Best AWD EV or hybrid in snow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to warn you, OP, but EVs get their worst mileage in cold weather.

This is largely a myth put out by rightwingers to trash EV’s in favor of ICE vehicles. It’s a republican lie.

ID4 owner and this is not a myth or a lie—we did a drive on Saturday and it used about 30% more than in warmer conditions (single digit temps vs 40s).

I really doubt this.

+1. I have the ID.4 Pro S and just did a two-hour drive this morning, with MD temps ranging from 29 to 38 (according to my Weather Channel app). The mileage was only slightly worse than what I normally get.

If you’re running the heat, it’ll pull your range down faster — we have the Pro S and can usually go without a lot of heating, thanks to the heated seats and steering wheel, but I do feel bad freezing my kids in the back seat, so I wind up putting the climate control on. For a winter drive mostly at highway speeds, I assume I’ll get around 200 miles for a full charge as opposed to 250 it’s rated for.

Temps 29 - 38 degrees aren't really that cold. I'm the prior PP, and it was 5 to 16 degrees when we were driving to Wisp to ski. Our range was terrible. No conspiracy here. We stopped twice to charge.

We normally love our extended range Tesla, but won't take it skiing again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to warn you, OP, but EVs get their worst mileage in cold weather.

This is largely a myth put out by rightwingers to trash EV’s in favor of ICE vehicles. It’s a republican lie.

ID4 owner and this is not a myth or a lie—we did a drive on Saturday and it used about 30% more than in warmer conditions (single digit temps vs 40s).

I really doubt this.

+1. I have the ID.4 Pro S and just did a two-hour drive this morning, with MD temps ranging from 29 to 38 (according to my Weather Channel app). The mileage was only slightly worse than what I normally get.

If you’re running the heat, it’ll pull your range down faster — we have the Pro S and can usually go without a lot of heating, thanks to the heated seats and steering wheel, but I do feel bad freezing my kids in the back seat, so I wind up putting the climate control on. For a winter drive mostly at highway speeds, I assume I’ll get around 200 miles for a full charge as opposed to 250 it’s rated for.

Temps 29 - 38 degrees aren't really that cold. I'm the prior PP, and it was 5 to 16 degrees when we were driving to Wisp to ski. Our range was terrible. No conspiracy here. We stopped twice to charge.

We normally love our extended range Tesla, but won't take it skiing again.

How many miles was the drive? We live in a ski town in the mountain west and our long range Tesla is our main ski and road trip car for past couple of years and it’s been amazing. Love that we can heat it up before we get in, and that we can charge at the resort. We haven’t noticed a significant drop in battery, and it’s been snowing like crazy since November. It’s snowing right now, actually.

[Anonymous]

Pp here, I just read this.

https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-ev-range-loss-cold-weather-temperatures-tesla-ford-2022-12

None of us like it too warm in the car, so we keep the temp at 68-69 without seat or steering wheel heaters, I wonder how much of a difference that makes? Also we live at altitude, so we get aerodynamic benefits from the thinner air - less drag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to warn you, OP, but EVs get their worst mileage in cold weather.

This is largely a myth put out by rightwingers to trash EV’s in favor of ICE vehicles. It’s a republican lie.

I'm not a rightwinger or a republican, but it's common knowledge that batteries don't perform as well in cold weather. Why do you think car batteries often fail on cold days? I mean, this isn't a conspiracy.

I detest RWNJs like no one else, but our EVs' range drops significantly in the cold. Even just sitting the not-freezing garage. The Tesla batteries seems extra sensitive to cold. Audi drops, but not as quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to warn you, OP, but EVs get their worst mileage in cold weather.

This is largely a myth put out by rightwingers to trash EV’s in favor of ICE vehicles. It’s a republican lie.

I'm not a rightwinger or a republican, but it's common knowledge that batteries don't perform as well in cold weather. Why do you think car batteries often fail on cold days? I mean, this isn't a conspiracy.

I detest RWNJs like no one else, but our EVs' range drops significantly in the cold. Even just sitting the not-freezing garage. The Tesla batteries seems extra sensitive to cold. Audi drops, but not as quickly.

This matches the article linked above. I looked into it more and I think we don’t experience as much of a drop since we are at altitude - at 7000 feet there is 20-30% less drag and drag is the biggest energy drain on EV’s, and we also usually drive at a lower speed in the winter due to conditions, which further lowers drag. So our winter driving range is not far off from summer driving, when we are driving faster on average.

[Anonymous]

AWD is not good in snow. 4WD is good in snow.

I used to see so many stuck AWD vehicles when I lived in Queens NY.

AWD is 4WD only in forward gear not reverse. Good luck backing out of tight parking spot trying to go back and forth in snow with 4WD on one direction only.

Also you need a lift kit and ground clearance.

