Several states are essentially mandating the shift to electric vehicles in the near future. Voters in many of those states are going to be very unhappy about that mandate once they realize how dramatically EV battery performance drops in cold weather.
Dan Avery of CNET points out, “Under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act, states must either adhere to federal [vehicle] emissions standards or adopt California’s more stringent guidelines.”
California’s current policy is that all new cars, SUVs and light trucks sold within the state must emit zero tailpipe emissions by 2035. As for the transition timeline: “The state's Advanced Clean Cars II rule requires zero-emission vehicles to represent 35% of new cars and light trucks in lots by 2026, and then 68% by 2030, before reaching 100% in 2035.”
While 17 states have generally followed the Golden State’s emissions guidelines, several states—Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington—have announced they will impose California’s timeline. All of them are in the northern part of the country. And that’s going to be a problem.
Reporter Coco Liu of Bloomberg explains, “Temperature’s impact on EV range boils down to: The colder it is, the more a car’s range will suffer.” Liu highlights a recent report by pro-EV research firm Recurrent, which looked at 10,000 EVs across 18 models.
Recurrent found “the 18 popular EV models that we analyzed had an average of 70.3% of their range in freezing conditions, but each model performs differently as our chart illustrates.” Yes, and the chart shows some models experienced significant range reductions.
Maybe this would be a good time to point out it can get a lot colder than 32 degrees in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey, as well as the other states. What do EV driving ranges look like when the temperature approaches zero?
EVs will go further if a driver doesn’t turn on the heater, which also drains the battery. But who wants to drive in sub-freezing temperatures without a heater? Charging times also take much longer in cold weather.
Of course, if consumers living in the north choose to buy an electric vehicle, that’s their privilege. Maybe they don’t drive much or have a short work commute, and so a dramatically reduced cold-weather driving range isn’t a problem.
But several cold-state politicians are forcing EVs on their citizens whether they want them or not. Unhappy voters may eventually decide to charge up their mandated EV at least enough to get them to the closest voting booth.
January 9, 2024