I can actually speak to this having owned an EV for almost 7 years now. I'm in Canada and hands down would choose an EV over an fossil vehicle for winter driving every time. EVs can "idle" in the cold for days (almost a week for my car). I'm never worried about being stuck in a snow storm on the highway because I know that I can just put the car into camping mode and keep it running all day and night if I have to and stil have plenty of range left to get to the next charger when the roads are passable again...not that that's ever happened to me.
Thanks for the well thought out opinion. I tend to believe the compelling EVs are not cheap and the inexpensive EVs are not interesting, compelling, etc.
Thank you for adding your take on this. Never having an Ev or being around them wasn’t sure how long charges last and or how heating etc works with them. Does extreme cold make the batteries drain quicker as the old batteries used to do?
EV range is negatively impacted by cold (especially if you use heat), heat, high speed, wet road and terrain. Best range is achieved on a flat, straight road going about 50 mph on a dry, 60-80 degree day.
I wish they would set ranges on the typical drive as you first mentioned, not based on the flat road, optimal temps, etc. that would provide a more accurate daily range expectation. Having my new hybrid is fun playing with maximizing my range but getting it in December in PA certainly skews my range downward so hoping spring helps bring the average up and I’m sure it will
With modern BMS and a tremendous amount of environmental and vehicle data, interfaced with GPS and Route planning, this is all dynamic, so range adjusts on the fly based on current battery state, speed and active driving conditions impacting consumption. In my truck, on one screen, I find the estimates on battery and range to be very realistic, and I also see how much power I am consuming at any given interval on the screen (all of this data will be driving the amount of range I have left, based on current SOC). In a recent SW update, drivers got a much bigger "window" into more data points impacting range and other things like REGEN, motor temps, new views into mi/kWh, etc. Cold temps can definitely impact range, but with realistic data, it is not a mystery and you just plan accordingly if you are going to need to charge on a road trip.
That helps a lot. I realize you’ve probably only had the Rivian less than a year but on a year to date mindset is the truck getting the range they advertised? Getting my hybrid at start of winter has skewed my average down a bit so learning as I go. I do know in the past month I’ve really learned to reduce my “take-off” throttle which saves a ton of range. I was always a get to 65 as fast as possible but the hybrid is changing my driving style and I’ve become much less aggressive (which makes my wife VERY happy)With modern BMS and a tremendous amount of environmental and vehicle data, interfaced with GPS and Route planning, this is all dynamic, so range adjusts on the fly based on current battery state, speed and active driving conditions impacting consumption. In my truck, on one screen, I find the estimates on battery and range to be very realistic, and I also see how much power I am consuming at any given interval on the screen (all of this data will be driving the amount of range I have left, based on current SOC). In a recent SW update, drivers got a much bigger "window" into more data points impacting range and other things like REGEN, motor temps, new views into mi/kWh, etc. Cold temps can definitely impact range, but with realistic data, it is not a mystery and you just plan accordingly if you are going to need to charge on a road trip.
View attachment 2112
For reference, and in terms of cold impacts on my R1T, here are some real world, winter driving estimates for 80 MPH at 20 degrees on Nokian Hakka LT3's (slightly heaver than the OEM 20 AT's) light headwind, gaining about 2000 vertical feet very gradually so no monstrous hills, in CONSERVE MODE: 1.26 mi/KWh average. I was watching to see what speed impacts would have over 75 (based on miles remaining at destination), and a good guess would be that you will lose 5 miles of range for every 5 mph over 75MPH you drive over the course of an hour. Not scientific, just based on estimated miles left when increasing speed to 80 or 85.
Here are some observations recorded at slower speed, on lightly snow covered roads in SNOW MODE, starting to go up a very long & steep gradient for 3 miles, at 20 degrees F:
Lastly, here is the opposite and far more efficient run with a slight tailwind at 80+ MPH in CONSERVE:
Hope that helps... DRIVE MODES on the R1T make a big difference!
Very similar data in the iX.With modern BMS and a tremendous amount of environmental and vehicle data, interfaced with GPS and Route planning, this is all dynamic, so range adjusts on the fly based on current battery state, speed and active driving conditions impacting consumption. In my truck, on one screen, I find the estimates on battery and range to be very realistic, and I also see how much power I am consuming at any given interval on the screen (all of this data will be driving the amount of range I have left, based on current SOC). In a recent SW update, drivers got a much bigger "window" into more data points impacting range and other things like REGEN, motor temps, new views into mi/kWh, etc. Cold temps can definitely impact range, but with realistic data, it is not a mystery and you just plan accordingly if you are going to need to charge on a road trip.
View attachment 2112
For reference, and in terms of cold impacts on my R1T, here are some real world, winter driving estimates for 80 MPH at 20 degrees on Nokian Hakka LT3's (slightly heaver than the OEM 20 AT's) light headwind, gaining about 2000 vertical feet very gradually so no monstrous hills, in CONSERVE MODE: 1.26 mi/KWh average. I was watching to see what speed impacts would have over 75 (based on miles remaining at destination), and a good guess would be that you will lose 5 miles of range for every 5 mph over 75MPH you drive over the course of an hour. Not scientific, just based on estimated miles left when increasing speed to 80 or 85.
Here are some observations recorded at slower speed, on lightly snow covered roads in SNOW MODE, starting to go up a very long & steep gradient for 3 miles, at 20 degrees F:
Lastly, here is the opposite and far more efficient run with a slight tailwind at 80+ MPH in CONSERVE:
Hope that helps... DRIVE MODES on the R1T make a big difference!
The Scout will be my first EV, so I can't speak from experience like some on here. This is a common concern a lot of us have, but I don't know that a 3 hour charge is at all realistic. @Rustic_father posted this a while back (https://scoutmotors.community.forum/threads/dealerships-are-dying.110/post-1751). Take notice of his last paragraph that has a link to ABRP, which is "A Better Route Planner" for EV's. You might play with it a bit to see what your 7 hour road trip would really entail. Maybe post it on here so we can all work through actual expectations of owning an EV? .....good or bad it "[helps] fix the problem"
