As the car industry’s largest hybrid pusher, Toyota says it is better positioned to just buy credits to close the EPA gap rather than “waste” money on BEVs, its CEO said.
Yeah, they heat the packs to get around it. And all of that is waste energy.
But in winter in Canada, and many parts of the northern US, under 30 degrees average is pretty common during winter. …and the last thing you want is a vehicle that’s great when things are fine, but just won’t work when things are at their worst.
Fortunately, the temperature issue is a problem that has been solved, and is being brought to market.
It’s not really a problem unless you don’t have the ability to drive the EV. Most people aren’t driving long distances so just heat the battery and lose efficiency. People use more energy just heating the interior for themselves than the battery
It is a plroblem for people who want to trust that their vehicle will work if it’s 5° out and the power’s out, and your vehicle has been sitting in the child all night. The average temperature is irrelevant in that case - you must have a well-insulated battery, and power to heat it.
The fact is, in the north, the failure case is pretty bad. There’s nobody who can just bring you a can of gas, there’s no chance to recharge it without heating it first, and in order to charge it, you’ll need to tow it. And forgetting to charge realistically becomes a life-and-death situation at worst, and a major hassle at best. To be fair, forgetting to get gas has always been a serious issue in the cold, but the current situation regarding batteries exacerbates that.
The two main things that are needed to fix this are:
batteries that don’t cease functioning in the cold
Yeah, they heat the packs to get around it. And all of that is waste energy.
But in winter in Canada, and many parts of the northern US, under 30 degrees average is pretty common during winter. …and the last thing you want is a vehicle that’s great when things are fine, but just won’t work when things are at their worst.
Fortunately, the temperature issue is a problem that has been solved, and is being brought to market.
It’s not really a problem unless you don’t have the ability to drive the EV. Most people aren’t driving long distances so just heat the battery and lose efficiency. People use more energy just heating the interior for themselves than the battery
It is a plroblem for people who want to trust that their vehicle will work if it’s 5° out and the power’s out, and your vehicle has been sitting in the child all night. The average temperature is irrelevant in that case - you must have a well-insulated battery, and power to heat it.
The fact is, in the north, the failure case is pretty bad. There’s nobody who can just bring you a can of gas, there’s no chance to recharge it without heating it first, and in order to charge it, you’ll need to tow it. And forgetting to charge realistically becomes a life-and-death situation at worst, and a major hassle at best. To be fair, forgetting to get gas has always been a serious issue in the cold, but the current situation regarding batteries exacerbates that.
The two main things that are needed to fix this are: