In these conditions, sometimes the temps fall even lower, and people will take their ICE batteries inside to prevent it dying. Can’t do that with an EV, and can’t leave it charged for two weeks. The EV I have in mind can run its own heater periodically to prevent damage. Could I count on it doing that for the entire vacation?
You need to get a neighbor to come over, stroke the hood gently, give it a cup of tea, and say nice things to your EV. Otherwise it will never forgive you for leaving it alone.
Seriously, there appears to be no limit to the overthinking people do about leaving a car alone. Two weeks is not a long time. 10 F is not an extreme temperature.
I live in Massachusetts where the mean low in January is 5F, and I’ve seen -10 and below. I’ve never seen someone bring car batteries inside. I haven’t even seen engine block heaters since the 1990s, but people with diesel cars used to use them in the winter.
People do not bring in car batteries at 10F. This is crazy person talk.
Nor do we being them in at -40. This is just silly talk. Sincerely, a Canadian.
10F isn’t even cold.
Temp gate keeping on reddit
IIRC there were stories from a few years back that danced around this question. The one I’m thinking of is a guy who parked his car - a Bolt? - in the top covered corner of an airport garage. I want to say DTW, might have been MSP. He reported it was windy as well.
It was also at least a week so definitely cold soaked. IIRC he left home with a full charge, was at like 65-70% when he parked it. Getting back the car did start but was sluggish until it fully warmed up; took at least 10-15 minutes.
Personally I’d have AAA ready JIC, almost no matter what the car was. That’s just good risk management though, and not necessarily anything to do specifically with EVs.
Norwegian without garage here. It will be fine.
We visited Spokane last year. 7F, kept plugged into 110V. But missed one night. NP other than limited regen.
I grew up in Minnesota and NEVER saw someone take out their battery in the winter. They might have a oil pan heater plugged in, but for the battery, nope.
Remember, cars on dealership lots will be sitting there all winter, only moved to be washed. You’ll be fine.
In Jan of 2014 we had a cold snap. Me as a broke ass college kid with a 20+ year old car and a battery that was on its last leg, I took my battery out every night for 2 weeks. Each morning I’d wake up, turn on a hair dryer that I left dangling under my hood, get ready for the day, and then put my battery in right before I left. Obviously though, that was a weird situation and not the norm.
IIRC 10F should be fine to start in an ICE since they test 12V batteries down to 4°F. If you look on your battery and see “CCA”, that stands for cold cranking amperage.
I learned this in high school some moons ago, when Elon Musk was balding and running PayPal, so I’m not sure how an EV would do…
It also doesn’t require nearly as much amperage to run the electronics as it does to crank a cold engine.
10F, -12C that is not so cold at all. Are u Jamaican ? :) At-12c you don’t even have problem with winter diesel fuels With a ev I’ve no idea but if they have problem with that mild temperature I can’t see how it is possible to sell in Europe
Left a Tesla sitting outside in Breckenridge for 3 days. The battery initially appeared to lose about 5% but recovered some when the pack warms up. Net loss was about 1% per day. Two weeks will be fine, at least with a Tesla.
And Teslas are notorious for high vampire drain so it will be even less of an issue on most other cars.
I had the 12v battery die in the winter after parked for 3 weeks unpluged. Regular battery had some ghosting loss.
My understanding is lithium batteries will sustain no damage from sitting in below freezing temps. They will sustain damage if charged when they are below freezing. Therefore, an EV will heat the battery before charging if the battery is below freezing, and will avoid regenerative braking when the battery is below freezing. This is why the battery is heated. Not to avoid damage from sitting in the cold. (If I’m wrong about this, someone please link a source, but this was my research from lithium batteries when I bought one for an RV)
I’ve lived in north-central Illinois and south-central Wisconsin (current) most of my life. I’ve seen lows of below -10 °F at least once at least every winter. We set a new record at the Illinois/Wisconsin state line a few years ago, -29 °F. That was pretty cold.
My ICE cars cranked really slow when they’ve been sitting in -10 °F, but they start. As mentioned, nobody takes ICE batteries in at -10 °F, much less 10 °F. Except for vehicle not used, like lawn mowers and motorcycle in unheated garages, and only needed if you don’t have a battery tender to keep it charged. This is because lead acid batteries, fully charged, do not freeze until around -35 °F or so. Less when partially discharged. People where it regularly gets colder than this will have electric battery blankets to keep the 12 volt battery from freezing, since a 12 volt battery that freezes will likely crack the case which will ruin the battery. You’d also have crankcase heaters, maybe engine blankets. I’ve heard northern Canada has outlets at every parking space. Not for EVs, but to plug in the engine heaters when parked.
I just bought an EV and it will do what my other cars have done. Sit outside with no garage, take me to work and sit in the parking lot on days when the high is 0 °F (or less…), etc.
Bottom line: 10 °F is unpleasant. But it’s nothing for vehicles. Don’t worry about it. Cars have and will continue to operate in much colder climates than yours.
If you’re in such a cold place, how do you not have a block heater socket at the parking space?
Not to gatekeep cold, but block heaters aren’t a thing most people use when it only gets down to -12C. I grew up in a Labrador where they were heavily used, but nobody in Nova Scotia, where I moved to in my 20s, uses them.
Just charge it to 80 before you leave and don’t worry about it.