The recent cold and freezing weather has made chiefly most people who drive electric vehicles feel desperate: the already short cruising range has shrunk again, and turning on the warm air will make it worse, but if it is not turned on, it will be as if Falling into the ice cave, every time you travel, you will be tortured physically and mentally. Of course, there are various reasons for aggravating the anxiety of car owners. Still, in the final analysis, the most significant root cause is the battery. Performance degradation in low-temperature environments is a common problem of current electric vehicle batteries.
Electric vehicles generally use lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries, such as ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries. A few models use lead-acid batteries or nickel-hydrogen batteries. But these power batteries essentially transfer charges through redox reactions between metals and electrolytes, thereby realizing charging and discharging. However, the activities of various electrolytes tend to be stable at low temperatures. And the lower the temperature, the harder the electrochemical reaction occurs. In turn, it causes the battery’s internal impedance to increase with its temperature decrease. The performance of charge and discharge are all decline. As a result, there is a phenomenon that the battery capacity shrinks in a low-temperature environment.
In winter, how much impact does the car heater system have on the battery life of electric vehicles?
The heater’s impact on the electric vehicle on the battery life of the car is about 30%. In other words, it could have a battery life of 300 kilometres. If the air conditioner is used continuously, its battery life will be reduced to about 200 kilometres. However, different brands of electric vehicles are now making continuous improvements in heating in winter, and it is believed that the impact on battery life will gradually become smaller.
Will the car heater system of new energy vehicles affect the battery life?
Air conditioning on new energy vehicles will affect the cruising range. The heating of electric cars is entirely dependent on electricity. If the car heater system is turned on in winter, the energy consumption will increase by about 20% to 30%. And the driving range will be reduced by 1/4 to 1/3. That is to say, the driving range of 400 kilometres at room temperature may drop to less than 300 kilometres in winter.
The maximum cruising range most new energy vehicle companies will be discounted in actual driving. The existing cruising range is affected by driving speed, road conditions, personal driving habits, temperature, etc. It is often significantly less than the cruising range advertised by the manufacturer.
The entry-level Tesla Model 3’s battery can run the heater for at least 50 hours if it’s fully charged and 25 hours at half power. Suppose there is a big traffic jam, or the car falls off the road waiting for rescue, to save electricity. In that case, you will not turn on the high-temperature heater for a long time. You can adjust the temperature lower so that the battery can last longer.
Under normal circumstances, if your electric car battery is half full, you don’t need to worry about not having enough power. It can support heating due to heavy traffic jams. Even if your electric car is a little older and the battery capacity is not as strong as it was, it can still support ten eight hours of heating. But when you start driving, remember to charge it right away.