How To Get The Most Out Of Your EV This Winter

[@jasonshaw1628]

Great tips and advice Dave - many thanks

[@Gazer75]

Never had issue with a cold ICE car in winter. Anyone that care about their car in cold climate should use a block or coolant heater. These kits often also come with a timer and a small 12V charger to keep the battery in a good state. Even a cabin heater is an option. I've had a Defa system in all my cars except the last fossil, a diesel Golf. It was parked in an apartment garage where temps rarely got below freezing. And it also had a built in auxiliary diesel heater I could use if needed.

[@DJBaldPaul]

0:15:00 This is great advice, pre-condition on the way using energy that cost you 7p/kWh rather than preconditioning at the charger at 40+p/kWh.

[@johndoyle4723]

Thanks, my car does 300 in Summer and 250 in Winter, when it costs just 2p/mile in electricity , who cares, just use your car normally, unless you really need your maximum range. Even if you lose say 2000 miles of range over Winter, most users won't, then £40 extra is not worth worrying about. Yes all good tips, all cars lose range because cold air is denser and the drag equation shows drag is directly proportional to air density.

[@timoliver8940]

Love the pre-conditioning in my diesel 2023 LR Defender, works from the LR app exactly the same as the pre-conditioning in my 2024 electric Mini Countryman S E…………. Heated front and rear screens , mirrors, seats and steering wheel too - Countryman doesn’t have the heated front screen. One thing I’ve wondered though with the Countryman is should I also force a manual HV battery condition cycle as well as the cabin preconditioning before driving away on a cold morning to help it work more efficiently One problem I’ve found in heavy snow in both cars though is the lack of heat generated by the LED headlights and no headlamp washer jets means the headlights get dimmer and dimmer with salt spray and snow/slush build up on the lamp fairings.

[@crm114.]

Never having to scrape ice off your windscreen is a nice benefit of EV ownership and one I’ve enjoyed over the last few days.

[@54duffield54]

That costs you 20 miles.

[@kevinjohn725]

At cheap price over night ,who cares.😂​@54duffield54

[@crm114.]

@@54duffield54For long journeys, I’d defrost while plugged in.

[@dayoadeosun1520]

My toyota prius Phev 2020 can also do this.

[@djtaylorutube]

​@@54duffield54Meanwhile, running a car engine on the drive doesn't use any petrol does it? As you've already been advised, preconditioning and defrost when plugged in solves the problem you perceive.

[@martinmorgan9]

Thank you for this thorough explanation, which I'll keep in mind when we switch to a BEV.

[@wisher21uk]

I have some advice too get a ICE car simple same mpg with the heater on 😊

[@ftb2772]

Loving the pre-heat in the morning 22T3SR+. Usually turn it on about 10mins before jumping in the car. Noted 2% more battery usage than usual on a 35mile mostly motorway @ 0degrees snow and ice 😃. Left heater at 20.5 and seat on 1bar.

[@MarkJHEllis]

Starting my first winter with the Tesla M3 RWD, noticed on Sunday preconditioning used 16 miles of consumption before arriving at Kings Lynn Superchargers.

[@garryholmberg6502]

I don't know where the chart is, but there is a negative affect at colder and hotter outside temperatures on the batteries if the state of charge (SOC) is below 20% or above 50%. I am lucky as I can charge at home before my daily commutes. So I set the maximum SOC to 50% to be attained by 7:30am, and have my Tesla preconditioned by 7:30. If I know I am going to be driving further than my 30 miles round trip daily commute I increase my maximum SOC as a one off charging limit. And if I need to take my batteries to a high SOC say 95 or even 100% (I don't have LFP batteries so I am not supposed to charge this high regularly) then again I use my app to schedule the full charge to finish at my time of departure. Because it is not good for the batteries to sit at a high SOC. So basically hit hits 95 or 100% and I walk out of the house, disconnect, and depart. Now after saying all that, there are lots of Tesla owners who can not baby their car's battery and they make out just fine. Supercharging daily because they live in an apartment, unable to leave their vehicle always plugged in (I failed to mention that my car is always plugged in when home as that is also best practice), and unable to garage their cars to keep their car and batteries at a higher temp than when out on the cold street. I actually don't garage my car but rather park it in a carport, so it gets very cold when the temps drop to freezing or below. Just food for thought. And that is perhaps the point, educate yourself and then think before you do. Having an EV does require a little adaptation but so do gas vehicles. If I know I am going on a long trip with a gas car, I check to see if I should get the oil changed, fill the tank up the night before so I don't need to do it at start of trip, etc.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

Pre-conditioned on the way to Hartshead Moor East bound today....got there and all 6 Tesla chargers were in use !, never seen that before we actually had to wait almost 10 minutes before one came available as we were 2nd in the queue. Oddly enough the stack of Applegreen and the Gridserve chargers were just about all free, I guess no-one wants to pay their eye-watering prices, happy to wait !

