Will electric cars be reliable in wintery conditions?
I just read up on some exciting new electric cars that will be coming out in the next 3 years that match my budget and will have up to 300 mpg!!!
But I was wondering, how these cars would handle on a street after a ice storm? The car would be great for me, but i live in the midwest and require a car that can get around ice and snow.
The information I would like to have is the typical weight an electric car, front/rear wheel drive, and inside space.
I think traction would be as good as a traditional car. I wonder if cold temperature will affect battery power and range.
One of the factors that makes electric cars so efficient is their light weight. This has some unwanted side effects. They will be the underdog in a collision with heavier vehicles. Also, they are prone to high cross-winds–especially in icy conditions. I’m sure, that as more of these become available, there will be choices for the various conditions you are anticipating in your region.
We’ve never really licked the battery weight problem, so electrics are just as heavy as gas powered cars. The cold will indeed reduce available battery power, and heating the car will be a problem. We really need a zero point power supply.
If you look at some of today’s electric cars like the Tango, the weight of the batteries should keep them nice and stable and help the tires punch through snow (not much help on ice, though).
I think that they should drive ok, I can’t see traction or anything being a big problem. The thing that I would worry about is would the extreme cold cause the battery to malfunction or lose power? I guess we’ll know more as these cars come closer to being released to the public.
I plan on getting one of these too, so I’m really hoping that they live up to the hype! The thought of hardly ever having to fill up a gas tank just brings a smile to my face!
Traction would be great do to battery weight however the batteries die in the cold.
They won’t be much different than present cars with respect to handling on slick surfaces. But there is no reasonable prospect for building electric cars with an acceptable range; hydrocarbon fuels have by far the highest energy density per pound of anything that can be found or made.
Its a good point, I’m going to wait for the hydrogen car to come out. Recall that an electric car still has to be charged up by a remote power plant that probably burns fossil fuel. In which case an electric car merely moves combustion of fossil fuel from under the hood to the local power station.
probably wouldn’t hurt to have an electric car, and with the money you save on gas you could buy an old beat up truck to drive in the snow and ice during the winter
probably not that great……….but just have a car for the winter and one for the summer lol
just dont drive around with the hood off and you should be fine
I don’t think the type of fuel they use really matters.
If they are designed like the gas powered cars, I would say they would handle well on wintry conditions. but the question would lie in how the batteries would handle the cold weather more. I would check on the hybrids with someone who has used one in the cold weather to get possible ideas of what to expect. I know it is not of equal comparison but a thought on on it.
it really depends on what kind of car you want. the aptera electric (the 300 mpg one) would need the right kind of tires and have proper brakes to ensure maximum traction control in icy or wintry conditions. but since the max is 9 mph, i doubt it should be a serious concern.
The Tesla Roadster (http://teslamotors.com) is 2700 lbs or 1.2 metric tons. If you’re interested in how it handles, check out Tesla’s extreme environment testing:
Electric cars can be designed to handle just as well as combustion-engine powered cars. Batteries and motors can be designed to work in extreme temperatures.
If your interest in electric cars is to “save the environment,” then sure, the fuel production may move to a coal plant but if you’re on the east coast it could very well be nuclear. This is going to have less of the EVIL CO2 emission but if you’re concerned about things like that I would expect that you would be MORE concerned with the livestock we are raising and all the methane production that comes with them. Much more damaging to our environment!
If you interest is to save money I think you are on the right path. I sure hope electric cars take off since I’m an electrical engineer. I think they will have severe competition from Hydrogen and Hybrids since the oil companies are hoping to stay in the game somehow.
I’m very curious to see what happens with Tesla. I would guess that some might powerful people are trying to figure out a way to stomp them out but maybe that’s all just conspiracy. (Why did they give up on all those EVs out in California again?)
As long as you treat the car normally i.e. adding snow tires, etc. then the car (electric) should run as well as any other.
Do You Mean The Aptera Type-1?
Next three years I thought Chevy was coming out with one in 08 09 or something the Chevy Jolt.
Ga i don’t think it’s so much the handling i would worry about i mean wat if you have no electricty for a week or two how r u suppose to make it run and stuff?
elcrtric has nothing to do with raod conditions,
thats about tires, abs, traction control,
or the ultimate quadro drive by aaudi,
ofcourse depending on the trafic u can get less or more miles/galon, miles/bateryy charge
once the car is going it should be fine. the problem if any is keep the battery warm enough and charged . but just plugging it in at night as is done with all cars up north should be enough
just for the fact of our country we need to use electric cars
because we at the edge of losing our country to globa waring.
ppl dont really care but i mean this summer was the hottest …
of coarse we need to use those eletric cars ,if the make then yeah there reliable in the winter….i mean dude just do wat you can man
Zenn
Dynasty
electric cars reliable in winter?
everything would appear the same to the driver, yet weight would be an issue with amount of batteries used, and then offset by the new metals used, weights still will vary from 1 thousand pounds to 1500 k , and more if sized to hold more passengers, so alot of the weight loss from gallons of fuel will be regained by battery packs, and not mentioned is the method of disposal of these tons of battery toxins as is, recyclable would be wise,
~also the massive increase in hydro needed to charge all the cars would increase greatly, requiring newer sources of input and converting factories to supply and demand as well for batteries,
~ and another issue would be temperature as it is now, cold (-20) and wet (damp) weather combined with electrical components don’t blend well yet, but improvements in modern batteries like lithium and nicad type power sources, and rechargeable along with solar cells and perpetual generators, it may be as easy to convert to electric power vehicles as it was from horse to steam to gas, eventually ? power,
so if the prices are good, and enough charge stations are available in your area, may be worth the effort,
..
