How to make your EV battery last in cold weather

With winter approaching, cold temperatures and bad weather can impact your electric vehicle (EV). As a private hire driver, it’s likely you’d prefer to reduce the amount of charging stops between jobs, but the cold can make this difficult.

Understanding how the cold weather affects your EV and learning simple ways to increase your range can help you get the most out of your car and increase your earnings.

How the cold weather affects electric car range

Cold weather can affect electric car batteries by slowing its chemical reactions. This can cause it to lose power faster and reduce the driving range. It’s important to remember that extreme temperatures – whether hot or cold – impact all vehicles, including petrol and diesel cars.

PodPoint confirms that in freezing temperatures, an EV battery could lose around 10-30% in range. So, if you notice a drop in your EV’s range during colder months, don’t worry – it’s a normal result of the weather and will likely return to normal as it gets warmer.

In the meantime, there are simple steps you can take to make your battery last longer and get the most out of your car. Electric cars are full of advanced technology that are designed to help make your car as efficient as possible. So there are lots of features available to help when it comes to boosting your range.

While you can’t control the weather, you can control how you prepare and care for your EV to make your battery last longer, even in the cold.

Tips to help your battery last longer in cold weather

There are simple ways to reduce range loss and keep your EV running longer during winter. Here are some helpful tips:

• Use regenerative braking – This puts more energy back into your battery when you slow down, making it an effective way boost your range. This is a helpful feature for city driving, as you can find yourself stopping and starting between busy traffic.
• Activate ECO mode – This helps to adjust your speed, braking and heating to save battery and increase your driving range.
• Drive smoothly – Just like driving a petrol or diesel car, you should try to accelerate or brake as smoothly as possible. This helps make your battery performance better and last longer.
• Drive slowly – You should take extra care when driving in bad weather for safety, but it can also improve your range. Reducing your speed by 5-10mph can help make up for the range you lost due to the cold weather.
• Pre-condition your car – If you charge at home, this feature lets you warm up your car while it's still plugged in. This should help save both time and energy for you and the car's battery. If you don’t have a home charging point, you can precondition your car while it's charging at a public station to get the same result.
• Turn on your heated seats and wheel – It’s likely that turning on your heated features uses less energy than heating the entire car. So, if you have heated seats, it could be helpful to turn those on to help you and your passengers stay warm.

Electric vehicles offer a range of advanced features, ideal for PCO drivers. Learn more about the top reasons to switch to an EV if you haven’t already.

Tips to look after your EV’s battery

Battery maintenance is key to looking after your electric car all year round. But it’s especially important during winter, when simple things can make a big difference to maximise your range.

• Check your tyres – Cold weather can cause your tyre pressure to drop. You should check the pressure, resistance and drag to make sure they’re in good condition.
• Don’t overcharge your battery – You’ve probably noticed your smartphone charging will slow down once it hits 80%. This is because overcharging can impact the health of a battery and this is the same for EVs. The RAC recommend charging between 20-80% to make your battery last longer. You can do a full charge when you need to, but this isn’t necessary all the time.
• Service your car – It’s important to keep your car in good shape. Even though EVs have fewer parts than petrol or diesel cars and are less likely to need servicing, it’s still a good idea to check that everything is working properly.

Using less range helps you save money and earn more on each trip. We hope these tips make you feel more confident driving your EV in the colder months.

Average EV range in cold weather

To help you understand the real-world range of your PCO car in winter, we estimated the average range loss to show how much mileage your vehicle might lose. You can use this as a guide so you know what to expect when the temperature drops.

Assuming a 20% range loss in winter, here's what the real-world range will look like:

About Otto Car

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