[@djtaylorutube]

Dave advises that everyone use the Tesla Superchargers... Thanks for the queues Dave! 😂

[@tomooo2637]

With cars that don't have proper battery pre-conditioning (my wife's e208 for example), we have found that it is worth plugging in for maybe 30-60 mins before you leave to give it a final bit of charge - with the result the battery charging at nearly full heats up the battery cells. You can also turn on the cabin heating since this will pull power from the battery which is being charged from the mains if the battery is already full.

[@ISuperTed]

We have an e208 and do the same, program the cabin heater to come on in the morning while it’s plugged in charging, nice and toasty and defrosted when you get in. Doesn’t use the battery range up. Not as good as a Tesla but works fine in the winter.

[@CharlesWright-z3x]

Thanks Dave very interesting,, and helpful.👍👍

[@andrewlangford524]

Hi Dave thanks for some really useful advice.

[@Jaw0lf]

Some great tips for winter driving. Just a quick point though, not all EV's have pre conditioning. My previous Kia E Niro did not have any!

[@martinmorgan9]

Thanks for this tip, as i was thinking of buying a 2nd hand eNiro. When was battery preconditioning added?

[@kelviskelvis7140]

Nice topic and good coverage on preconditioning. I am a non tesla owner and you have good points for EVs in general. Home charging over night does make EV ownership better no matter what season you are in even here in the US.

[@AndreMalanUK]

Love the preconditioning in my iPace. *To be fair, my previous car was an ICE Jaguar XE and that had a similar feature (remote climate control) which was very welcome in winters & the occasional hot summers day! The iPace does do it better though 😊.

[@johnmcconville6055]

You want snow,NE Scotland has had plenty.About 6 inches sitting on the ground outside.My Nokian winter tyres are brilliant,once I have cleared off the overnight snow.

[@paulweston1106]

Seen a few people out who didn't sweep the snow off their car, possibly not remembering that there is no engine under the bonnet to clear the snow. Definitely liked turning on the climate control and heated window from the phone app so that the car was warm and windows defrosted.

[@Ian-xq4rt]

Having a Niro EV, heating the before travelling is truly welcome when cold and frosty, sadly, we can't pre-condition the battery (I believe an issue for all Kia vehicles), it's been a frustration for some time and no one know why this feature has not been made available yet. The other issue is Tesla chargers are not recognised by the Kia satnav so putting a location in doesn't trigger the pre-heat, instead I have to find a close by charger which generally works (but not always!). Being a Niro driver, I clearly wait for a charge for longer due to the limits, but it's not much of a difference I've noticed. Some further advice: - Make sure your tyres are at the correct pressure, this can make quite a difference - Driver no more than 60mph, more efficient for an EV, going higher will reduce your distance - If you can and brave enough, tailgate a lorry, the aerodynamics again can make a major difference (works for all types of cars btw) Other significant impacts which are not within your control are the direction of the wind and if the road is wet, less friction when wet equals shorter distance, driving into a strong wind equals a shorter distance, again, this applies to all vehicles, not just EV. Finally, wrap up with plenty of clothing, if you have driving gloves, this helps. If you have a heat pump, it can take nearly 3KW of energy to begin with, this is then like to drop to between 500W and 1KW when the temperature is reached (and how hot you want it to be), you 'may' find it better to switch the heating off and only when really cold, switch if back on again, not sure this is the most efficient method, quite difficult to test.

[@donaldanderson6604]

The range on my four year old e208 fell through the floor this morning. Once the temperature drops to 3C I'm stuffed.

[@KokowaSarunoKuniDesu]

There is a third problem too: in the Winter the air is denser, and so the Coefficient of drag of the car is increased. It would be interesting to see actual figures for the Summer/Winter CdA difference.