Everyone is worried about the batteries losing power as they get cold. I expect that any engineer worth his slide rule (remember them?) will think to insulate the battery compartment, and maybe build in a small heater to keep them from freezing. As long as the batteries don’t go completely dead, they can keep themselves from freezing. And don’t they give off a little bit of heat as they discharge? That should help warm them as well. I expect the engineer will think to waterproof the compartment too – driving through a big puddle may not be the best way to keep your batteries warm and happy.
As to handling snow, they CAN work as well as any gas car. The tires on the car you’re driving now have no idea what generated the torque that turns them. They’re just happy to have it. The same with electric vehicles. And if the electric vehicle is driven by a motor at each wheel, there is nothing to keep it from being 4 wheel drive, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, left side drive, or any other combination you can think of. The computer could send electric power to the motors on whichever wheels get traction.
That is a very good question. I saw my first one up close and i think it is a good idea but as we know electricity and water doesn’t really mix. This thought alone scares me.
Temp will affect battery usage. Also, the car you are referring to appeared to me to be very light weight, when I read about it the other day. I wouldn’t think it good for bad roads.
Also, consider buying this car and what will happen if the company goes belly up like Daewoo America did and you have no warranty coverage.
These cars are not going to be cheap to repair and the odds of a new start up company like that surviving are low.
While this car sounds like a good idea on paper, it has allot of potential pitfalls.
Also, no one can answer me on the effect that this car, other primarily electric cars and their used batteries will have on the enviroment.
I was watching Boston Legal of all things and they spoke about the enviromental mess these batteries are. I went and did my own research on the topic and what they said was mostly true.
Also, what about all the carbon spewed out of the power plants to charge them. They are not carbon neutral or negative as the greenies make them out to be.
I see hydrogen fuel cells as the whey to go. I saw one GM is designing for mass production in the next 4 – 5 years. It comes with its only little hydrogen machine you hang on the garage wall.
You come home, plug it into the car and by morning the cell is full, with a minimum of electricity used and the only output of the motor is water.
Well, alot of your questions really depend on the TYPE of electric car your talking about.
most of the gas/electric cars that look like their regular gas-only counterparts will have the same reliability.
but the cars that are the size of a motor cycle , and weigh the same, will behave exactly as you think.
in places with thick snow, and icy conditions you should stick to normal sized hybrid vehicles like the toyota prius, ford escape, and honda civic ,
my friend drives a prius in western new york to rochester and buffalo and to ski resorts and has never had trouble with it. itll slip just as much as any other car, and recovers just fine.
Look at the Tesla skating through the snow,that will give you some idea .
Electric car? MPG? Miles per gallon of what?
Forget about it. The most efficient car is a diesel. Beyond that, electric/hybrid electric become less efficient when you factor in battery replacement, costly maintainence, etc.
Yes since it does not use petrol
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, what about in a lightning storm, electrical storm, it could stop the engine I think. I imagine they will have to compensate some type of load for the weight a gasoline engine has, otherwise it will be like a bicycle on ice!
the real question is, will your wife be reliable at the office holiday party
Many of the electric cars I have read about recently say that they will have a motor at each wheel, so tht would be four wheel drive, and that has to be good for ice and snow. A new technology I just found out about called pyrolysis, may be more likely the resource fr our energy needs creating oil from wood and waste. I think the electric car sounds good but everyone would have to buy a new car an with an alternative source of petrol the car you have will be around for a while and gas would be reduced, because the cost to produce this oil via the pyrolysis technology is extreamly cheap.
Hey there. We have a security vehicle that is a prius (why a security prius … I have no idea) and it is *terrible* in the winter. It is lightweight and doesn’t have that great of traction – after the second time it skidded on the ice and we had an officer go off the road our boss took it out of comission for the winter. I know they are making some hybrids now though that have a lot more options – so maybe you could find one that has better traction. As far as my experience, I won’t touch the prius when its snowing out.
yes they will reliable by insulating
Possibly Shockingly.
I wouldn’t stand in water to plug it in.
Electric cars have very few moving components and are less complex then a conventional ICE car , so they require less maintenance except from battery.
Any person trying to sell vehicle in your area will have to test it for the conditions there so obviously they will be able to give you more precise answers instead of people on yahoo.
Good batteries last long and have no problems, except for temperature variations.
