Range in cold temperature weather

[OhRichman]

I’ll be taking an extended road trip in my Taycan GTS after Christmas from Wisconsin to Washington DC. I’m wonder what my expected range will be at 75 to 80 mph in the cold (20-30 Fahrenheit) loaded with 4 people and luggage? Also, it seems like some of the chargers in Pennsylvania are 60+ miles apart. How much battery should I keep in reserve between charges. It seems like charging to 80% and then keeping 30% in reserve in case a charging stop is out of service would work. However, then I’m only really accessing 50% of the battery or less between charging stops. Is 50% more than 100 miles at 75-80 mph in 20-30 degree Fahrenheit weather?

Sponsored

 

[JRNJTAYCAN]

For long trips you should charge to 100% you will not hurt your battery in doing so. If you have the range manger as part of your nav system you will be fine if you follow what it displays.
While driving your batteries will stay warm so what you see in range should stay true (mine does). You will find a small percentage drop with leaving your car outside in the cold overnight but nothing to be concerned about. If you use your plan to arrive at 30% you will be fine. Again be sure to charge to 100% each day you plan long distance travel. Also I would download the plug share app just in case.
Drive safe, have fun and enjoy the trip.

 

[FrozenRobert]

Since I'm in Canada, I think I can offer a couple more suggestions:

1. Be aware of your HVAC usage, try to keep the cabin comfortable and heated seats, etc. minimized.
2. Reduce usage of auxiliary items (like the passenger screen, if you have one) or rear heating (if unoccupied).
3. Driving habits (obviously) -- "taking it easy" will help your range.
4. Charge often, just to be safe. Park in a heated / sheltered area if possible to help the battery overnight (as stated above).
5. Use RANGE mode, although the % gain is not really huge, and IMHO the car feels less sporty (I don't use it much).

Have a safe trip!

 

[proficient_mathematician]

For long trips you should charge to 100% you will not hurt your battery in doing so.

I would second this - the detriment to battery longevity will be negligible and far outweighed by the reduced risk of being stranded and having to call a tow truck.

 

[W1NGE]

I’ll be taking an extended road trip in my Taycan GTS after Christmas from Wisconsin to Washington DC. I’m wonder what my expected range will be at 75 to 80 mph in the cold (20-30 Fahrenheit) loaded with 4 people and luggage? Also, it seems like some of the chargers in Pennsylvania are 60+ miles apart. How much battery should I keep in reserve between charges. It seems like charging to 80% and then keeping 30% in reserve in case a charging stop is out of service would work. However, then I’m only really accessing 50% of the battery or less between charging stops. Is 50% more than 100 miles at 75-80 mph in 20-30 degree Fahrenheit weather?

Expect your estimated range to be less than normal from a charge. Conservatively I would knock 10% off from what you normally see estimated.

Constant speeds of 70 - 80mph won't help matters but depending on terrain you may get some range added through recuperation (braking mostly).

The AC will use more energy than you'd like and so experiment with Eco or Eco Plus to conserve. In practice this may not be practical due to misting etc.

Recommendation is to use seat heating and heat steering wheel over AC as they use a fraction of the energy if relying on the heater only.

Range mode can help overall but since uPdate not as much as before. If there is rear AC and the seats aren't occupied then it will be automatically disabled

I'd keep 25% minimum in the tank and depending on EVSE availability charge to 100% for assurance if using daily.

 

[ben1]

You can increase battery range by lowering the cabine temperature and using the seat heating. If I am wearing winter gear and have the seat heating on, I do not really need cabine heating.

But if you travel in cold and wet climate, you will see that you will need to keep the cabine temperature high to avoid fogging the windows.
So you end up wasting battery to heat up the car, while you are not cold. Just to keep the windows clean.

I can strongly recommend to use Rain-X anti-damp. Putting this on the inside of the windows avoids fogging the windows and you can easily lower the cabine temperature to 16 degrees celcius or turn it off completely.

 

[BigBob]

What is the most range efficient constant speed?

