Will electric cars be reliable in wintery conditions?
By Cars & Motorcycles on Apr 02, 2009 with Comments 48
Ricky B asked: I just read up on some exciting new electric cars that will be coming out in the next 3 years that match my budget and will have up to 300 mpg!!!
But I was wondering, how these cars would handle on a street after a ice storm? The car would be great for me, but i live in the Midwest and require a car that can get around ice and snow.
The information I would like to have is the typical weight an electric car, front/rear wheel drive, and inside space.
Filed Under: Electric Cars
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once the car is going it should be fine. the problem if any is keep the battery warm enough and charged . but just plugging it in at night as is done with all cars up north should be enough
just for the fact of our country we need to use electric cars
because we at the edge of losing our country to globa waring.
ppl dont really care but i mean this summer was the hottest …
of coarse we need to use those eletric cars ,if the make then yeah there reliable in the winter….i mean dude just do wat you can man
Zenn
Dynasty
electric cars reliable in winter?
everything would appear the same to the driver, yet weight would be an issue with amount of batteries used, and then offset by the new metals used, weights still will vary from 1 thousand pounds to 1500 k , and more if sized to hold more passengers, so alot of the weight loss from gallons of fuel will be regained by battery packs, and not mentioned is the method of disposal of these tons of battery toxins as is, recyclable would be wise,
~also the massive increase in hydro needed to charge all the cars would increase greatly, requiring newer sources of input and converting factories to supply and demand as well for batteries,
~ and another issue would be temperature as it is now, cold (-20) and wet (damp) weather combined with electrical components don’t blend well yet, but improvements in modern batteries like lithium and nicad type power sources, and rechargeable along with solar cells and perpetual generators, it may be as easy to convert to electric power vehicles as it was from horse to steam to gas, eventually ☼ power,
so if the prices are good, and enough charge stations are available in your area, may be worth the effort,
..
Everyone is worried about the batteries losing power as they get cold. I expect that any engineer worth his slide rule (remember them?) will think to insulate the battery compartment, and maybe build in a small heater to keep them from freezing. As long as the batteries don’t go completely dead, they can keep themselves from freezing. And don’t they give off a little bit of heat as they discharge? That should help warm them as well. I expect the engineer will think to waterproof the compartment too – driving through a big puddle may not be the best way to keep your batteries warm and happy.
As to handling snow, they CAN work as well as any gas car. The tires on the car you’re driving now have no idea what generated the torque that turns them. They’re just happy to have it. The same with electric vehicles. And if the electric vehicle is driven by a motor at each wheel, there is nothing to keep it from being 4 wheel drive, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, left side drive, or any other combination you can think of. The computer could send electric power to the motors on whichever wheels get traction.
That is a very good question. I saw my first one up close and i think it is a good idea but as we know electricity and water doesn’t really mix. This thought alone scares me.
Temp will affect battery usage. Also, the car you are referring to appeared to me to be very light weight, when I read about it the other day. I wouldn’t think it good for bad roads.
Also, consider buying this car and what will happen if the company goes belly up like Daewoo America did and you have no warranty coverage.
These cars are not going to be cheap to repair and the odds of a new start up company like that surviving are low.
While this car sounds like a good idea on paper, it has allot of potential pitfalls.
Also, no one can answer me on the effect that this car, other primarily electric cars and their used batteries will have on the enviroment.
I was watching Boston Legal of all things and they spoke about the enviromental mess these batteries are. I went and did my own research on the topic and what they said was mostly true.
Also, what about all the carbon spewed out of the power plants to charge them. They are not carbon neutral or negative as the greenies make them out to be.
I see hydrogen fuel cells as the whey to go. I saw one GM is designing for mass production in the next 4 – 5 years. It comes with its only little hydrogen machine you hang on the garage wall.
You come home, plug it into the car and by morning the cell is full, with a minimum of electricity used and the only output of the motor is water.
Well, alot of your questions really depend on the TYPE of electric car your talking about.
most of the gas/electric cars that look like their regular gas-only counterparts will have the same reliability.
but the cars that are the size of a motor cycle , and weigh the same, will behave exactly as you think.
in places with thick snow, and icy conditions you should stick to normal sized hybrid vehicles like the toyota prius, ford escape, and honda civic ,
my friend drives a prius in western new york to rochester and buffalo and to ski resorts and has never had trouble with it. itll slip just as much as any other car, and recovers just fine.
Look at the Tesla skating through the snow,that will give you some idea .
Electric car? MPG? Miles per gallon of what?
Forget about it. The most efficient car is a diesel. Beyond that, electric/hybrid electric become less efficient when you factor in battery replacement, costly maintainence, etc.
Yes since it does not use petrol
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, what about in a lightning storm, electrical storm, it could stop the engine I think. I imagine they will have to compensate some type of load for the weight a gasoline engine has, otherwise it will be like a bicycle on ice!
the real question is, will your wife be reliable at the office holiday party
Many of the electric cars I have read about recently say that they will have a motor at each wheel, so tht would be four wheel drive, and that has to be good for ice and snow. A new technology I just found out about called pyrolysis, may be more likely the resource fr our energy needs creating oil from wood and waste. I think the electric car sounds good but everyone would have to buy a new car an with an alternative source of petrol the car you have will be around for a while and gas would be reduced, because the cost to produce this oil via the pyrolysis technology is extreamly cheap.
Hey there. We have a security vehicle that is a prius (why a security prius … I have no idea) and it is *terrible* in the winter. It is lightweight and doesn’t have that great of traction – after the second time it skidded on the ice and we had an officer go off the road our boss took it out of comission for the winter. I know they are making some hybrids now though that have a lot more options – so maybe you could find one that has better traction. As far as my experience, I won’t touch the prius when its snowing out.
yes they will reliable by insulating
Possibly Shockingly.
I wouldn’t stand in water to plug it in.
Electric cars have very few moving components and are less complex then a conventional ICE car , so they require less maintenance except from battery.
Any person trying to sell vehicle in your area will have to test it for the conditions there so obviously they will be able to give you more precise answers instead of people on yahoo.
Good batteries last long and have no problems, except for temperature variations.
Why dont you send an email and ask the manufacturer about your the tech specs of the car you are interested in especially pointing to the climate in your area.
electric cars have a simpler transmission of power from the power source to the wheels, since instead of mechanical transmission they use cables, this allows a 4X4 drive and high agility
protecting electric cars from water is not a big issue, and electric generators & motors are much less sensitive to cold temperatures.
The main problem with electric cars are batteries, which are heavy, and take substantial volume, and can not produce an equal amount of energy that could be produced from fuels.
ask a bigwig from gm the reasons why the ev-1 was built and subsequently killed off. it was never meant to be a success. if the vehicle is front wheel drive, it will be fine in the snow. handling should be no different than todays cars. i too am very interested in the chevrolet volt. i’ve read the car could have a range of 40 miles per day on one charge, without ever dipping into the gas tank. like many, that would get me to work and back. one concern from middle america, will it be truly affordable? as for 300 mpg, lets take things one step at a time. i read that too. sounds a bit too good to be true. but i’m interested in anything that may someday stop our friends in the middle east from owning us.