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Thursday, January 23, 2025

I Left My EV Unplugged In The Chilly For Weeks. Here is How A lot Vary I Misplaced


Upstate New York winters are not any joke. Up the place I stay, we began getting bombed with January- and February-style chilly climate as early as Thanksgiving, sending the excessive temperatures down into the low 30s most days if we had been fortunate. There are many methods to take care of this. One methodology I extremely advocate is to put money into some high-quality wool socks; a good higher concept is to get a aircraft ticket to someplace hotter. 

However if you happen to’re an electrical car proprietor and you should go away your automobile alone for a couple of weeks at a time, and you understand it is going to be parked someplace very chilly, what kind of vary are you able to anticipate if you return? We all know that chilly temperatures specifically are the enemy of lithium-ion batteries. Whereas they do not carry out particularly properly in excessive warmth, they do even worse when the temperatures get low.

So when my spouse and I deliberate out a somewhat bold vacation schedule—we might spend practically a month in our native Texas touring the state and seeing family and friends, all earlier than I’d head to Las Vegas to cowl CES 2025—we had the prospect to run somewhat experiment with our Kia EV6. 

We’d be gone from Dec. 15 to Jan. 10. (Sure, the vacations had been a lot for us, in case you are curious.) Earlier than we left, we charged the EV6 to 80% as we do most days except we now have an extended drive forward to protect the automobile’s battery life. Then we might go away it unplugged, in our chilly indifferent storage, whereas temperatures had been within the 30s on common—generally as excessive as 54 levels Fahrenheit, generally as little as 12 levels. (Climate is bizarre.) 

There is a widespread concern amongst those that aren’t accustomed to EVs: that they will have to depart their automobile parked for a number of days or even weeks for a visit, then come again to the airport to discover a fully useless battery. In spite of everything, any battery will lose cost over time, even when it isn’t getting used. So if we left the EV6 unplugged, and in not notably EV-friendly climate, what would we come again to? What an awesome alternative to search out out.



Kia EV6 Winter

Photograph by: Patrick George

For context, my EV6 is a Twin-Motor AWD Wind mannequin. It is formally EPA-rated at 282 miles of vary, although its onboard laptop’s projections range extra broadly relying on the climate than many different EVs I’ve pushed. In average fall and summer time climate, the automobile learn as having greater than 300 miles of vary many instances. These days in winter, it has been fairly a bit decrease than that. I am working to translate these projections into real-world vary outcomes, so keep tuned there. 

So once we left for Texas we made positive the Kia was charged to 80%, which learn as 183 miles of vary. Then the automobile sat there for 28 days, fully unplugged from my residence ChargePoint Degree 2 charger, and by no means checked utilizing the Kia smartphone app (which briefly powers on the automobile and its 12-volt battery to see what is going on on.) 

And once we returned, the EV6 had… 180 miles of vary at a 78% cost. 

After which once I got here again a couple of minutes later to get photographic proof of this, the automobile’s laptop learn barely greater, as much as 183 miles of vary but once more. 



Kia EV6 Winter Range

Photograph by: InsideEVs

In different phrases, we principally did not lose any vary in any respect. Perhaps 2%, if the automobile’s vary calculator is to be believed, however that clearly did not translate into any misplaced miles. So, sure: You may go away your EV unplugged for some time and the battery—together with the essential 12-volt battery—will not fully die when you’re gone.

It is right here the place I ought to notice that above all else, you must seek the advice of your proprietor’s guide to know precisely what to do if you should retailer it long-term. Most manuals advocate you do go away them plugged in, if doable, as a result of the vehicles will then be routinely in a position to preserve a correct cost stage as wanted. However as our pals at battery well being startup Recurrent notice, some EVs are completely different than others; it recommends you allow a Hyundai (which is basically the identical car as my Kia) plugged in, however Ford recommends leaving a Mustang Mach-E unplugged beginning round 50% with the 12-volt battery disconnected if the automobile must be saved for greater than 30 days. Tesla additionally recommends leaving your automobile plugged in when it is being saved and never disturbed too typically with the app, and you too can disable options like Sentry Mode to maintain energy consumption down as properly. 



Mercedes-Benz EQV winter testing inside the Arctic Circle

Here is what my guide recommends for longer EV6 storage: If the car won’t be in use for an prolonged time period, cost the high-voltage battery as soon as each three months to forestall it from discharging. Additionally, if the car battery cost is inadequate, instantly cost the car to fill capability and repair the car.”

So if I actually had been to be gone from my EV6 for 3 months, I might in all probability go away it plugged in at my storage, then examine on it periodically by way of my smartphone app, together with scheduling charging as wanted. 



Kia EV6 Winter

Photograph by: Patrick George

Here is the place I’d additionally remind people who it isn’t nice to retailer an inside combustion car for months at a time, both. A 12-volt battery can die, gasoline can evaporate, fluids can go dangerous and so forth. However fairly frankly, my EV6 dealt with being parked for weeks higher than many older gas-powered vehicles I’ve owned would have executed. It acquitted itself very properly throughout our lengthy journey.

So this is the lesson: Seek the advice of your proprietor’s guide, however leaving your EV parked within the chilly for a very long time in all probability will not be that massive of a deal. 

Acquired different cold-weather driving and storage ideas? Drop them within the feedback beneath. 

Contact the creator: [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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