 

[daveo4EV]

range is heavily affected by speed - aero-dynamic drag above 40 mph is a signfiicant factor - and it's not linear - aero-drag has a V^2 (velocity squared) component - every mph added is more expensive than the previous mph in incremental cost - going from 60 to 70 mph in terms of drag is more expensive than going from 50-60 mph…

if you want to maximize range you MUST reduce your speed…this penalty is even worse in cold weather because cold air is denser air making drag an even more significant factor…

in my experience driving EV's since 2012 with some cold weather driving you need to plan for 30% loss in overall range/capacity vs.normal spring-time estimates.

Cold batteries also take longer to fast charge and you will not be able to achieve optimal charging rates.

in it's current configuration and deep experience my 2020 Taycan Turbo is good for about 230 miles range based on an 1800 mile+ (13 fast charging stops) road trip I just took in mild temperatures in October - using that 230 mile range as a base line - I would only plan being able to drive 161 miles if temperatures are below 40F - any more that I get would be a gift but not an entitlement.

driving 75-80 mph in most of the United States is illegal
in the cold it is ill-advised
it will dramatically reduce your range due to both increased drag and cold weather impacts

I would suggest if the OP actually does drive as indicated - 150 miles range would be "lucky".

range in the cold is affected by a number of factors that all add up to significant range reductions:

• cold air is denser increased drag - this increase is significant in terms of aero drag - speed being V^2 for drag will not help matters
• cold batteries have less power to give than warm batteries - your LiON battery is less efficient when it's cold - lowering your range
• cold weather tends to also have worse road conditions - increasing rolling resistances - it's more expensive power-wise to drive around on crappy roads…
• cold weather tires have more rolling resistance
• the vehicles will direct extra power power to warming the battery - taking that power from range
• more power will be used to keep the pesky occupants warm - heating the cabin is more expensive than cooling in mild/hot temperatures
• Fast Charging will be "less fast" - both the charging hardware/stalls will be slower and the Batterie's ability to accept fast charging will be reduced due to lower overall battery temperatures - expect longer fast charging stops.

given the factors above - 30% reduction is an expected outcome - until proven otherwise.

 

[Scandinavian]

I’ll be taking an extended road trip in my Taycan GTS after Christmas from Wisconsin to Washington DC. I’m wonder what my expected range will be at 75 to 80 mph in the cold (20-30 Fahrenheit) loaded with 4 people and luggage? Also, it seems like some of the chargers in Pennsylvania are 60+ miles apart. How much battery should I keep in reserve between charges. It seems like charging to 80% and then keeping 30% in reserve in case a charging stop is out of service would work. However, then I’m only really accessing 50% of the battery or less between charging stops. Is 50% more than 100 miles at 75-80 mph in 20-30 degree Fahrenheit weather?

You can check out how a long road trip in cold Weather worked out for one of our early members here: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...k-miles-in-6-weeks-cross-country-journal.879/.

I guess a lot more stations have bben added since then.

Key to a successful trip will be some planning and pre warming the car before morning take offs. If the cabin is warmed and the car charged to 100% or thereabouts, the battery will also be slightly warmed while still plugged in.
Planning with ABRP will give you a lot of insight on where to charge and also check for alternative chargers. You can change a lot of settings regarding consumption etc and see the results .
Enjoy!

 

[JRNJTAYCAN]

Since I'm in Canada, I think I can offer a couple more suggestions:

1. Be aware of your HVAC usage, try to keep the cabin comfortable and heated seats, etc. minimized.
2. Reduce usage of auxiliary items (like the passenger screen, if you have one) or rear heating (if unoccupied).
3. Driving habits (obviously) -- "taking it easy" will help your range.
4. Charge often, just to be safe. Park in a heated / sheltered area if possible to help the battery overnight (as stated above).
5. Use RANGE mode, although the % gain is not really huge, and IMHO the car feels less sporty (I don't use it much).

Have a safe trip!

Good points above, range mode will manage items 1 & 2 within this post. I use it for my long trips.

