Range in winter conditions and mountain driving

[b_rad]

I just put in my order for a X90D but before I confirm I wanted to check and see if anyone has data on efficiency loss while driving in the mountains in the the winter.

I live in ft Collins, CO and have family in Steamboat Springs and will be doing that drive rather frequently. It is 155 miles over two mountain passes (can also go up through Laramie to avoid Cameron pass with a total mileage of 186) .

I think the range will be plenty for summer driving (and evtripplanner seems to agree). My only concern is for when road conditions are bad, it's -10° and snowing.

Anyone have data/info on range in conditions like this? Thanks for any info

 

[EddyCharette]

ensure that the tires are proper,headlights and tail lights are working,that your car has full tank of gas, stock warm clothes,boots,gloves etc, always carry a cell phone

 

[ptsagcy]

I don't have specific numbers, but I can tell you that cold weather, wind, and hilly terrain definitely have a very significant impact on range. Slowing down will definitely offset some, if not all of that loss. 155 miles should be doable, but I would suggest, for the first trip, that you take it slow (55-60 or even less if necessary) and carefully monitor remaining range. If you see that you are doing well, you can always increase your speed.

 

[balefire]

Depending on how horrific the snowy condition, winter snow and ice can decrease range between 25 to 50 pct here in the flat Midwest. If the weather conditions are poor in the mountains, I would drive even slower than 55 to start and use the energy graph to continually estimate your range.

Back in the day before SC, I sheepishly admit the my poor family froze in the car with no heater and me driving 55 getting passed continuously in a 65 mph speed limit area. This was to drive 200 miles in my 265 range old MS. I even had to crack the window to defrost instead of the defroster... Thankfully the current SC availability here makes that a story and not reality...

If you can afford more range, e.g. p100dl I would

 

[Saghost]

The car will give you lots of feedback, so you'll know if it'll be an issue. If you're considering a detour to Laramie anyway, consider that by going to Cheyenne you could hit the Supercharger there in the middle of the trip. You could also come down through Denver and up I-70, Supercharging in Silverthorne, then head up 9 and 40. I'm sure that's a lot slower, but I'm pretty sure you'd get there that way in any weather.

 

[KJD]

I just put in my order for a X90D but before I confirm I wanted to check and see if anyone has data on efficiency loss while driving in the mountains in the the winter.

I live in ft Collins, CO and have family in Steamboat Springs and will be doing that drive rather frequently. It is 155 miles over two mountain passes

Fill the battery to 100% the first time you drive this route. 155 miles should be easy. Just keep a reasonable speed.

Lots of good winter driving tips here.
Cold Weather Driving

 

[b_rad]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[goneskiian]

Yeah, just don't listen to EddyCharrette and put gas in your X!

 

[HappyEV]

Since the beggining of winter, when I'm driving 110 km/h on highway with cabin at 20 degrees Celcius and 19 inch snow tires, i'm averaging 250 Wh/km on a flat terrain.
In non-winter conditions i was averaging 200 Wh/km.
So that's 20-25% less range in the winter.

 

[LovelyCarrot]

Hills and cold have a significant impact. I'm not traversing passes, but in hilly Seattle in this wintertime I'm seeing roughly 25% less range. To play it safe I've been calculating everything around 2/3. ie if my charge says 200 miles, I plan on making 120 miles safely. That's admittedly with a fair pad but trust me, range anxiety kicks in pretty fast when your battery indicator is dropping like a stone.

One other tip, the in car navi system does a great job of calculating your expecting "end of trip" charge. For me it comes in around 2-3% accurate even when it's cold and I'm doing a lot of hilly rural driving. So I trust that.

 

[kort677]

I just put in my order for a X90D but before I confirm I wanted to check and see if anyone has data on efficiency loss while driving in the mountains in the the winter.

I live in ft Collins, CO and have family in Steamboat Springs and will be doing that drive rather frequently. It is 155 miles over two mountain passes (can also go up through Laramie to avoid Cameron pass with a total mileage of 186) .

I think the range will be plenty for summer driving (and evtripplanner seems to agree). My only concern is for when road conditions are bad, it's -10° and snowing.

Anyone have data/info on range in conditions like this? Thanks for any info

I've done that trip and for that ride I would suggest that you have at least a 90% level of charge before setting out. you will lose significant range because of the big elevation changes and cold weather and possible headwinds in addition to be able to deal with any unexpected road closures or detours. you also need to be sure of where in steamboat you'll be able to charge.

 

[b_rad]

I've done that trip and for that ride I would suggest that you have at least a 90% level of charge before setting out. you will lose significant range because of the big elevation changes and cold weather and possible headwinds in addition to be able to deal with any unexpected road closures or detours. you also need to be sure of where in steamboat you'll be able to charge.

Thanks kort677. I was hoping to find someone that has done the drive. I will have a hpwc installed at my family's house there so no issues on charging... Would be great to get some chargers set up in Walden. I think that drive is beautiful and would be great to get more EVs doing it!

 

[aesculus]

I did a segment recently at 26F, 20 mph headwinds,cabin at 72F and 1800 ft uphill total elevation change (mostly one climb). I started at 98% and finished at 11%. Speed was about 65 mph but I even drafted a semi for about 30 miles on one of the grades. In the summer I generally average 330 W/mi so a big difference.

