Electric car range drops by nearly 60% in cold weather

The AAA – America’s equivalent of the AA – has revealed research that shows cold weather can cut the range of electric cars by 57 per cent.

Electric cars like the Nissan LEAF (pictured) can lose 60% of their range when it’s cold

We already know that the range of electric cars reduces as the car ages, with Nissan conforming that the LEAF’s range will drop by up to 28 per cent over five years.

And now we have confirmation that the ambient temperature can have a big impact on range too, thanks to the AAA, America’s equivalent of the AA.

The AAA took three standard EVs on sale in the US – Nissan LEAF, Ford Focus EV and Mitsubishi i-MiEV – and subjected them to test in different ambient temperatures.

At normal operating temperatures – which the AAA took to be 75F (it’d be a lot less in the UK) – the average range in simulated City Driving was 105 miles, more than enough for the vast majority of owners on the vast majority of journeys.

But a drop in temperature to -7C had a dramatic effect with the average range dropping to just 43 miles, just about enough for a 20 miles there and 20 miles back trip.

Hotter temperatures had less impact, but running test at 95F still saw a drop in range to just 69 miles.

To be fair, ICE cars also use more fuel in hot and cold running – especially if you’re using heaters and screen demisters in the cold and AirCon in the warm – but nothing like the massive drop seen in these EVs.

For the vast majority of EV usuers this will have little impact on their daily use, but it does underline how much the range can change with the weather, demonstrating once again that EVs really aren’t a replacement for an ICE car, just a useful addition for local journeys for those who can afford a second car as a local runaround.