Does the cold affect EV charging?

If you are living in the northern part of the US, cold weather, snow and blizzards will affect the battery and the way you charge your electric vehicle. The first thing that people find is that the range of most EVs drops significantly when temperatures drop below 40F.

Additionally, your electric car’s energy consumption increases significantly when you have heating, seat warmers and steering wheel heating turned on. With these heating features turned on, you will need more kWh of power to travel the same distance and your total range will naturally decrease.

However, more and more EV models come with the ability to schedule preheating of your car to desired temperatures before starting your trip. We recommend preheating your car while it is still plugged into the charger, in order to avoid using too much energy at once while you drive. Keep in mind that this will cost you a few kWh of your battery capacity.

Therefore, in the winter, it is important to plan long trips ahead of time, and make sure that you start every cold morning with a full battery.

Can I use public EV chargers in the winter?

When temperature goes down, so does the range of an electric car. Therefore, it is more likely you will need to use a public charger to extend your range. Most of the outdoor chargers can handle temperature as low as 20F. However, colder temperatures can affect the speed of charging. A vehicle’s software might reduce the energy uptake to prevent faster battery degradation. Also, the batteries of some EVs can be negatively affected if you start fast charging a cold battery.

Can I leave an EV outdoors during a cold night?

Some people find it surprising that the range of their car drops after leaving their vehicle outdoors during a cold night. Extreme low temperatures can affect the battery and degrade it. If you do not have an ability to leave your car indoors, the rule of thumb is to leave your car outside with more than 20% of the battery charged. If you have an ability to keep your car indoors and plugged into a Level 2 EV charger - do that. Better safe than sorry, right?

How should I charge my EV indoors during a cold night?

By far, the most important advice for cold nights is to keep your car plugged indoors in your garage and hooked to a Level 2 EV charger.