Originally posted by Canada_Rockies I'm several degrees of latitude North of you. No electrics for me. Battery output tanks at freezing temperatures. We get a fair amount of those temperatures here North of the 49th.
You are exactly right.
Extreme cold temps are part and parcel of our Canadian winters, particularly in areas of the north, the prairies, etc. My wife and I travel back and forth between Manitoba, through Saskatchewan to Alberta a number of times per year. In 2019, it was four times.
In January 2019 for example we traveled 700 miles in one day and night, during tremendous changing weather and cold during this day, which is not unusual on the Canadian prairies....or I would say in states such as Montana, the Dakotas, Northern Minnesota...to name a few.
We left somewhat west of Medicine Hat in the morning...temps were about 20 + degrees F, skies were fine. But we track the weather when were driving and an ice storm was forming at the Saskatchewan/Alberta border, which was forecast to change to heavy snow storm with plunging temps midway in the province of Saskatchewan. We wanted to out run (at speed limit) the huge ice/snow storm coming...
By the time we hit Eastern Saskatchewan actual temperatures, not with the addition of wind chill...reached -33 F to -35 F and we drove through the evening at these temps, reaching our home destination by about 10:15 PM. The storm came early that morning and roads both in Saskatchewan and Manitoba were closed for a few days till they could be plowed out. Our vehicle had both the in car heater and defroster system on full...which in an IC vehicle takes excess heat from the IC engine and directs it to the vehicle cabin and windows. It's not heat powered by the battery as it is in an electric vehicle. In an IC car...providing heat/defrost doesn't use more IC fuel...where in an electric vehicle...the heat/defrost comes from the same battery moving the car...and consumes a significant amount of battery power if on full, like we needed.
Again, electric cars rely completely on battery power for movement, but the also power heater / defroster systems in cars and when they do in very cold temps their mile ranges plunges significantly and in the rural areas of the prairies there are not a lot of recharger infrastructure. With a internal combustion engine (IC)(gas/diesel) you have a pretty good idea of your range as it doesn't change much in different temps...but also with IC there is a lot of infrastructure...gas stations along the way...even in western Canadian/western northern American rural areas that have far distances between villages, towns , cities.
At this point we wouldn't of been able to make that trip, in these extreme temps,in 12 hours. We refueled or IC engine four times....and each time it took 5-7 minutes before we were on our way again...and we knew our mile range would not be affected by the extreme cold.
I'm not saying complete electric vehicles are not the future, they probably are....but at this stage of development if you live in certain areas of North America where it can get very cold and the distances are long between places...complete electric is not at the point where it can take over.
Yes, progress will be made, in increasing electric vehicle range, improving battery power so it's much more resistant to the effect of extreme cold , infrastructure, etc.
Living in many largely northern rural areas is different from living in a large city with moderate temps and driving needs restricted to the city limits and that needs to be recognized.
Also in the Canadian prairies and north...our public transportation is not intercity buses, passenger trains...because we don't for most part, have that anymore. Greyhound bus pulled out from the prairies about a year or so ago.
What we need to have in between IC vehicles and total electric vehicles...is a bridge...say use of hybrids which feature both electric motors and IC gas engines...or look more seriously at hydrogen, which I think maybe the better choice for transportation use in a wide range of temps, range, etc.