[kitt2000]

Like half the country, we’re expecting some really cold weather this week. On Wednesday, temperatures will range from a high of -13 F to a low of - 23 F. There’s also a wind chill warning “DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS EXPECTED. WIND CHILLS 20 TO 30 BELOW TUESDAY AND AS LOW AS 55 BELOW ZERO EXPECTED TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING.”

I park overnight in a garage and will have it plugged in. I park on the street during the day. Are there any concerns the car won’t start?

Much thanks, this is my first EV and first winter with it so I’d appreciate hearing some experienced thoughts about this. The fact that Norway has adopted EVs gives me hope there won’t be any problems.

 

[GJETSON]

Like half the country, we’re expecting some really cold weather this week. On Wednesday, temperatures will range from a high of -13 F to a low of - 23 F. There’s also a wind chill warning “DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS EXPECTED. WIND CHILLS 20 TO 30 BELOW TUESDAY AND AS LOW AS 55 BELOW ZERO EXPECTED TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING.”

I park overnight in a garage and will have it plugged in. I park on the street during the day. Are there any concerns the car won’t start?

Much thanks, this is my first EV and first winter with it so I’d appreciate hearing some experienced thoughts about this. The fact that Norway has adopted EVs gives me hope there won’t be any problems.

The only thing that would prevent your Bolt from starting would be a defective 12 volt battery.

 

[ga2500ev]

Like half the country, we’re expecting some really cold weather this week. On Wednesday, temperatures will range from a high of -13 F to a low of - 23 F. There’s also a wind chill warning “DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS EXPECTED. WIND CHILLS 20 TO 30 BELOW TUESDAY AND AS LOW AS 55 BELOW ZERO EXPECTED TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING.”

I park overnight in a garage and will have it plugged in. I park on the street during the day. Are there any concerns the car won’t start?

Much thanks, this is my first EV and first winter with it so I’d appreciate hearing some experienced thoughts about this. The fact that Norway has adopted EVs gives me hope there won’t be any problems.

The biggest impact by far is range. EVs are really inefficient with cold batteries. The Bolt will use battery energy to warm the battery.

Best bet is to plan to have about half your summer range to work with. So while commuting is fine, there would be appropriate worry on a long road trip under those conditions.

But it is wonderful to have the battery powered heater onboard. Other threads have suggested preconditioning before travel to up the efficiency a bit.

ga2500ev

 

[ElectricBoltMan]

I live in the Twin Cities, MN and we'll be down to -30F on Wednesday and we have two Bolt EVs and first time they will be in extreme sub-zero weather, we purchased the 2017 in March of 2018. I can work at home, but my wife drives her Bolt to work and has to leave in an outside park lot. I am concerned of this warning in the manual on page 135 of the 2017 model she has. When does this message trigger? Is 7-8hrs in a parking lot going to freeze up the battery?

BATTERY TOO COLD, PLUG IN TO WARM
This message displays during extremely cold temperatures, when the vehicle will not start until the high voltage battery is warm enough.

Plug the vehicle in to an AC charging station and make sure POWER is off to allow the charging system to warm the high voltage battery, then the vehicle can be started. DC charging cannot be used to recover a cold high voltage battery.

 

[GJETSON]

I live in the Twin Cities, MN and we'll be down to -30F on Wednesday and we have two Bolt EVs and first time they will be in extreme sub-zero weather, we purchased the 2017 in March of 2018. I can work at home, but my wife drives her Bolt to work and has to leave in an outside park lot. I am concerned of this warning in the manual on page 135 of the 2017 model she has. When does this message trigger? Is 7-8hrs in a parking lot going to freeze up the battery?

My understanding is that as long as the SoC is 30% or above, the car will heat the battery to the minimum temperature for operation. Once she is in the car and going down the road, the normal discharge under load should keep the battery warm enough.

 

[Dimitrij]

The only thing that would prevent your Bolt from starting would be a defective 12 volt battery.

I think you are erring against the orthodoxy of the Holy Manual of Truth, which proclaimeth in the Book of Instruments Controls, chapter Vehicle Messages, verse Battery Too Cold the sacred commandment "turne off, plug and charge", albeit it doesn't say what temperatures will lead to this ritual.

 

[GJETSON]

I think you are erring against the orthodoxy of the Holy Manual of Truth, which proclaimeth in the Book of Instruments Controls, chapter Vehicle Messages, verse Battery Too Cold the sacred commandment "turne off, plug and charge", albeit it doesn't say what temperatures will lead to this ritual.

We will know a lot more after this week. Sure would be nice if GM would do a press release/ email with some clarification on extreme weather operation.