[@martinmorgan9]

It's true, but the same actually applies to ALL cars, whether they are ICE or BEV, and we've always had to live with that.

[@KokowaSarunoKuniDesu]

@martinmorgan9 Sure, but a tabulation of all the drains on a car's energy performance is a useful thing to know about anyway.

[@keithdenton8386]

Put your hands in your pockets and stop wobbling around. Ice dance you are a master of it.

[@CoxJul]

Did you mention that when you pre-condition the car in the morning you should do it plugged -in so you're not using battery/range. It is also considered more efficient to keep yourself warm mostly with seat heating if you're on your own, only taking the edge off the cabin air temperature with the hvac.

[@DJBaldPaul]

I think this depends what kind of tariff you are on, I'd much rather use the battery that was charged at 7p/kWh rather than pull power from the grid at 26p/kWh. But if you have solar or battery storage then it makes sense to pre-condition whilst plugged in.

[@huwjones5879]

Preconditioned my Model 3 this morning while checking some emails and drinking a nice coffee. It was so nice to step into a car with warm seats, and clear screens after 40 years of letting ICE cars idle on the drive while you scraping the windows and waiting for the heater to warm up. I did this whilst it was still connected to the charger after an overnight charge. Car topped up the charge to 80% after defrost/precondition had taken place so I drove off with a warm battery charged to 80%.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

I pre-conned this morning, nice to watch the ice and snow drip off the car whilst I sat having my morning tea !

[@David-bl1bt]

Yes, jumped into my car this morning, it was like being in the Bahamas 🌞😁 24 degrees. I waved goid morning to my neighbour as she was stood in the freezing hail engulfed in toxic fumes whilst scraping the windows😂

[@nickindevon]

Not only is a cold battery the reason behind reduced miles/kWh but the air is significantly denser when it is cold. I've parked my EV is an integral garage with a minimum temperature of 15°C and yet I still struggled to get much above 4 miles/kWh on cold days. Doing the same journey on a warm day (>20°C) could get up to 5 miles/kWh at best. Leaving the car outside on a cold night means less than 3.5 miles/kWh for the same 15 minute journey.

[@RenlangRen]

Great advice Dave. I love stepping into my "preconditioned" car in the morning with everything toasty warm.

[@terryrigden4860]

Thanks Dave that sounds like very good advice

[@tessiestravels]

Good one Dave, this is my first winter as an EV owner and cold here in Hungary. Setting off through Austria and Germany tomorrow and snow is predicted. Some useful tips there I'm sure.

[@Frazpas]

It’s a bit frustrating when you focus too much on Tesla. Please remember most here are not Tesla owners. 😊

[@trickshotish]

Not sure if it’s my imagination but my mg5 trophy seems to hold the heat in the car a lot more that my Toyota hybrid did . My wife thinks so too can’t be imagining it if for once we both agree lol😂

[@andrewsarchus4238]

Your fine program has given me an idea - the need for winter battery heating possibly gives a lifeline for a limited use of hydrogen. As an alternative to EVs hydrogen has of course failed. However Toyota make a small hydrogen fuel cell “cassette”. This is intended to give hydrogen cars a little more portable range. But a much better use of those hydrogen cassettes is to use with an EV in cold weather, just to warm up the battery. Then you could warm up the big battery without losing a chunk of your EV range. In cold weather you could keep a couple of hydrogen fuel cell cassettes in the boot, to maintain normal range. Toyota should talk to the China EV chiefs about this.

[@karlwest437]

I noticed this morning that my EV's regen braking didn't seem to work as well in the cold, I had to double check it was enabled, I guess it's harder to put charge into the battery via regen when it's cold, so the braking is less effective?

[@crm114.]

Yep, a cold battery won’t accept a charge from regen as well as when warm. My Tesla used to give me a warning that braking was reduced.

[@Ian-xq4rt]

I'm assuming you don't have 100% full battery which prevent this too, the regen will work in cold weather, but likely reduced until it's all nice and warm.

[@David-bl1bt]

Yes, if the battery is at 100% when you leave home the regen cannot function as there is nowhere for thst generated charge to go! I charge to 95% maximum to retain the use of regen braking.

[@SuperFace1986]

Yep, it definitely worked for me this morning.

[@ouchnotagain1971]

Skoda enyaq. And no preconditioning or heat pump. Why are heat pumps just not fitted as standard these days to all cars

[@David-bl1bt]

In the case of Skoda and other brands who thrive on greed, and more greed....so they can charge a premium for those "extras"!

