Winter Range

[mcfadyena]

This made me feel better! My 260 km round trip to work every day shouldn't be a problem then. I was starting to worry!
Thanks again for the report.

Yesterday, I took a 246 mile round trip drive up to a rental property I own. I used 272 miles of Rated Range (I did charge at the destination before returning). That isn't too bad considering the temps were just below freezing and some of the roads close to my destination were a bit snowy.

 

[mknox]

At around freezing 10% above rated seems completely reasonable.

Absolutely. I was quite pleased with the results. That was on some hilly (for Ontario) terrain, with my winter tires on and a bit of slush/snow. Plus I was driving "normally" with full cabin heat.

 

[Doug_G]

Plus I was driving "normally" with full cabin heat.

Last winter I did a test on the 401, with temperatures in the -17C range and a warmed-up pack. I tried driving for 15 minutes with heat off, and 15 minutes with heat on in Range mode. Cruise control set to the same speed throughout. I couldn't tell the difference - random variations in power consumption due to elevation changes were much larger. The point is the heater does take power, but it's not a big factor at highway speed as long as the car is already warmed up.

Of course if the car is cold soaked then the power draw is quite large.