| Frigid weather creates charging trouble for EV drivers |
When Milwaukee plunged to minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the range on Don Wright's Ford F-150 Lightning fell by almost half, plummeting to 160 miles.
It's an edge case. Most days are not so frigid, even in Wisconsin.
But the situation highlights an electric vehicle pain point. Freezing weather can deplete the EV battery and slow charging times, and the U.S. doesn't have enough public chargers to give drivers confidence in finding a station when they need it.
EVs lose about 30 percent of their range on average in freezing conditions, according to a study of 18 popular models by analytics firm Recurrent. The 2021 Volkswagen ID4 lost the most power, 46 percent of its range. The 2021 and 2022 Audi E-tron lost the least, 16 percent.
Recurrent's analysis includes data from more than 10,000 vehicles across the U.S., along with tens of thousands of data points from onboard devices that provide information on energy usage.
This month, local news outlets in Chicago reported that several Tesla drivers were stranded at a charging station. But it likely wasn't the fault of the charger. The battery cells cause the charging delay, said Charlie Parker, founder of Ratel Consulting, a battery advisory group.
In extremely cold temperatures, power moves in and out of battery cells slowly, said Wright, the Lightning owner who is vice president of engineering at battery-testing company Unico.
— Hannah Lutz
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