Apparently people are noticing very steep drop-offs in observed range based on temperature, eg. a Mazda CX-90 (26 mile rated range, and gets it pretty consistently at 70F) can only go around 12 miles at 40F.
A big component of it is heater use. In an ICE vehicle, you heat the car with waste heat that is going to be lost anyway. In an EV, you heat the car with energy from the battery. Heating takes up way more energy than most people realize.
It's been a pretty cool area to see innovation in. Newer Teslas (Model Y at least) have a really complex heat pump system that really helps reduce range loss dude to cold weather.
The range on my EV6 is noticeably less in the cold. It feels like I get 0.5-1.0 fewer miles per kWh when temperatures are around freezing (roughly 15-30% less).
On our last couple of trips in freezing temps, we had to hop on backroads so that we could safely reduce our speed enough to make it.
I cannot fathom a non-linear or even random decrease in range due to external factors while driving a vehicle. This is making me rethink getting an EV for my next car. I can only hope/assume this will get solved for in like 10 years.
FWIW, with that downside (and really that plus the range are the biggest two downsides), these are by far outweighed by the upsides.
It is practically zero maintenance, so much more fun/pleasant to drive, and no more trips to the gas station every week or two.
I have considered replacing our other (ICE) vehicle with a second EV, but the article hits on the main reason stopping me: we still take enough road trips that the (current) lack of infrastructure would make those tough for an EV.
But I think I will always own at least one EV, and I’m hoping the infrastructure improves enough to allow me to get rid of our ICE vehicle.
Lithium batteries do have less usable capacity in extremely cold weather, but the real killer is heating. ICE cars have abundant waste heat to warm the cabin, but an EV has to use battery power. For a short journey on a very cold day, it's possible to use more energy for heating than propulsion. EVs are increasingly equipped with heat pumps, but you're still unavoidably going to see a reduction in range as soon as you turn on the climate control.
