Resurrecting this conversation since I'm still shell-shocked from the 1,800km drive in -20ºC from PEI to Toronto. Fredericton to Ottawa is 1,000km and took almost 17 hours - 70% more than a comparable ICE trip. This is unacceptable to the majority of the population and we must find a solution if we want EVs to flourish. Happy to share some additional data from Teslafi for the curious.
My take away from this brutal drive was that we can rule out the following "solutions" to the extreme cold weather problem:
- bigger batteries -- part of a solution, but not much good as an economic argument since you may only need the extreme cold weather solution 3 weeks a year and batteries are expensive. And you have to haul around the batteries all year, adding weight.
- more Supercharging -- part of the solution, but stopping to Supercharge for 30 minutes per 90 minutes of driving is the worst.
- faster Supercharging -- you can't charge cold batteries, period. Warming them up eats up time and/or range. Faster Supercharging does nothing for a battery that is at a high state of charge and is tapering, but it does ensure there's enough power to also run pack and cabin heaters - which I found out the hard way is really not the case with Urban SCs. Faster Supercharging plus bigger batteries would have helped certainly but the real kicker is the increase in consumption due to having to warm the cabin.
- even destination charging has a tough time keeping up. A cold soaked battery on a 48A (rare!) L2 charger takes over an hour to meaningfully heat up at -20ºC. And I'm afraid that 30A L2 chargers are more so the norm. If you don't have destination charging at -20ºC, GOOD LUCK.
I'd love the option to place a small heater in the frunk inline with the liquid loop of either the battery or the cabin, that accepts readily available propane canisters. Similar to the Volvo heater, but without the risk of a liquid fuel spillage.
Such an option will be that much important for the Tesla Semi.
