Industry and the market took care of that for gas-powered engines. I have confidence that the same can happen for electric vehicles.
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Yes, and I agree that a system built by private industry rather than the government is the way to go.
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Until you stuck in traffic or ice or snow.
I would rather have to only tow or charge half the depleted EV the next day when the roads are clear.
I thought diversity was good.
Most of the issues with extreme cold can be mitigated by preconditioning the EV. Most EVs on sale have a function that allows you warm the car to the desired temperature and precondition the battery pack (most are liquid cooled and use an electric heater to get the Lithium cells to the proper temperature for efficient operation) while still attached to the mains. After you unplug it the main heating system for both the cabin and the battery shut down or go into energy conservation mode. Assuming the car has good build quality, the cabin will be warm enough during your drive.
You’ll still lose some miles of range, but it won’t be too drastic. The whole “cold kills your range” thing mainly comes from the early EVs that used ambient cooled and warmed battery packs, like the first generation Nissan Leaf. There was no way to precondition the battery in that car. So when you left the house the battery was extremely cold and lost power, killing the range.
Modern EVs are coolant regulated. They use antifreeze/water mixtures in the battery pack assembly to control the temperature of the battery. Of course extremes in either direction still impact their temperature (just like it does with an ICE) but overall they can stay within their margins. Especially if you precondition the battery before you leave your house.
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Is that supposed to be a selling point?
I can fill up my ICE in less than 3 minutes.
That is something that happens with ICE vehicles also. They run out of gas. They get stuck in ice and snow also. All of those things also happen.
That is still inferior to a combustion model that produces prodigious heat.
Why would I want that?
It is counter to idea that they have long charging times.
In fairness, a power tool doesn’t have an extremely complicated temperature regulation system in its battery pack. It temperature is controlled only by the ambient temperature.
EVs use a coolant mixture similar to a petrol or diesel vehicles for their battery packs to control the temperature. They can heat it off the mains to help with low temperatures or act as a heat absorbed in extremely hot environments.
They’ve come a long way in just five years. Give it another five and these issues will be completely solved.
Great news!
You can manage the fuel of an ICE far better in cold climates.
Why not a mixture of both?
Not like we are giving up jet fuel any time soon.
No one claims that jet fuel is going to given up. Also hybrids are a good thing to have around… this isn’t an all or nothing proposal I am speaking of.
The major thing that keeps me from buying an all electric vehicle is that there is no urban infrastructure to charge the thing. Build out that infrastructure and you will see a pretty rapid change from ICE to EV.
Well, I try not to, but we are all only human.
Why? My ICE meets my needs well and we were energy independent just one short year ago.
I don’t see the urgency or need for federal monies to push the market.
aren’t they mostly chips?
Assuming a car has good build quality and doesn’t leak all of its interior air into the outside world, the temperature can remain consistent for quite a long time.
Even during our crazy ice storm earlier this year when the temperature was about 5 degrees (which is insanely cold for the Deep South) I didn’t have to run the heater constantly in my Civic. I set it to 74 degrees and it only kicked on a few times during a two hour drive I had to make. It retains heat very well since the car is well sealed and insulated.
My Mustang was a different story and that was the reason I didn’t drive it. It’s a convertible so there’s almost no temperature retention since most of the air inside the car gets evacuated through the convertible top and through the poorly sealed doors.
What if you are 4th in line and each charge takes 15 minutes?
Not fun.
Another good reason to take it slow and steady. Find issues before they become Biden border crisis level.
I could be wrong, but I thought one of the issues is, the electric engines don’t produce as much heat as combustion engines, so they are drawing more power to use the heater?
Good reason to have more than one charger going.
This post brought to you by the instant gratification generation that often argues against the speed of big cities. Slow down.