 

[TDIwyse]

... Once she is in the car and going down the road, the normal discharge under load should keep the battery warm enough.

Well, this is not what I am measuring. At least when going <60mph and in our normal Midwest winter temps, the battery looses heat and continues to cool down during driving for the entirety of my 14.2 mile commute. I'm still taking data so I don't know what temp is the magic "equalizer", but anything below +15F ambient air temp and I know my Bolt looses battery heat and would eventually require the 2.2kW battery heater to turn on and take energy from the main battery and reduce range and efficiency... In the upcoming -30F air temps I would be surprised if one could get 100 miles of range out of the Bolt. Unless you have an extra source of power to defrost the windshield and you are wearing blankets to keep from getting hypothermia and are extremely careful on balancing speed/battery drain...

 

[GJETSON]

The very first thing I would suggest, for anybody in those extreme conditions, regardless of what kind of vehicle you drive, is to dress appropriately. When I lived in Wisconsin, in really cold weather, I wore a snowmobile suit, snowmobile gloves, insulated boots, and balaclava in the car. Didn't both with the heat, just defrost. Carried snacks, water, a flashlight, etc.

I remember some decades ago when a bunch of people on the east coast died, stuck in their cars in a storm. Many didn't even have a heavy coat...just headed off to work in their toasty warm cars, assuming they would arrive at work to a toasty warm office.

 

[GJETSON]

Well, this is not what I am measuring. At least when going <60mph and in our normal Midwest winter temps, the battery looses heat and continues to cool down during driving for the entirety of my 14.2 mile commute. I'm still taking data so I don't know what temp is the magic "equalizer", but anything below +15F ambient air temp and I know my Bolt looses battery heat and would eventually require the 2.2kW battery heater to turn on and take energy from the main battery and reduce range and efficiency... In the upcoming -30F air temps I would be surprised if one could get 100 miles of range out of the Bolt. Unless you have an extra source of power to defrost the windshield and you are wearing blankets to keep from getting hypothermia and are extremely careful on balancing speed/battery drain...

Yup. If you aren't on the highway running 70-80 mph it probably won't heat up in those temps. I would certainly suggest charging to 100%, and preconditioning for two 15-20 minute periods before heading out. I would be dressed for outdoors, and only using Max defrost when needed...no heat.

I'd assume the battery heater will run the entire time you are at work, so a third of your battery capacity. 40 kWh @ 2.5 mile/kWh = 100 miles. I would hope your commute is less than 100 mile round trip. If it is close to that, I'd call in sick.

 

[kitt2000]

My understanding is that as long as the SoC is 30% or above, the car will heat the battery to the minimum temperature for operation. Once she is in the car and going down the road, the normal discharge under load should keep the battery warm enough.

This is good to keep in mind. I’m glad to have confirmation that the car will keep the battery warm as long as the SoC is high enough. I’ll be sure to keep the charge at a healthy level! Real world testing coming up soon!

 

[Dimitrij]

We will know a lot more after this week. Sure would be nice if GM would do a press release/ email with some clarification on extreme weather operation.

GM did issue some generic, common sense winter driving wisdoms last fall, which coincided with their survey of the "winter package" option. My gut is telling me they learned by then, or had always known that the winter-related heck was sooner or later going to break loose. Frankly, for the "extremely cold/bad" weather the advice should be, stay at home, if you can. By the way, this applies to the ICE ppl just as well.

 

[KeithMoon]

Yup. If you aren't on the highway running 70-80 mph it probably won't heat up in those temps. I would certainly suggest charging to 100%, and preconditioning for two 15-20 minute periods before heading out. I would be dressed for outdoors, and only using Max defrost when needed...no heat.

I'd assume the battery heater will run the entire time you are at work, so a third of your battery capacity. 40 kWh @ 2.5 mile/kWh = 100 miles. I would hope your commute is less than 100 mile round trip. If it is close to that, I'd call in sick.

Don't forget that at -30°F and 70mph the cooling applied to the underside of the battery is 2.7kW/m2 (in human terms the wind chill is -78.8° F) so even though the battery is producing more heat at higher speed it is also cooling much faster as well.

 

[ElectricBoltMan]

My understanding is that as long as the SoC is 30% or above, the car will heat the battery to the minimum temperature for operation. Once she is in the car and going down the road, the normal discharge under load should keep the battery warm enough.

