Anybody here with experience in Extreme Cold (-20F)

[TomK]

I'm still pretty new to this EV thing. Just got my 2015 Spark 3 weeks ago here in Minnesota (MPLS/ST Paul area) with 57k miles on it. Battery appears to have 15kWh left on it. The car was brought to MN in 2020 from CA.

I live in rural MN and commute every day to the city, about 26 miles each way. I charge on a L2 over night to between 80-90% (haven't figured out how far ahead to set the departure time yet). I can charge at work using 110V/12A and easily charge back up to 80-90% during the 9 hour period.

Right now with temps in the morning around 55-60 and evening around 80, I have been using around 40% of the battery to/from work.

I realize these cars were not made with cold climates in mind and i will probably be pushing the limits of the range during the winter. Everything i've been reading about cold weather is starting to worry me a bit.

My goal is to pre-heat/condition the car inside my barn before leaving in the morning but then it will be outside all day at work. Not sure how well pre-conditioning will work when only on a L1/12A charger. I think the car will make it depending on how much heat i need/want to use. My biggest concern is that i will be able to stay in the 20-80% battery SoC. Right now i'm on the charger 2 times per day but only putting about 35-40 back in each time.

I'm planning for maybe 1/2 range worst case, so needed around 80% each way. Will the additional discharging/charging cycles in the winter cause issues with the battery?

Anyone here with some real world experience on range and needing to use the defrost during cold weather driving? A lot of information about cold weather suggests temps in the 20-30F - which to be fair, could be cold for some but around here in January we call that a heat wave.

 

[Randy960]

I live outside Buffalo, NY (so not quite as cold, but still dips into the negatives) and for the past several years had a similar commute (I think 24 miles). I charged my car in my garage overnight, and even on the coldest days I could make it there and back on a charge as long as I wasn't driving over 70 or so on the highway. Or with charging on level 1 or 2 at work, I was basically fully charged before I went home, and could drive as hard as I wanted to. I would generally precondition when it was cold, and it seemed to do so on level 1 with minimal draw from the battery. Starting out with my car cold outside, it obviously took more power to warm up, but the times I had to do that I was charging at work anyway.

 

[TomK]

Thanks, that's encouraging. There is a couple free L2 charging stations at a Goodwill just a few miles from my work, so i can always stop there and pre-heat the car a little further. Some of my co-workers/friends are already laughing at my "range anxiety" but i wouldn't even call it that, just trying to make a plan to get me where i need to go. So far, i have not had to change my routine one bit, including extra trips during lunch. Winter might be different with less range and time to recharge but nothing that cannot be worked around.