Our guest author, Kerry, speaks about electric cars in winter. In a few days, we will be on Easter holiday. It is therefore essential to know some tips for vigilance.
I invite you to read these few lines:
The race to reduce global carbon footprint has led to the rise of new technologies. Electric are for instance molded using today’s dominant green transport concepts that are embraced by nearly all leading automobile manufacturers to attain environmentally sustainable auto industry products.
The cars have zero carbon emissions, they are made using recyclable materials and they are smaller in size, giving them the ability to occupy less parking and road space, a design that is factored in to ease congestion on roads and parking lots as the global population swells and demand for environmentally friendly cars rises. You may however not be able enjoy these advantages in entirety, whenever winter seasons set in, owing to a number of limitations that affect the cars’ performance.
Decreased Performance
Road performance in cold winter weather is amongst the biggest challenges facing electric car users. This can be attributed to the fact that these cars are powered using batteries which contain ordinary chemicals whose rate of reaction slow down under cold conditions. Consequently, reducing their ability to generate enough power to propel features and aspects that enables them to attain peak performance status.
Several professional test drive reports note that electric car model such as Mitsubishi MiEV EV can’t in most cases cruise at over 50 mph under cold weather conditions whereas it can go at over 62 mph under in hot weather conditions. The 85kWh battery Telsa Model S is as well usually far from its peak performance of 250 mph under winter conditions and the story goes on to include Nissan’s Leaf, BMW i3 and Renault’s Zoe. Decreased performance aspects of electric cars have brought about safety concerns which may see the technology lag behind the gasoline line of automobile concepts for a while before its efficiency can be fully embraced by the masses.
The Brighter Side of Affairs
Electric car shortcomings brought about as result of dense air in the tires can be handled by installing winter friendly tires to handle winter chills effects. The tires are designed to increase buoyancy and reduce the amount of power the car requires to cruise at a speed that favors your schedule. They are well designed to limit power consumption as hypermilling driving techniques can considerably extend your electric car’s battery life. Their breaking systems are modeled to support regenerative breaking techniques which helps the car to maintain its momentum and inertia dynamics to make it possible to slow down and speed up continuously without significantly reducing your batteries’ power load.
Tips
It’s significant to pay attention to your electric car’s mechanical requirements by taking good care of its power reservoirs. This enables you to avoid the danger of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere in cold winter weather. Take short trips within your city or neighborhood as long distance adventures in an electric will only be a good idea when the decreasing performance issues that affects them under cold weather conditions gets solved. Ask your local car brokers how you can enhance your electric car’s performance using solar technology if you’re in search of ways to bolster the car’s road handling abilities or visit your car mechanic before going on a longer trip.
Article written by Kerry Blake – contributor on several automotive sites like King Of Fuel. In my free time you can find me writing articles about cars and technology.
Photo credit: Oregon Department of Transportation
