With The Super-Cold Forecast Here Are Some Ideas For EV Charging

With the weather set to turn remarkably colder this weekend, you must ask yourself something – where do I park my battery-electric vehicle in the face of bone-chilling, perhaps subzero cold?

Easy Answer Is Garage

The answer is easy: if you have a garage, you make sure your BEV (battery electric vehicle) is parked in the garage, and the heat is on so the vehicle’s charge stays in good shape during the cold.

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But what happens if you don’t have access to a nice warm garage for your Ford Mustang Mach-E or your F-150 Lightning and must leave them exposed to the elements?

First and foremost, you must keep your BEV out of the wind as much as possible. If you can, park it behind a building so the vehicle is out of the wind. A high wind in a subzero airmass will quickly steal any warmth that might have been generated by driving the vehicle. When this happens, your battery charge starts to bleed off quickly.

A Charger May Not Always Be Available

This assumes that you can’t access a charger to hook your BEV up. Your EV will lose charge in the cold, but the charging circuit should compensate for the cold weather and keep your electric in good shape.

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Not everyone has access to a charger to stash their vehicle for the night safely. So, what happens then? It’s simple.

As noted, you try to get your EV out of the wind and cold as much as possible. The reason is simply physics, which states that any battery loses roughly half of its charge at 0 degrees, and as the temperature goes lower, it loses about half of what is left when it hits 25 below.

Even 0-degrees Can Is A Problem

It is doubtful that the temperature will hit 25 below. However, the temperature will likely hit 0 or a few degrees around it. That will present a problem if you can’t find a way to keep the battery warm. Fortunately, carmakers, being rather ingenious at building battery-warming circuits, have found ways to keep your vehicle batteries in reasonably good shape.

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Unfortunately, the same tricks the industry has used to keep your batteries warm and in good shape do tend to rob your battery charge if the EV stays outside all night.

A Few Thoughts On Battery Warming

One thought might be looking at the warming circuits for the batteries and cycling them on an off during the night. Cycling is built into most EVs, but it never hurts to put your own spin on it as well so that you make sure your EV is ready to go in the morning.

Speaking of that morning run, you do also have to anticipate that. Fortunately, most EVs do have regenerative braking systems available for your vehicle. This means that though you may be shivering in the cold as you start up in the morning if you keep your speed down so that the regen circuits are always engaged, you should be able to restore your EV’s charge quickly.

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But what happens if you can’t keep the regenerative circuits engaged because you drive too fast? The simple thing to do is slow it down so that the regen braking cuts in and starts to put a charge back into the battery pack.

It Might Be A Cold Ride At First

One thing you may not be able to do right away is engage in any heating for your EV’s cabin. Yes, it does depend on the maker as to whether there is heat available quickly, but we have assumed here that the best course of action is to leave the heating circuits down until there is a sufficient charge available.

Those fortunate enough to have a charger available all night don’t have to worry about this because they should find their EVs with sufficient charge to place the heating circuits on quickly so the cabin warms up.

And, if your EV is parked in a warm garage all night, safely charging all night, then you can get your heater circuits going quickly so you don’t sit there shivering in the cold.

Regen Braking Circuits Could Prove Valuable

What happens even if your vehicle is parked in a garage all night? It’s simple: You try to use the regen braking circuits as much as possible so you keep force-feeding charge in the cooling battery. At some point, if you watch carefully, you will see something interesting occur. Your vehicle’s battery warming circuit will cut in and start to make sure your EV’s battery stays warm. This does indeed reduce the range available, but it shouldn’t take too much out of your battery because your EV has been engineered to take care of cold weather.

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So, what is the best course of action when super-cold hits? The answers are easy:

1. If possible, park your EV in a heated garage, leaving it hooked to a charger all night.
2. If a heated garage isn’t available, tuck your EV out of the wind and cold as much as possible and make sure it is plugged into a charger.
3. If you can’t park in or near a building, ensure the EV is plugged in all night.
4. If no convenient charger is available, try adding cycles to the normal battery heating scheme built into your EV.

A Battery-Warming Assumption

Let’s assume; for the sake of argument, that you can’t add cycles into your vehicle’s battery warming plan (all EVs have some warming plan programmed in), then you may have to get into your vehicle during the night and drive it around at a slow rate of speed so that the regen charging cuts in and allows you to force feed your battery so the charge stays up. Yes, it is a cold way to handle things, but it is better to use this method than going out to your EV in the morning and finding your battery is flat.

These are just a few suggestions and thoughts on getting through the polar vortex that the weather folks say is coming this weekend.

With a little ingenuity and forethought, it may be cold out there, but you can keep your battery charged up to get where you need to be in the morning.

Marc Stern has been an automotive writer since 1971. His automotive articles have appeared in venues including Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, AutoWeek, SuperStock, Trailer Life, Old Cars Weekly, Special Interest Autos, and others. You can follow Marc on Twitter or Facebook.