Charging electric vehicles 5x faster in subfreezing temps

Re:Charging electric vehicles 5x faster in subfreezing temps by homebrewer on Sunday April 06, 2025 @06:46PM (#43605630)

I live in a region where -40°C is not unheard of (it happens every winter and stays for up to several weeks). I've also been to another region (not far off) where -50°C is pretty typical.

Gasoline powered engines work just fine in these temperatures, although many cars come with auto ignition systems that start up the engine periodically throughout the night to keep it warm. Otherwise you might have to warm it yourself in the morning using a gasoline powered "torch" (or whatever it's called), which sometimes ends up with the car going up in flames.

So it's honestly pretty funny to read that EV work "down to -10°C". Although probably relatively few of us are desperate enough to be living in such conditions.

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Re:Charging electric vehicles 5x faster in subfreezing temps by recursive on Sunday April 06, 2025 @07:04PM (#43605723)

They work down to -10. And colder than that too. Apologies to Mitch Hedberg.

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Re:Charging electric vehicles 5x faster in subfreezing temps by lazide on Sunday April 06, 2025 @08:26PM (#43606240)

Only if they have the ability to stop charging if the battery pack is below freezing, and some way to heat the pack (and keep it) above freezing. Otherwise, charging in those temps will destroy the battery.

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Re:Charging electric vehicles 5x faster in subfreezing temps by recursive on Sunday April 06, 2025 @10:04PM (#43606833)

I think that's everything but the Nissan Leaf.

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Re:Charging electric vehicles 5x faster in subfreezing temps by idiotsecant on Sunday April 06, 2025 @11:38PM (#43607394)

Leaf can heat the pack, just no cooling

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Re:Charging electric vehicles 5x faster in subfreezing temps by lupusreal on Sunday April 06, 2025 @07:27PM (#43605881)

Stock gasoline cars do not do well at those temperatures. In Alaska most people with sense use engine block heaters, plugging in every cold night. Besides the issue of having trouble just starting the car, you will put excessive wear and tear on the engine doing it regularly.

And in places like Fairbanks where -40 (F/C) is fairly common in the winter, even cars that merely have an engine block heater will have trouble. You need even more heating pads for the rest of the stuff under the hood of you want to keep a car reliable and healthy in that kind of climate.

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Re:Charging electric vehicles 5x faster in subfreezing temps by lazide on Sunday April 06, 2025 @08:27PM (#43606244)

Yes, and even then ‘healthy’ is not what people in normal climates think. It puts a lot of wear and tear on vehicles.

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