It’s really the only reason I haven’t bought one, as I regularly travel across Pennsylvania from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and especially in the wintertime I understand the range is even less because of the cold.
In: 165
Have you done a cost per mile comparison between an electric and combustion engine? Even with reduced range, it might make it more compelling to look at electric vehicles.
Looking at this [list](https://insideevs.com/news/565883/electric-car-prices-us/), the 2023 Chevy Bolt are the cheapest EV’s with a respectable range of about 250 miles. According to Car & Driver, a similar gasoline vehicle would be the VW Jetta Sport, which a 13.2 gallon gas tank, a 40 highway mpg, giving it a maximum range of 540 miles. Average price of gas in Pennsylvania is $3.81. One full tank of gas would then be worth $50.29.
The Chevy bolt charges at a rate 11.5 kWh and will charge fully in 5.5 hours, for a total of 63.25 kWh. In Pennsylvania, power costs $0.17/kWh. To fully charge the EV (at home) would cost $10.75. Even if we double that for two full battery charges, that is still half the cost of a full tank of gas on the Jetta.
That being said, the Chevy Bolt will get approximately 66% of it’s range in temperatures ranging 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. So that range decreases to 165 on a full battery. The Jetta’s 540 mile range on a highway on a full tank of gas is roughly 3.25x greater, but the cost of the Bolt’s full battery more than compensates for.
Unfortunately, the distance from Pittsburgh to Philly is greater than the Bolt’s maximum range. Looking back over that list for a vehicle that can make that trip, the cheapest is the Tesla Model Y, but assuming the same kind of drop off in efficiency in cold weather, likewise would fall short.
The only vehicle that could in fact make the trip even in cold weather, assuming a similar decrease in efficiency, is the Lucid Air Grand Touring AWD, which costs more than 5 times the Chevy Bolt.
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