The country where EVs have been most successful is Norway. The runner-up is Iceland. People trying to tell you EVs don’t work in cold weather are working for the oil companies —whether they know it or not.
@Devilstower Cold places have to plug internal combustion vehicles in overnight anyway, I imagine that was an immediate head start when thinking about charging infrastructure?
@antinomy @Devilstower the transition was mainly about good policy that incentivized EVs and penalized via high taxes internal combustion engine vehicles. Diesel drivers would have been used to plugging in their cars though.
With gas cars, most people don't plug in overnight. My car starts fine even at -40°F.
@bryanhansel @antinomy Most people don't happen to notice it, but gas cars also lose about 15% of their range in cold weather. It's just that range is not treated as a concern on gas cars.
@Devilstower @antinomy that's true but that wasn't what my reply was about. My reply was saying that the reason Noway has made the switch so quickly was due to good policy that used sticks (tax ICE) and carrots (abundant and often free charging and more). It wasn't because Norwegians were already used to plugging in their cars.
IMHO, the reason that's important is because there nothing magic about Norway or Iceland. Any country that enacts good policy similar to Norway's could switch as quickly
@Devilstower @antinomy if we want to talk range, the people that live in rural northern MN talk about reduced mpg. I've tracked it. Mine drops ~12% & more with snow tires.
IMHO, the reason people don't worry about range is that the range is greater for ICE cars vs. the equivalent EV and there's more infrastructure for refilling and it takes less time to fill up. For example, my Outback has ~500 mile range and the new Subaru Solterra, which looks amazing, has a 220 mile range.
@Devilstower I'm Subaru's customer for that electric car. I have the means. I want my next car to be EV. I need the extra clearance for the roads I live on and I need the all wheel drive for the winter conditions. We seldom see the gravel on our road from November to April. It's snow and ice. I also live 2 hours from Duluth. With the Solterra that means I'd have to charge somewhere in Duluth (hard to find) on a trip to go see my eye doctor and do things we can't do in our small town.
@Devilstower so when you say "we are working for oil companies" if we suggest the range isn't good enough, you show you don't understand the realities of living in rural America. This is coming from someone who almost every year either offsets all my carbon emissions or comes close and someone who is going to add solar to my house. Instead of calling us oil company stooges, you ought to be challenging these companies to deliver better range. 180 miles in winter isn't enough for rural America.
@bryanhansel I live in rural Missouri. In an area where there’s not a single quick charger in my whole county and the closest place to charge away from my home is a 240V outlet in the campground of a state park. I’ve gone from hybrid, to plug in hybrid, to EV over the last two decades, so believe me when I say I know there are issues.
@Devilstower if you understand, then how can you make inflammatory statements? It's not helpful, and it turns people off. It's also untrue. Just because people have concerns with range that are compounded by the lack of infrastructure — where 10-15% reduction makes a real difference — doesn't mean they are oil company stooges. For wide adoption, all these issues need solved so people don't need to think about them. Range is primary for the US market especially with the terrible infrastructure.
@bryanhansel @Devilstower Unless I missed something, I didn't read the OP as saying range was an invalid concern, only that cold weather impacts on EVs were overblown FUD and that ICE vehicles have range impacts too. I think the cold weather concerns are somewhat overblown, but a) EV models sold in colder countries are often different (e.g. ID.4 in Canada vs. USA), and b) I think you're correct that range impacts can become important in rural areas if infrastructure is already marginal.
