 replies 23 participants last post by  JoeMap 
Sounds like the driver was on track to 200 miles EV range in bitter winter weather. That sounds very encouraging for winter range.
 
ICEs efficiency sucks all the time. Arguing about how much its efficiency is affected by the cold seems misplaced. As for the EV drive train, efficiency remains high, it's heating the battery and the cabin that are the extra loads that give us shorter ranges.
Right. Pour $1 of gas into an ICE, waste about 75% ($0.75) as heat. The efficiency of electric motors is almost the mirror opposite. Put $1 of electricity into an EV, waste only 25% ($0.25) or less. I'm not sure of the Volt motor efficiency, but electric motors in general are far more efficient converting power into miles driven.
 
Based on my Volt experience, I expect a 30%-50% range loss in Winter giving me 119 to 167 miles of driving assuming no charge opportunities (there is a $/hr EVSE at work if I want to use it). The daily drive is 60 miles, so I'd have a 60 to 100 buffer. That's plenty for me.
 
One thing that will help the Bolt in cold conditions is that when plugged in to L2- you can pre-condition the cabin for 20min (x2) with no hit to the battery
Good point on the preconditioning, NYRob. Better than the Volt in that respect.
 
“By the time I got to Detroit’s 150-year-old farmer’s market in Eastern Market, I had covered 90 miles and had a projected 103 left.”
“My initial goal of wringing 200 miles from a single charge of the batteries seemed within reach, despite the battery-draining cold."
 
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