I see and hear about a random EV that has X range in 20 degree (Celsius) weather, steady speed of 110 km/h, but Y range (significant difference) if it’s 130 km/h. Even more of a difference if it’s 0 degrees.
If it needs to pull a trailer with 500kg it loses, i don’t know, 25% of the range?
There are probably other examples. I’m not talking these specific examples, i just mean in general.
Nobody ever talks about that when it comes to cars that run on gas or diesel, i assume because it doesnt affect them as much. Why?
In: Engineering
Most (all?) chemical reactions are affected by temperature. This also affects batteries (where a chemical process creates electricity), but also the combustion process in a gasoline engine requires a certain temperature – and let’s not mention Diesel engines, which won’t even start if they are cold.
The difference is that a gasoline engine gets hot when it runs, and thus already creates ideal conditions by itself. A battery will also warm up when used, but much, much less and it takes a lot longer, so it remains much longer in a sub-optimal state.
That’s why some electric cars have battery heating – but of course that again requires electricity that is then missing from your range that you can drive…
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