 

[Tooney]

In the last several months I have driven two round trips (730 miles each way) across Ohio, PA, NY, and Connecticut. I located every EA DCFC site along the route and created a chart showing distances from each EA site to the remaining ones. Rather than charging at the most distant EA site within range, I stopped at the EA site one earlier than the most distant EA site within range. If I was unable to charge at that site, I had one more EA site within range as a backup.

At each charging stop, the chart showing distances to remaining EA sites was handy to help me figure out how much charging to do at the stop.

This "one stop short of the most distant charging site within range" approach resulted in stopping more often than the car is capable of, but gave us peace of mind.

Couple of other suggestions.
--Make sure you have plan to get charged once you reach your destination. On my first trip I arrived at my destination in CT with a low state of charge and the only EA station within range was very difficult to use. I had no backup.
--EA is taking sites down for 3+ weeks for hardware upgrades. Check EA map and its twitter account to ensure the EA sites in your plan are actually available when you travel.

With all that, have fun on your EV trip!

 

[Tooney]

In case you haven't read them, don't miss these classic threads:

Estimated range, road trip charging planning: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/new-user-questions-about-estimated-range.5582/
Road warrior kit: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...and-useful-road-warrior-ev-charging-kit.6812/
Detailed charging planner steps: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/charging-planner-new-feature.7178/#post-102869

 

[Cwood#44]

In the last several months I have driven two round trips (730 miles each way) across Ohio, PA, NY, and Connecticut. I located every EA DCFC site along the route and created a chart showing distances from each EA site to the remaining ones. Rather than charging at the most distant EA site within range, I stopped at the EA site one earlier than the most distant EA site within range. If I was unable to charge at that site, I had one more EA site within range as a backup.

At each charging stop, the chart showing distances to remaining EA sites was handy to help me figure out how much charging to do at the stop.

This "one stop short of the most distant charging site within range" approach resulted in stopping more often than the car is capable of, but gave us peace of mind.

Couple of other suggestions.
--Make sure you have plan to get charged once you reach your destination. On my first trip I arrived at my destination in CT with a low state of charge and the only EA station within range was very difficult to use. I had no backup.
--EA is taking sites down for 3+ weeks for hardware upgrades. Check EA map and its twitter account to ensure the EA sites in your plan are actually available when you travel.

With all that, have fun on your EV trip!

Gee. This was my experience driving from Collingwood, Ontario to, Atlanta, Treasure Island Florida and back to Collingwood Ontario. Truly needed to understand the possible issues charging on a Long Distance trip. Your highlights were exactly what I experienced. After a terrible 1st Day, winding up at 50 kW chargers, I would spend my hotel evening studying the Electrify America site (as I get Free charging until April 2023) to find DC Chargers along I-75. Needed to also pick hotels very close to Electrify America chargers and top up, ensuring ready to go in the morning. With cold weather upon us, need to understand the reduced range with heating, defrosting the vehicle. Glad you went through and did the same things I did. Thanks for your report, Enjoy

 

[Tooney]

Gee. This was my experience driving from Collingwood, Ontario to, Atlanta, Treasure Island Florida and back to Collingwood Ontario. Truly needed to understand the possible issues charging on a Long Distance trip.

Wow, your trip was 2300 km/1400 miles each way. That is EV road tripping baptism by fire. You da man!
In case you haven't seen them, there are some excellent prior threads on road trip planning and "road warrior" kits in the forum. Here is a list of some of them.

For EV road trips, I found I not only spend extra time during the trip for charging stops, I spent hours before the trip planning charging stops and backups.

 

[Cwood#44]

Wow, your trip was 2300 km/1400 miles each way. That is EV road tripping baptism by fire. You da man!
In case you haven't seen them, there are some excellent prior threads on road trip planning and "road warrior" kits in the forum. Here is a list of some of them.

For EV road trips, I found I not only spend extra time during the trip for charging stops, I spent hours before the trip planning charging stops and backups.

I did joke to my wife, that if she had been with me on the 1st 14 hour day, I would likely have gone missing, like in Fargo. Lol. Learning experience for sure. Thanks for the threads?

Sponsored