Why dont you send an email and ask the manufacturer about your the tech specs of the car you are interested in especially pointing to the climate in your area.
electric cars have a simpler transmission of power from the power source to the wheels, since instead of mechanical transmission they use cables, this allows a 4X4 drive and high agility
protecting electric cars from water is not a big issue, and electric generators & motors are much less sensitive to cold temperatures.
The main problem with electric cars are batteries, which are heavy, and take substantial volume, and can not produce an equal amount of energy that could be produced from fuels.
ask a bigwig from gm the reasons why the ev-1 was built and subsequently killed off. it was never meant to be a success. if the vehicle is front wheel drive, it will be fine in the snow. handling should be no different than todays cars. i too am very interested in the chevrolet volt. i’ve read the car could have a range of 40 miles per day on one charge, without ever dipping into the gas tank. like many, that would get me to work and back. one concern from middle america, will it be truly affordable? as for 300 mpg, lets take things one step at a time. i read that too. sounds a bit too good to be true. but i’m interested in anything that may someday stop our friends in the middle east from owning us.
WATCH OUT! High Voltage wet icy ground people do not know Technicians and first responders to an accident have to be able to power down that car and its braking system in order to remove accident victims. So far about 30 people have been killed working on Hybrids Full electric there better be some standards soon. Or just even recharging the A/C system can be fatal if the wrong A/C oil is used. I think your only moving the pollution to another place full electric cars have to be plugged in some where.
When my children once had an electric car to play ; it was pain in the neck to keep charging the battery every night for 7 hours . beside the fact that i’ve never known the monthly cost i had to pay for this charging of the battery .
Electric cars are very good idea but not to the ordinary guy . it needs discipline . it is maybe better for commercial use like in the malls or hospitals or company compounds , there they have manpower and resources to keep them operational and in good shape .
The question concentrates on cold weather but what about hot weather ?. can anybody drive an electric car in Arizona or in Nevada? i doubt it . they will need air conditioning which need a lot of power .
I have seen that big commuter cars like buses use a separate motor to generate power for air conditioning . i think there it goes . if you want to use electric cars ; then you make a separate motor for air conditioning either for hot or for cold . the weight of the new motor helps in keeping the car stable .
Maybe not because of their weight.
Traction and winter performance will always be at least as good as conventional piston powered cars and can be much better.
The secret to this is in the ability to use computer control with sensors on each wheel/motor to give precise control and power delivered to the wheel that needs it. Think of it as ABS for going, not stopping. Electric motors are extremely easy to control with computers. Oh, the full on electric car could be a dream to drive, summer or winter.
Now me personally, I like the big block Chevy with fool injection and a rock crusher 4 speed, but with Gas at 3.25 a gallon, that ride will become a garage queen for sure!
OH, and Merry Christmas to all!
A purely electric car doesn’t get “MPG” and although it is possible to calculate the cost per mile for fuel, the calculations are tricky and you’d need specialized equipment to measure the amount of electricity used to charge the batteries.
Battery performance drops off as the battery’s temperature drops. This is true for all types of batteries. Some systems in prototype development enclose the batteries in an insulated container and provide heating elements to keep them warm and at full capacity. However that costs money to do so as electricity isn’t free. Even so, given enough time they will become “cold soaked” and capacity will drop of significantly. Using the batteries to provide the heat would defeat the purpose since you’d lose capacity just keeping them warm enough.
The problem to date with electric cars is the limited range. Much progress has been made in improving battery capacity per pound of weight but we still have a long way to go on that issue, and vehicle with sufficient capacity to go 400 miles between recharge cycles would be extremely heavy. Don’t forget that hauling all of that weight around costs money too!
We are still a long way away from a vehicle that will travel 400 miles on a charge AND be “refillable” in the same 10 minutes or so that a gas stop currently takes. The few vehicles on the market currently take overnight to charge and there are no commercial recharging stations anywhere yet. You need a dedicated high-current circuit just for the charging equipment and that’s currently limited to fixed locations such as your home. And don’t forget the added cost for an electrician to install the outlet to connect the car to as well!
All of these limitations relegate electric vehicles for short-distance commuter use or inner-city runabout use only at present. We’ll get there eventually; just don’t look for wide spread adoption as a general replacement for the internal combustion engined vehicle for at least another 20 to 50 years, if even that soon!
An electric car that does 300mpg?
Per gallon of fucking what?
Yes. It shall be exactly like a regular car except it shall run on electricity.
I don’t think they will. If everyone converted to an electric car can you imagine the drain on the power grids? Most families have two cars that would all be charging overnight. Or one would always be charging while the other one is running.
I intend on having a gas combustion engine until something better comes along and I don’t see that happening too soon. I think the best solution right now is to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and in the ice in the north.
Besides I need to haul my horses with a horse trailer and heavy truck, there’s no other way to do it.
If the people driving cars electric or otherwise would show more courtesy on the roads I would ride my horse for local errands but inconsiderate people make it oo dangerous.