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An Extreme Winter Test in Our Long-Term Lucid Air Left Us Hot and Cold" on the Motor Trend website. Free to read, no paywall.
The test is way too long to paste or even paraphrase. Scary stuff. They charged it to 100%, parked it outside all night, and went for a drive next morning at temps in the 6 F* range.
The heater didn't work. The estimated range dropped like a stone, and even so it wasn't accurate. At the end it went into limp mode and failed to keep up with the speed limit.
Mind you, this was a super nice car at the cost of $ 180 K, give or take a few thousand. I could get a Macan at half the cost and use the remaining $ 90 K for gas and repairs for the next 15 years.
When I calculated the cost of charging it at the rate of $ 0.36 per KWH, what we pay in N. California, the cost is approx. the same as our Hyundai Kona on $ 4.60 unleaded, 30 mpg. My heater works fine, and the Kona turbo does the speed limit ( and a hell of a lot more) until the gas tanks is bone dry.
So the car was left unplugged overnight in the cold, and the car's battery pack thermal management system was probably not engaged (not 100% clear). Plugged in at home, with the thermal management system running, this should have gone a lot better. That said, it's not always possible to leave the vehicle plugged in, and what if you're not at home? So, it's not like every situation is covered.
The MT journalist was clearly pretty unhappy with the test, and I can see why. The reality is though, that ICE vehicles have been refined for well over 100 years, while modern EVs have really only been with us for about 11 years (Tesla Model S/Nissan Leaf), and they still need more development to perform as robustly to all kinds of situations as ICE vehicles.
Last edited by OutdoorLover; 02-24-2023 at 04:22 PM..
This November, I parked my Tesla overnight in single digits at our hunting cabin in a snow storm (I have pics to prove it, but I am not home). It was plugged in, but when I woke up I learned the breaker had tripped early in the night because the car was only at 20%.
I flipped the breaker, plugged back in, went out hunting for 2 hours. Shot an 8pt, came back to a charging car. Unplugged, drove to the butcher. Had a big truck driving fool try to shame me for my “Biden car”. Burned him on his tiny female deer (story previously posted here), drove back to cabin, plugged in, cracked a beer.
This November, I parked my Tesla overnight in single digits at our hunting cabin in a snow storm (I have pics to prove it, but I am not home). It was plugged in, but when I woke up I learned the breaker had tripped early in the night because the car was only at 20%.
I flipped the breaker, plugged back in, went out hunting for 2 hours. Shot an 8pt, came back to a charging car. Unplugged, drove to the butcher. Had a big truck driving fool try to shame me for my “Biden car”. Burned him on his tiny female deer (story previously posted here), drove back to cabin, plugged in, cracked a beer.
New Jersey has pretty good prices on gasoline - certainly better than average. I haven't lived there for decades, but they always had a big petrochemical industry base - industrial chemicals, paints, coatings, plastics, flavors, fragrances, pharmaceuticals. That's where all the gibes about toxic waste there come from - all the chemical industries, in the bad old days, were incredibly irresponsible with their waste storage and disposal practices.
Yes, in the past the rules relating spills and things like that were not as tough are they are today. The same for the health protection for workers relating to the handling of hazardous materials.
NJ’s gas isn’t as cheap as it used to be. Before the Tesla, I joked that it was my fault. My whole life, living in NY, it was practically a rule to fill up before heading home from NJ. A few months before I moved, the gas tax shot up dramatically. NY’s gas prices were cheaper until I ditched ICE, so I was filling up in the city while working. They seem about even now but I rarely pay attention to gas prices.
The head is still taking up room in my freezer. I want to do a european but was hoping to have someone do it for me. I can, but i’m not great at it.
I hunted moose in Alaska for several years after retiring from the military, but give it up about four years ago because a couple of friends I hunted with got in bad shape. Moose are too large for me to tackle alone. I have one antler (mounted already) that weights around 65 pounds, maybe a little more. I killed some that carrying a hind leg on my shoulder from the driveway to my house would almost buckled my knees. Ni kidding!