 

[Screwbal]

I did a segment recently at 26F, 20 mph headwinds,cabin at 72F and 1800 ft uphill total elevation change (mostly one climb). I started at 98% and finished at 11%. Speed was about 65 mph but I even drafted a semi for about 30 miles on one of the grades. In the summer I generally average 330 W/mi so a big difference.

I saw this and had to wonder with some details missing for the leg, how many miles did you actually do to use up that much range, or, what was the wh/m?

 

[aesculus]

It was only 171 miles. At times we were pushing 500 Wh/mi.

The wind was strongest during the major uphill portion (about 80 miles). So when a semi passed me about 2/3 of the way up, I jumped on board and got the average down around 380 Wh/mi IIRC.

BTW after drafting and slowing down it was heading more to 14% SOC on arrival, but I was cold. So as soon as I made the last climb I pumped up the temp to 77F and the speed to 80 and ate up some SOC to arrive at 11%.

 

[deque]

It was down to -15F temperatures this evening and I was on a small 150 mile round trip adventure in a 90D. It's the longest trip I've made yet and in the worst possible temperatures. I started with a 90% charge and on the way there and kept the cabin warm. Temps outside were hovering around 0F on the way up. It was a comfortable ride up, SoC was around 45% on arrival. I found a ChargePoint station (6kw) nearby where I was and added some range back on bringing my SoC back to around 60% by the time I left. I figured if I made it there comfortably using 45% battery that 60% remaining with a little colder weather should be enough to cruise comfortably back... boy was I wrong.

The first half of the trip back was great. At this point it was bone chilling outside (-10 at the beginning of the return trip). My Wh/mile was a little high so I slowed down to conserve power -- I expected to arrive with a comfortable cabin and around 10% SoC. Just in case though I also proceeded to back off on the heat a little. I did have to keep it blowing on the windshield to prevent condensation. However, with about 30 miles left in the trip and about 55 projected miles, zero heat was coming out of the vents. All my windows started fogging up to the point I couldn't see out the windshield. I turned it up to HI heat full windshield defrost and couldn't keep the condensation off the front windshield. I slowed down even more (40mph) and had to manually wipe the fogging off at points. The vent was blowing out cold air and the car temperature inside was icy cold. My Wh/M wouldn't go up any higher than 450 at that point (when it probably should have been 600+ with those heat settings). I pulled into my garage with 20 miles left and zero heat. Right at that point a warning popped up. I can't remember what it exactly said, but it was to the effect of the battery being very cold and low on energy and wouldn't be able to supply enough power. I had full regen capability at that point so the pack must have been somewhat warm. I'm not really sure what happened with my heat, but it seems like the limited power output from low SoC and cold literally couldn't supply enough power to output warm air. Is that normal?

 

[vandacca]

It was down to -15F temperatures this evening and I was on a small 150 mile round trip adventure in a 90D. It's the longest trip I've made yet and in the worst possible temperatures. I started with a 90% charge and on the way there and kept the cabin warm. Temps outside were hovering around 0F on the way up. It was a comfortable ride up, SoC was around 45% on arrival. I found a ChargePoint station (6kw) nearby where I was and added some range back on bringing my SoC back to around 60% by the time I left. I figured if I made it there comfortably using 45% battery that 60% remaining with a little colder weather should be enough to cruise comfortably back... boy was I wrong.

The first half of the trip back was great. At this point it was bone chilling outside (-10 at the beginning of the return trip). My Wh/mile was a little high so I slowed down to conserve power -- I expected to arrive with a comfortable cabin and around 10% SoC. Just in case though I also proceeded to back off on the heat a little. I did have to keep it blowing on the windshield to prevent condensation. However, with about 30 miles left in the trip and about 55 projected miles, zero heat was coming out of the vents. All my windows started fogging up to the point I couldn't see out the windshield. I turned it up to HI heat full windshield defrost and couldn't keep the condensation off the front windshield. I slowed down even more (40mph) and had to manually wipe the fogging off at points. The vent was blowing out cold air and the car temperature inside was icy cold. My Wh/M wouldn't go up any higher than 450 at that point (when it probably should have been 600+ with those heat settings). I pulled into my garage with 20 miles left and zero heat. Right at that point a warning popped up. I can't remember what it exactly said, but it was to the effect of the battery being very cold and low on energy and wouldn't be able to supply enough power. I had full regen capability at that point so the pack must have been somewhat warm. I'm not really sure what happened with my heat, but it seems like the limited power output from low SoC and cold literally couldn't supply enough power to output warm air. Is that normal?

Sounds like Scotty was diverting all power from life-support to the engines. Must have been an epic trip!

 

[aesculus]

I'm not really sure what happened with my heat, but it seems like the limited power output from low SoC and cold literally couldn't supply enough power to output warm air. Is that normal?

Did you have range mode on?

 

[deque]

Did you have range mode on?

No -- I checked twice to make sure it was off. Brings up an interesting point though -- I turned range mode on for a few miles but decided I would have enough range without using it so I turned it back off. The heat behaved like it never turned back off though.

 

[Ambidexter]

I just got back from a trip up into the Lake Tahoe area which involves a 7000' climb over 80 miles. Driving in a gas car I had never really considered how significant that was but i was averaging 650 Wh/mile even going 45mph. Range mode on, though I did have the heat running (70) and it was 20 outside. For a moment on the steepest part of the climb I thought I wasn't going to make it! In the end it was fine but (as the math would suggest) it looks like our 75D can only go about 100 miles under that strain.

I don't know how high the OP's passes are but I hope that helps!