- The test in the cold chamber
- How long does it take Warm up and what is the consumption?
- the insulation is qualitatively different
- tips for e-drivers
The winter months hold extra burdens for e-cars. When it’s cold, the battery not only has to supply the electric motor with energy, it also has to heat up the interior of the vehicle. How much that consumes, how long it takes to warm up and how quickly it cools down again, has he ADAC checked at an icy minus 10 degrees in the cold chamber. The result: Not all of the e-vehicles tested made it to the goal of going from minus 10 to plus 20 degrees in the passenger cell.
The test in the cold chamber
at cars with internal combustion engines is waste heat in abundance. Actually, they are rolling heaters. They produce a lot of heat almost for free as a by-product of the engine. The heat only has to get into the interior and it’s comfortably warm. Different with electric cars: Here, the scarce energy for heating has to come from the drive battery and is then no longer available for driving. The power consumption increases, the range decreases. Driving and freezing? You don’t want that, you don’t have to as the ADAC test proves.
The ADAC wanted to know how heat electric cars in an energy- and time-efficient mannerhow much heat output is required to maintain the temperature and how long the heat stays in the interior. All measurements took place at minus 10 degrees Celsius in a cold chamber. Background: In everyday operation, shorter stops at the supermarket, at school or at the butcher’s mean that the interior cools down and has to be reheated again and again.
When choosing the seven test vehicles the testers pursued the following considerations: The Renault Zoe and the VW ID.3 are two of the best-selling and financially affordable electric cars. BMW iX as well as that Tesla Model Y are also there to investigate electric vehicles with large interiors. The one known for its very long range Hyundai Kona Electric stands for the class of popular compact SUVs. the VW e Up is not particularly new, but a popular vehicle. In the consumption measurements of Green NCAP shone Fiat 500e. the Green NCAP initiative (New Car Assessment Programme) has been evaluating the environmental friendliness of cars since 2019 and checking whether they are efficient.
How long does it take to heat up and what is the consumption?
There were three phases in the measurement: In phase one it was about the initial heating of the passenger cell. Phase two was continuous heating at the desired plus 20 degrees Celsius. In phase three it was about cooling down at minus 10 degrees Celsius ambient temperature.
In phase one, the focus was on the time required for heating up (measurements at minus 10 degrees Celsius outside temperature):
- BMW iX: warm-up time 12.5 minutes
- VW ID: Warm-up time 24.5 minutes
- 3Hyundai: warm-up time 25.5 minutes
- Fiat 500e: Warm-up time 30 to 35 minutes
- Renault Zoe: warm-up time > 40 minutes*
- Tesla Model Y: Warm-up time > 40 minutes*
- VW e-Up: warm-up time > 40 minutes*
*The Renault Zoe (maximum temperature: 14 degrees Celsius), the VW e-Up (10 degrees Celsius) and the Tesla Model Y (15 degrees Celsius), on the other hand, do not manage to bring the interior to an average of 20 degrees even after 40 minutes heat.
To evaluate the heat output, the ADAC engineers deliberately set the bar very high for the electric cars: It’s not enough if it gets reasonably warm in the driver’s seat within a short period of time. The vehicle is only considered to be safe when the temperatures in the driver’s seat, on the back seat and in the foot area are comfortable completely heated up. Desired average target temperature: 20 degrees Celsius.
The insulation is qualitatively different
Because the energy required for heating reduces the range of electric cars, the test also has the Consumption in kilowatt hours (kWh) determined. the Hyundai Kona Electric and the Fiat 500e get by with 1.5 kWh each, that Tesla Model Y needs 1.6 kWh, the Renault Zoe 1.8 kWh and VW e Up and BMW iX 2.0kWh. the VW ID.3 requires 2.3 kWh of energy during this time. The consumption values are therefore not particularly high.
How quickly does the interior cool down? To check the thermal insulation of the vehicles, the engineers switched off the heaters and left the cool down the interior – also at minus ten degrees outside temperature. Like him BMW iX The interior warms up the fastest, it cools down the least quickly: After 30 minutes, the apparently well-insulated interior was still around ten degrees Celsius, while the hardly insulated one was still around VW e Up on the other hand, only five degrees Celsius. And while in Hyundai Kona after five minutes there is still an average temperature of 14 degrees Celsius, it is in Tesla Model Y and in Renault Zoe only ten degrees Celsius.
In extreme cases, an e-car is stuck in traffic all night: But you wouldn’t freeze to death because of that. The heat output for maintaining the interior temperature when stationary shows that the consumption for the heat output is low at 1.5 to 2.0 kWh. If the battery is largely discharged when the traffic jam begins, things can get tight.
Tips for e-drivers
The ADAC has made his test experiences derived a number of practical tips.
- In addition to air heating too Seat and steering wheel heating use to save energy.
- doors and windows always open as briefly as possible.
- That Park your electric car in a garageto reduce heat loss to the cold environment.
- That preheat the car (15 minutes is enough) while still connected to the wallbox. This does not reduce the energy requirement, but increases the range.
- Use the heating settingsto specifically heat only the driver’s seat or deliberately the back seat for children traveling with you.
- Avoid short trips with long downtimes in between, since the interior and the battery cool down and have to be heated up again and again.
- Calculate that at cold battery increases the charging time.
- Drive at very smoother and more slippery Extremely carefully on the road and avoid excessive recuperation (brake energy recovery) by selecting a weak recuperation level and carefully lifting your foot from the accelerator pedal.
Conclusion
In winter, the heating puts a strain on the battery performance. The same applies to the battery itself, which estimates a comfortable temperature of between 20 and 40 degrees Celsius. On average, this leads to an additional consumption of 10 to 30 percent. Especially when driving short distances, the energy consumption is 50 percent higher and the range is correspondingly lower. In winter, more careful driving behavior is called for by e-drivers. But the manufacturers could also help: They should definitely improve the thermal insulation.