About parking an EV unplugged, it should not be a problem as long as the battery has sufficient capacity left for the length of time you are away from it. All depends on how cold or hot it is outside too. In fact, some people park EV's with fully charged batteries for extended periods of time at the airport. I would not do it during extreme weather conditions (sub zero temperatures), but 20's and 30's is not very cold, and 60's or 70's is not terribly hot. The same if I park my truck in the cold for two or three days at -20 degrees without warming 12 VDC battery. In this case the battery may not have enough cranking power left to turn the engine.
An Extreme Winter Test in Our Long-Term Lucid Air Left Us Hot and Cold" on the Motor Trend website. Free to read, no paywall.
The test is way too long to paste or even paraphrase. Scary stuff. They charged it to 100%, parked it outside all night, and went for a drive next morning at temps in the 6 F* range.
The heater didn't work. The estimated range dropped like a stone, and even so it wasn't accurate. At the end it went into limp mode and failed to keep up with the speed limit.
Mind you, this was a super nice car at the cost of $ 180 K, give or take a few thousand. I could get a Macan at half the cost and use the remaining $ 90 K for gas and repairs for the next 15 years.
When I calculated the cost of charging it at the rate of $ 0.36 per KWH, what we pay in N. California, the cost is approx. the same as our Hyundai Kona on $ 4.60 unleaded, 30 mpg. My heater works fine, and the Kona turbo does the speed limit ( and a hell of a lot more) until the gas tank is bone dry.
You also could get a Tesla Model S at that price - have no issues and save the $90K you want to spend on gas and repairs - many have tested Teslas at temps below 6 F with no issues. MT also seem to be doing their best to try to find an issue - this is not a real test scenario.
As I already explained - you would not be using a rate of $0.36/ kwh - the EV rate is significantly lower than the average. I live where the average rate is $0.36/kwh but the EV rate is $0.10 - so the cost to fill for electricity would be much lower.
But you also miscalculated the difference even if use your data - $4.60 at 30 mpg is $0.153 / mile. The Hyundai Kona EV is rated at 27 KWH /100 miles - or 0.27 kw/mi so at $0.36/ KWH for rate; get $0.36 /kwh x 0.27 kw/mi = $0.097 / mile - gas is about 60% more per mile even using your data. If use a real ev rate of $0.10/ kwh x 0.27 kw/mi = $0.027 /mile so gas is almost 6x more per mile.
Try sticking to the actual data than say it is approx the same - the reality is a 60% difference is not close to the same - and using a real EV charging cost, the EV cost per mile is much much lower.
Truth to be told Motor Trend is a big fanboy of all the EVs out there. I have great respect for Motor Trend. I remember they were cutting down cars ( I mean exposing their shortcomings, if any) which were praised to high heaven by all the other automotive media.
Cold weather is hard on gasoline engines and even more so on diesels. We have small portable gas generators and starting them in under 30 F* is very difficult. I'm by no means an engineer, but I thought any new EV should perform at least as good, if not better, than a 10-year old gas car. Looks like I was wrong.
By the way our small boat has a Honda BF5 5 hp gas motor and a weaker Spirit 1.0 Plus e-motor, and I prefer the Spirit, like 3 to 1.
I'm not against EVs. I'm against bad cars, regardless what kind.
I hunted moose in Alaska for several years after retiring from the military, but give it up about four years ago because a couple of friends I hunted with got in bad shape. Moose are too large for me to tackle alone. I have one antler (mounted already) that weights around 65 pounds, maybe a little more. I killed some that carrying a hind leg on my shoulder from the driveway to my house would almost buckled my knees. Ni kidding!
About parking an EV unplugged, it should not be a problem as long as the battery has sufficient capacity left for the length of time you are away from it. All depends on how cold or hot it is outside too. In fact, some people park EV's with fully charged batteries for extended periods of time at the airport. I would not do it during extreme weather conditions (sub zero temperatures), but 20's and 30's is not very cold, and 60's or 70's is not terribly hot. The same if I park my truck in the cold for two or three days at -20 degrees without warming 12 VDC battery. In this case the battery may not have enough cranking power left to turn the engine.
Moose are literally the size of a horse! They are huge - I could see why carrying out your kill would be a challenge. I don't hunt, but I've seen them in Maine and Ontario, normally wading in calm, still water and eating water plants - that's their jam.
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