Winter has come to the northern hemisphere, and Recurrent has conducted a study by surveying 7,000 EV owners to find out what cars tend to lose more driving range due to the cold than others. As it turned out, some may lose more than 30% of their OEM-rated range due to the added need to keep the battery warm at all times.
The Chevrolet Bolt (see video) proved the most problematic electric car of all to use in wintertime, slashing its range from 370 km (230 miles) in summer weather to just 257 km (160 miles) in winter, a reduction of 32%.
Note that the ‘summer’ was defined as +20 degrees Celsius (+68 degrees Fahrenheit), while ‘winter’ was defined as zero degrees on both scales.
The Bolt EUV is not alone in this club. For instance, the Mustang Mach-E goes down from 418 km (260 miles) in warm weather to 283 km (176 miles) in zero-degree air. The same is basically true for the Volkswagen ID.4, which otherwise can cover 410 km (255 miles) on a charge. Both lose around 30% of their claimed range in winter.
Alright, but which cars are the best at keeping themselves warm? Apparently, the Audi e-tron, which loses only 8% of its range, and the Jaguar I-Pace, which does a particularly efficient job with a mere 3% drop.
Tesla cars showed middling results at 15–19%, the BMW i3 expended its charge 24% faster, the Hyundai Kona 19% faster, the Nissan Leaf 21% faster, and VW e-Golf 23% faster.