Thanks for the info and that does make sense. I told her to take a real lunch and charge at Lunds and Barley's which is just a couple miles away and this prompted us to ask about use of an emergency 110V outlet at her work to use. I told her if she got grief, that ICE cars have the same issue when we have these extreme temps. No different than connecting your block heater at work. :|

 

[Dimitrij]

Thanks for the info and that does make sense. I told her to take a real lunch and charge at Lunds and Barley's which is just a couple miles away and this prompted us to ask about use of an emergency 110V outlet at her work to use. I told her if she got grief, that ICE cars have the same issue when we have these extreme temps. No different than connecting your block heater at work. :|

One thing to remember that 110V, depending on if you can 12 amps or just 8, is 0.88 to 1.32 kW, so probably not enough to run the heater on its own. Although should help with the overall juice budget.

I wonder if ad-hoc thermal insulation would help?

 

[GJETSON]

Interesting to see that the Tesla Model 3 is no better.

https://youtu.be/GrEeWAqEMAU

Extreme cold is a problem for EV's...not just the Bolt.

 

[Nook]

Yes, go out for lunch and charge. I recently made it home only because I put on 5 miles of charge at the grocery store. I didn't think I was that close, but that's a different story.
Park at the charger and have a coworker pick her up.
Yes, start full full (not hilltop, not 90%, you want 100%). Plus precondition early enough to leave with the battery full full.
Plugging in to 110 will give you some charge or heating or both. It will at least reduce the losses. Consider not just directly at her office, but nearby places, too. There's lots of outlets around, if you just look for them, especially just for a one time use.
Park in the sun and out of the wind.
I called a dealer that's along my trip about using their DC charger as my backup, although they close at 6pm, but that's my emergency plan.
The cold brings out the humanity in people. Have a tow strap along so that random passersby can rescue her. Worst case, she just needs to get to an outlet most of the way home and you can go pick her up.
Take a look at plugshare and enable home locations. Lots of us, including me, have our home chargers listed and could easily provide refuge to somebody who can't get home without more charge.

You can get surprisingly far after the traction power reduced alert and with your "range low" flashing. I don't want to do that again, but there is a reserve on the empty side.

Good luck.

 

[max]

Yes, go out for lunch and charge. I recently made it home only because I put on 5 miles of charge at the grocery store. I didn't think I was that close, but that's a different story.
Park at the charger and have a coworker pick her up.
Yes, start full full (not hilltop, not 90%, you want 100%). Plus precondition early enough to leave with the battery full full.
Plugging in to 110 will give you some charge or heating or both. It will at least reduce the losses. Consider not just directly at her office, but nearby places, too. There's lots of outlets around, if you just look for them, especially just for a one time use.
Park in the sun and out of the wind.
I called a dealer that's along my trip about using their DC charger as my backup, although they close at 6pm, but that's my emergency plan.
The cold brings out the humanity in people. Have a tow strap along so that random passersby can rescue her. Worst case, she just needs to get to an outlet most of the way home and you can go pick her up.
Take a look at plugshare and enable home locations. Lots of us, including me, have our home chargers listed and could easily provide refuge to somebody who can't get home without more charge.

You can get surprisingly far after the traction power reduced alert and with your "range low" flashing. I don't want to do that again, but there is a reserve on the empty side.

Good luck.

Nook, if you need an L2 charge on your commuting route, you can also give me a call. I'm mid-way I believe. I'll PM you my number. Work from home most days.

 

[davioh2001]

As an addition to the discussion I have 2 recent winter experiences. Here in Texas it's been below freezing often around 20 degrees which is cold for Texas.
..... #1 . When I parked my car at a friend's house in Dallas for almost 2 weeks while in vacation I only lost around 2 miles range despite overnight freezing temps! Battery was starting at 98%
..... #2 . Despite not plugging in and 20 degree overnight temps and the car being exposed to freezing wind it actually only used around 200 watts to battery condition (that's per night)! Again battery was at around 95%. (as mathematically estimated from the energy screen 96% driving 4% conditioning 0% HVAC - seat warmer and steering wheel warmer use didn't use enough to register on my energy stats screen). I've noticed if I leave it plugged in it ends up using a lot more. It's comforting to know the system is continuing to do it's job protecting the battery but yet seems to be very efficient in doing it!
....Also, I would be very interested to hear from others on how it behaves unplugged after a -60 F night overnight. I would guess it would use around 1000-2000 watts each night parked unplugged in that brutal cold.

 

[Cataract2]

Going to be watching this thread to see how people fair in the coldest areas, MN and the like. I'll be picking up my new 2019 Bolt Premier tomorrow and getting to enjoy jumping right in with a nice 3F morning temp to drive in the next day.

Nothing like trial by fire to put all that I've read to use for range control in the winter on a 120 mile round trip commute.>