[@djhvideo]

@@David-bl1bt £1000 for heat pump. Do the maths especially if you have a cheap overnight tariff. It will never pay for itself.

[@Gazer75]

Most new EVs will have some kind of temp management, but not all. The cheaper ones still don't and many older EVs sold in the past 5-10 years do not. Pretty sure most ID models prior to 2023/2024 didn't have this. I know the ID3 didn't. Pretty sure the MG4 don't have any preconditioning. At least the entry model with the 54kWh battery. It doesn't even have a navigation system so don't know if you're going to a charger. Many EVs are also very weird in the way they handle this. If you use the heatpump for cabin heating or cooling it will not be able to do the same for the battery.

[@xlerb_again_to_music7908]

Load question re preconditioning... assuming the EV is plugged in, what sort of kW load is there and for how long? Um, 400W for say 30 mins for cabin and say 2kW for 30 mins for the battery?? I work on EV loads on LV and this sort of info is very useful for modelling.

[@djhvideo]

2 kw for 30 mins for a half ton battery. Wouldn't scratch the surface!

[@xlerb_again_to_music7908]

@@djhvideo Agreed! So, what? 10kW for an hour?? How much temp rise is needed? :(

[@DB25k]

Dave so it's my fault for not precon before leaving on my journey... I will remember from now on.. Great video mate...

[@davetakesiton]

choice not fault

[@garethwiseman94]

So if you can’t precondition your car while plugged in at home do you think you would get better range by just setting off and not using battery power or is it best to precondition it. Or I suppose how far do you have to be traveling for it to make a difference?

[@David-bl1bt]

As Dave explained, always precondition it to get the best range and faster charging at public chargers.

[@taptaptapuk]

So how much range do you lose in -1 say 20% ? Do you make this back with the pre con or is it gone until you charge ?

[@timoliver8940]

I checked the before and after state of charge in my 2024 Mini Countryman S E yesterday when running a preconditioning cycle at -7C in Central Scotland. Dropped the HV battery SOC by 2% on a 65kWh HV battery so used less than 2kWh =6 or 7 miles range. That was used by the heat pump, heated front seats the heated steering wheel and the heated door mirrors.

[@taptaptapuk]

​@@timoliver8940ah ok interesting so no great loss then , I must say I have a diesel when in icy 'er indoors is kind enough to get all that ice off . So she will love an ev .

[@michaelarulanantham8833]

What to do about defrosting LED headlights? I can at least see one "snowflake!"😊

[@RickBeton]

When you say "all EVs have battery preconditioning", can you check that please? Does it include Nissan Leaf, Kia eNiro and other older cars?

[@kear3922]

Why can’t you check?

[@Ian-xq4rt]

The Niro has preconditioning but it doesn't have a manual override, so you can't precondition whilst sitting in your drive plugged in, only approaching a charging station, this applies to all Kia's, not sure about the rest but I believe it quite a common issue.

[@davidallen6690]

According to my charger I can't charge between 8.00am and 11.00am so how do I warm up the car while it is on charge? Even if I disable this feature I will be using electricity at a peak time.

[@djtaylorutube]

Change your charger programming, use the override and yes if you do that you'll be using electricity at the appropriate rate, whatever that is for you.

[@trevorharrison1434]

I charged my Renault megane e-tech with a heat pump on a rapid charge, and it took longer to change and very expensive.

[@DJBaldPaul]

Did you not precondition on the way there?

[@ziggarillo]

Not all electric cars have battery preconditioning. The new Dacia Spring doesn't

[@ISuperTed]

Not surprising though given it’s the cheapest of the cheapest.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

And Nissan Leaf's

[@steverichmond7142]

Keep it in a heated garage.

[@kevinjohn725]

Show off

[@mbak7801]

I've owned four houses and my parents who moved a lot had over six all with garages. Never has any of them been heated. I cannot think of anything more stupid and pointless. That is about as intelligent as using an electric fire in the back garden. Yes I have seen dumb people do that. Even when they are part of a house the ceiling and connecting walls get heavy insulation but the rest of the garage is left cold. Heating it would encourage rust. To avoid that a car port is the most effective.