Super Cadillac CTS is AWD but bumper like 4 inches off ground. You can’t drive in five inches of snow or more

Of course unless you go sking you don’t need it all all in DC area

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AWD is not good in snow. 4WD is good in snow.

I used to see so many stuck AWD vehicles when I lived in Queens NY.

AWD is 4WD only in forward gear not reverse. Good luck backing out of tight parking spot trying to go back and forth in snow with 4WD on one direction only.

Also you need a lift kit and ground clearance.

Super Cadillac CTS is AWD but bumper like 4 inches off ground. You can’t drive in five inches of snow or more

Of course unless you go sking you don’t need it all all in DC area

Snow tires are the key. I have seen 4wd cars in ditches while awd’s with snow tires have no problem. I live near the most avalanche prone road in North America - SR210. 4WD isn’t enough if you don’t have snow tires on. It’s like a linebacker wearing keds vs a teenager in hiking boots. Tires are the most important part of the equation when it’s super snowy.

[Anonymous]

It’s rubbish to say AWD is not good in snow. First, there are many different types of “AWD” systems which function quite differently. Even Audi uses two different systems, Haldex and Quattro, with the former being a front wheel biased system. Volvo, Mercedes and others use Haldex and other similar systems. Almost all are more than competent in snow conditions with appropriate tires. There is a reason why you see alot of Subarus with their symmetrical AWD systems in New England and Colorado. Each system performs slightly different depending on ice, snow, etc.

Ironically even a Jeep Wrangler isn’t necessarily the optimal choice in snow due to its shorter wheelbase and M+S tires that can harden like hockey pucks in the cold.

And AWD in of itself doesn’t decrease your stopping distances or help if your car loses lateral grip in a circumstance where an ASC traction control can’t adequately compensate for. Again, it’s all about your tires. Tire chains are still a thing in many places, including California and Washington, where they can be required in extreme conditions for mountain passes. The modern cable systems are inexpensive and simple to store and install.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just to warn you, OP, but EVs get their worst mileage in cold weather. We tried to take our long range Tesla skiing and we're shocked at how bad the range was (not to mention it's entirely uphill from here to the resort and our car was loaded with people, gear and a bubble with skis). We had no problem at all driving to Florida, but the drive from here to Wisp was really annoying with two stops to charge. Plus there is no public charging at Wisp or Evergreen or several other local resorts.

I'm a huge EV fan, but a ski trip is literally one of the hardest nominal tasks for an EV. If you ski a lot, I'd consider a hybrid.

This. EVs do not work for cold weather climates.

[Anonymous]

I just drove to Quebec over the winter break in my Hyundai Ioniq 5. It was a very comfortable car with plenty of room, AWD, and nice automated driving features. Like all the posters, cold weather driving does have less range (like ICE cars, too), The single digit temperatures when driving 70 mph on mountainous interstates and comfortable interior hear settings certainly lowered the range considerably, but it was workable. The AWD drove great in the snow with the factory all-season tires.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to warn you, OP, but EVs get their worst mileage in cold weather.

This is largely a myth put out by rightwingers to trash EV’s in favor of ICE vehicles. It’s a republican lie.

I'm not a rightwinger or a republican, but it's common knowledge that batteries don't perform as well in cold weather. Why do you think car batteries often fail on cold days? I mean, this isn't a conspiracy.

From what I gather, twofold:

cold, very cold temps decrease battery performance

heater drains energy that would otherwise be used for drive-train function

Correct, but for it to be noticeable the outside temp has to be very cold, not hovering around freezing. This is just science, people. I’m all for EVs and will be buying one, because I do not intend to drive it in very cold conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to warn you, OP, but EVs get their worst mileage in cold weather. We tried to take our long range Tesla skiing and we're shocked at how bad the range was (not to mention it's entirely uphill from here to the resort and our car was loaded with people, gear and a bubble with skis). We had no problem at all driving to Florida, but the drive from here to Wisp was really annoying with two stops to charge. Plus there is no public charging at Wisp or Evergreen or several other local resorts.

I'm a huge EV fan, but a ski trip is literally one of the hardest nominal tasks for an EV. If you ski a lot, I'd consider a hybrid.

This. EVs do not work for cold weather climates.

We have 2 EV’s in town that gets 300” snow a year. The whole town is full of EV’s and I see more and more every year. Battery life goes down in the cold, but it means you get 250 miles on an 80% charge instead of 275. Not a huge deal.

[Anonymous]

We live in west Michigan and our AWD Prius has really exceeded our expectations. We may still decide to put snow tires on it, but so far after several big storms we haven't had any issues. Obviously knowing how to drive in the snow helps, and you wouldn't want to go off-road with it due to the low clearance, but it has had no issues with snow covered roads. You can also put roof racks on them.

[Anonymous]

My friends in Minnesota rave about their Ioniq 5.

[Anonymous]

Honda CR-V AWD Hybrid. Stick with the classic. Well, plus the hybrid drive.