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Originally Posted by DeadheadNM
Interesting post about charging in extreme cold…
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I looked up the temp in Kelowna, BC on the 13th of Jan, the date in the picture. It was nowhere near -45 deg. It was indeed cold but the low was -20F or -28C. No where near the temp given in the picture.
It is (866 mi) to Saskatoon, SK, Canada and would take 16 h 28 min to drive. That includes the time to charge, (in good weather). Which includes a total of less than 2 hours total charging time.
If it is extremely cold, somewhere below 0°C (32°F), Extended charging times becomes observable. At a Supercharger (High Voltage DC charger, or level 3 charger), the delay can be 45 minutes or an hour, perhaps even longer before it has warmed up the battery sufficiently to begin charging. Then it will charge at a normal or near normal rate.
You do experience reduced range, and have to take that into account. I’d estimate that I lose about 30% of my total range when it is 0 degrees F out, between reduced battery capacity and using some of that battery to keep the car and the battery warm. Yeah, the battery has to warm itself up to improve performance, which uses some of the charge of course.
If John from Kelowna, had preheated the battery, like Tesla recommends, he would have not had to wait so long to charge. Let’s say he lives there and the battery had cooled overnight and he could not charge at home. Also, the possibility he was going home and spent the night here. Several hotels offer charging in Kelowna. Again, with an EV one has to take some common-sense precautions especially when it gets that cold. Or alleged that cold.
Then he would have had a wait for the battery to warm before charging. The battery warming only requires a small portion of the 150kw, which is what the charger in Kelowna is capable of, yes I looked it up. If the battery was at zero and fully charged to get to $100 dollars (US) he would have been paying .75 cents a KWH. He stated it was only at 2/3 of a charge. That would be over $1 per KWh. I pay .08 cents to charge at home and typically under .30 cents (US) at a super charger. Also note Fuel in Kelowna is about $55.0 a gallon. A 20-gal tank a fill up would be $110.
What I am saying none of the post is adding up. Including the picture. I looked all the Kelowna Super Charging stations up and only one is at a mall and it doesn't look anything like the picture. The costs do not add up. And the logic is questionable. It’s unlikely anybody would attempt this long trip on a day so cold in an EV.
My Tesla knows where all the superchargers are, how far it is from them, and how much battery charge is left. If I ever wander away too far, it warns me of this situation and suggests a solution. It continues to warn me. If I totally ignore this, I get into the same situation as you do when you run out of gas.
A long post full of BS most will not care about. I just happen to like facts.