[@silverghini2629]

@@mbak7801I think you have missed the point. In Scandinavian countries heated and insulated garages are not unusual. The temperature is set fairly low, perhaps 7 to 10 C but this is significantly different to the outside temperature which can get down to -20C or so.

[@steverichmond7142]

@@mbak7801 I heat the garage using excess solar panels. I also heat the stables from the same source where I keep my car collection - 3 Aston Martins and 2 Ford Cosworths. It does not encourage rust. I am a builder who creates airtight buildings using SIPs which are all off grid and which consume no energy. You are really stupid using conventional building materials... for anything. You are also obviously poor and ignorant - I feel sorry for your family ... pitiful.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

@@mbak7801 My garage was also my workshop so heating was critical, no fun working on little PCB's with freezing hands....although the soldering iron kept me a bit warm !

[@keithdenton8386]

You will not get your range back in the winter, this is misinformation. Summer driving I get well below 250 on the same weekly journey in the summer, 220. ish. In the winter if I am careful I can get below 270 in the winter. Thawts in the north of England. Also what kills range more than anything is very wet roads, If its raining, speed hammers the range.

[@club8040]

BUY A GENERATOR

[@djtaylorutube]

Why?

[@the_none_believer]

Anyway if you own a electric car for long enough it will pre condition it's self 🔥. Sorry only teasing no offence meant . Just couldn't resist l await your ICE car jokes 😊.

[@the_none_believer]

Hello Dave, ICE cars, a bit of extra fuel to start with a choke and after 5 minutes ICE car's are just as efficient in winter as in summer. My car and every one else's ICE car do not take any more fuel in winter to summer, probably less economical in the summer actually as running the aircon. I think you are being a bit misleading to say ICE cars are affected like EV'S in the cold. Its a well know issue, and always will be that batteries do not like the cold. Petrol, and diesel are relatively unaffected when warm , diesel does not freeze anymore due to additives. You don't have to spend energy first warming up petrol or diesel prior to starting. A little extra fuel for five minutes as l said on start-up and it's runs as normal. You're EV battery will be affected all the time its in a cold environment, and efficiency will improve as the environment warms up. So l know your totally against ICE cars Dave, but you could be a bit more balanced in your reporting for your viewers. Regards the none beliver.

[@crm114.]

Whatever the temperature, the energy efficacy of ICE is pitiful compared to an EV.

[@davetakesiton]

You missed several points that I made. ICE, the engines themselves, are actually more efficient in the winter, as the cold dense air produces more power in the cylinder. Points to you. However, the alternator uses a bit more power and that uses a bit more petrol. The small battery also works less efficiently and more are replaced as they collapse in the winter. But yes, if you like less than 25% efficiency from your engine and happily pay for more than 75% of the heat you produce from the fuel that you buy to be pumped out into the air, then go for it. We all have a choice. My 97% efficient electric motors may lose a tiny bit, and the battery likewise, but nowhere near 75%. I'll happily take the hit on the range because I, like most EV owners always charge at home overnight and rarely ever actually need the full range. Plus of course we willingly waste energy pre-heating the car and the battery and defrosting the windows while having breakfast. I'll willingly take that hit and again it is nowhere near the 75% you experience even in the summer, because mine comes straight from the house electricity, not the battery. PS the battery because I pre-heat it before setting off is up to temperature before I start driving, so it is not less efficient in the winter. It just works harder because all the heating is electric, albeit really efficient with heat pumps. PPS I am not against ICE, just the poisonous fumes, toxic gases and chemicals they release every time they run, summer and winter. I drove them for over 50 years. I just would never even consider going back to one. Not even as Data said, for 0.68 seconds, nearly an eternity.

[@Actually-y7j]

It's all coming out of the woodwork now..😂😂😂 !! Great advert for why not to buy an EV..!!😂😂😂

[@djtaylorutube]

?

[@Thetyrerepairer]

I prefer getting into a nice warm car on a cold morning, Than wasting my time scrapping the windows and waiting for it to warm up. I will never go back to an ice car.

[@colinjamieson1199]

In what way?

[@trickshotish]

It’s all coming out of the woodwork lol watta fool

[@2frogland]

buy a diesel for winter no worries

[@crm114.]

Pass

[@trickshotish]

Not sure if it’s my imagination but my mg5 trophy seems to hold the heat in the car a lot more that my Toyota hybrid did . My wife thinks so too can’t be imagining it if for once we both agree lol😂