When I woke up today I heard on the radio that it was going to be -30C. My first thought was that there was no way in hell I was going to spend even a second shoveling today. If I could drive my car straight into my office to avoid having to walk outside in this weather I would have. I certainly didn't think about the impact this temperature could on my driving range. I was only going to be driving 45 kilometers round trip, which is completely doable even if I had the heat blasting and was driving like a 16 year old with a Ferrari. And then I made a mistake.
We were playing I Spy as we drove to school. Yellow is always the lines on the road. Pink always gets the response "I tricked you!" This morning it went like this.
Me - I spy with my little eye, something that is blue.
B - That sign
Me - What sign?
B - That one. (He must pointing at something but you know I can't tell BECAUSE I'M DRIVING)
Me - No
B - My hoodie?
Me - No
B - Well it isn't my coat that you left at home.
Me - $&*@
It was only an extra 10 kilometers to get back to get his coat, which may not seem like a lot but in -30C with the heat on in the car that is almost 10% of my range. Rookie mistake. Only I'm not a rookie. I have been driving an EV for a year and a half, which pretty much makes me an EV OG. ::shines badge::
I spent the rest of the day watching more closely how I was driving. I needed to be efficient and hope the temperature didn't drop further. I never really realized just how much small changes in driving style, road conditions, weather and car maintenance can impact range when I had my gas car. But here is the thing...all the things that I worry about when it comes to range affect you too. You probably just don't notice it because you don't have a car that shows you (and yells at you) just how efficiently you are driving. Small changes also impact me more because my "tank" only gets 150 kilometers vs the average 650 kilometers of a gas car.
For some reason when it gets this cold I also feel the need to share my ridiculous range with Joe. And not just with BBM's, nope. I have to send pictures of my dash to show just how bad it is. Only 2 bars of battery temperature. THE WORLD IS ENDING.
Do you know how efficient you drive? Do you notice the impacts of weather, roads, maintenance etc?
Related Posts - Check them Out
Buying an Electric Vehicle
Turning Down the Heat
Am I Really Green?
This is a great read! We don't have such difficult weather conditions but you're right that the way we drive can effect the range we get. A lot has to do with just the simple style we're all used to- we get in our cars and want to get to the desired location as fast as possible which means lots of speeding and harsher breaking, it's funny to think but it's true that a calmer driving style is simply far more efficient then ever actually imagine
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