Electric cars in the Winter

matthewmcl said:

Battery info as I slowly learn.

I just made it out to my shop to clean up. I have not bern out there in a while and it has been very cold. My favorite MP3 player has a deformed lithium battery. I am assuming, but I do not really know, that it froze.

 

Does anyone see something I am missing?

Yes, you're missing the fact that your MP3 player (like a cellphone, laptop or power tool) does not have active thermal management for the battery. EVs do (well, not the earlier Leaf with air cooled battery). If you plug in your EV while home (most EV owners do) it thermally manages the battery pack to keep it warm enough.

Yes, and even the Leaf has a built-in battery heater. 

You'd never have any issues with an EV battery freezing unless you left an EV at near-zero charge for an extended period of time (don't do that!). In general these EVs are extremely well-engineered - if there's a problem you can think of, chances are really good it's been addressed already.

In reply to Chris_V :

Nope, not missing that part because I want something thay I can take to cold places where it can't be plugged in.

In reply to Erich :

Except the problem I am thinking of, being able to park an EV in feezing temperatures, not plugged in, for say a week at a time, is pretty well documented as "not being worked out yet." Luckily, it looks like the NiMH may hold up to that, but at a range/lb hit.

In reply to matthewmcl :

It doesn't take much power to run a battery heater, but if you leave it below say 10% battery for a week in negative temps, you'd have a problem. 

That's why god invented 110 outlets and extension cords. Most airport parking lots have areas with outlets for long term EV parking already, as an example. 

If you want a car you can take to cold places with little charge and not plug it in, you'll have to wait for the Aptera, and accept that it's a practical autocycle and not a car.

You could just leave it out so that the sun shines on it every day and come back to it with more charge than you left it with. It's meant to arrive at the airport practically flat and be fully charged when you return.

chaparral said:

If you want a car you can take to cold places with little charge and not plug it in, you'll have to wait for the Aptera, and accept that it's a practical autocycle and not a car.

You could just leave it out so that the sun shines on it every day and come back to it with more charge than you left it with. It's meant to arrive at the airport practically flat and be fully charged when you return.

 

 

Full disclosure: I'm starting work for Aptera in January 2022. Based on what's known publicly the 250-mile-range Aptera would completely recharge itself in a week in Southern California.