PREPARATION FOR COLD SEASONS

Hello to all,
The procedure for installation of diesel heater into iMiEV is available for public here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_DuLIV4KPKrTk9SSjFjVDJfWms/edit?usp=sharing

Comments are welcome. All the "cons" I have listed in this thread before are well worth it. The heater smokes a little at the beginning but it is essentially odorless during normal operation. The subtle vibrations and noise are something I have noticed as "new" shortly after installing but I have quickly used to it.

If you are seriously interested to get the diesel heater, please send me PM and if there is enough interest we can consider placing a bulk order to save some money. It may be as low as $550 including shipping.

Are you really going to convert your clean eco-friendly electric vehicle into dirty smelling oil combustion unit? Are you willing to prove, that you have done wrong choice, buying an EV?

German Auto Bild tested EV-s in winter conditions. Cold decreases the range considerably:

Tesla Model S, 85 kWh battery, range according to ads: 502 km, winter test range: 206 km (-59%)
Nissan Leaf, 24 kWh battery, range according to ads: 199 km, winter test range: 69,1 km (-65%)
BMW i3, 21,6 kWh battery, range according to ads: from 130 to 160 km, winter test range: 61,4 km (-53...-62%)
Mitsubishi i-MiEV, 16 kWh battery, range according to ads: 150 km, winter test range: 61,3 km (-59%)
Renault Zoe, 22 kWh battery, range according to ads: from 100 to 150 km, winter test range: 58,9 km (-40...-61%)

My range difference from warm to cold weather is 6 miles. With the heat on, I lose 20. I drove to work and back home with the heat on full blast, and only used an extra 20% of charge over 22 miles.

Summer RR: ~74 miles
Winter RR: ~ 68 miles
Winter RR with heat: ~ 48 miles

Maybe in the city over the course of 2 hours you would see that dramatic of a decrease.

Run Biodiesel 100%, zero-fossil. Problem solved. (though you might be hungry all the time because of the smell of French fries coming out from under the car.)

Another solution which I'm pursuing first is insulating the car and getting a warm place to park it.

Kuuuurija said:

Are you really going to convert your clean eco-friendly electric vehicle into dirty smelling oil combustion unit? Are you willing to prove, that you have done wrong choice, buying an EV?

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My vehicle is more eco-friendly than ever before. We need to recognize several aspects:
- When you buy EV, you are not eliminating your carbon foot print. Everything you buy has been manufactured and transported with the help of fossil fuel, such as diesel. The merchandise includes the food you eat.
- Electricity is made in part by burning fossils and converting 30-50% of that energy into electricity, average loss in the utility grid in the USA is 6.5% and typical loss in charging is 10% and discharging battery another 10%. The iMiEV heater is heat strip, not heat pump so, we are not getting above 100% efficiency. The overall well-to-cabin efficiency is 22 - 38%. The diesel heater has efficiency well above that figure. So, my carbon foot print is actually lower.
- The diesel heater consumes in average 0.15-0.5 L/hour (depending on heating needs), which is 15 - 50% of that used by my efficient VW Jetta when IDLING.
- I refuse to adapt Spartan winter driving habits by not heating. First, I am risking my health, secondly, window fogging creates hazardous conditions and thirdly, it is silly when I look around how people continue to waste energy and I am trying what exactly?
- Another aspect is that with electric heater, I am unable to take longer trips, those that I can do in Summer and for these trips, I would have to take 100% ICE car instead. By utilizing diesel heating in my EV, I can continue using it in Winter as well.
- Electric powertrain is the BEST mobility technology and it is the reason I bought EV. What you need to recognize is that my modified EV continues to drive on electricity. In addition, I cannot imagine I could have done this modification to other EV's. Our Mitsubishi iMiEV is the perfect EV for this modification. I can beat Leaf in Winter range test.
- I like to use apparently unrelated analogy. When electric starter was added to ICE car at the beginning of 20th century, it was essentially inspiration from EV and it greatly increased value of ICE cars because manual cranking was no longer required. In case of electric cars, combustion heater is the inspiration from ICE car, it provides very efficient heat source and INCREASES the value of EV.
- Lastly, what most people use to heat their homes? What you use to heat your home in Estonia? If wood, that is fine, it is renewable but most people around the developed world use either natural gas, or coal or even oil. So, what is the justification beyond using heat strip to heat our cars? Oh, because we are purists? Then we need to wake up! I used to be one when I bought my EV. I am no longer purist, now.

If you're solar-powered, stick with electric heat. If burning a little diesel saves from driving an ICE car, then it's the lesser of the two evils. For our home, we're mostly wood heat with a little propane when it's really cold. The wood is recovered from trees that have died. The next project is solar thermal hot water and heat.

Has anybody tried the Enerlogic film mentioned earlier in this thread?

Kuuuurija said:

German Auto Bild tested EV-s in winter conditions. Cold decreases the range considerably:
...

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Thanks for the numbers. All EVs suffer significant range loss in Winter, around 60%. This serves as a good excuse for anti-EV people to condemn the EV technology. Have you noticed how difficult is it to answer the question of any EV range? Because it depends on so many factors, some of them that you can control but many that you cannot control. Well, low temperature is so far in the category of no control and the idea of combustion heater is to partially or entirely eliminate this negative factor.
Thanks, Stan

jaraczs said:

All EVs suffer significant range loss in Winter, around 60%. This serves as a good excuse for anti-EV people to condemn the EV technology.

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This can be seen from another perspective wich beats those anti EVs. You can say I-MiEV has a declared range of 70km, which is sufficient for our commuting in winter. During the summer, we drive more, so we can benefit better range in summer.

Kuuuurija said:

German Auto Bild tested EV-s in winter conditions. Cold decreases the range considerably...

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Not seem normal conditions of use, at least not mine:

"How We Tested" and only that I've read! They used a mountain pass in Deferregental in Austria (Alps). "A curvy mountain passage was considered a handling rating to heat through as quickly as possible..."

...the heating power was tested after cold start without preheating...

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http://hyyperlic.com/2014/01/schock-reichweite-von-elektroautos-bricht-bei-auto-bild-kaelte-test-drastisch-ein/4926

A car with combustion engine neither meet the advertised consumption (NEDC standard, much lighter than the U.S.) under the same conditions, I think.

I take issue with most 'tests' regarding electric vehicle cold-weather range because range can be so significantly altered by how the heater is operated.

Yes, cold weather supposedly decreases battery capacity, so any testing should measure ONLY that. The heater is an uncontrolled variable, so IMO should only be a factor AFTER any range 'testing' is performed.

For example, our RR gauge applies about a 20% range reduction for Max Heat, so it would be proper to say that cold weather has such-and-such an effect on range and when you run the heater you can expect a further 20% reduction.

I suspect that driving on snow also alters the vehicle's rolling resistance significantly, and thus should be considered as yet another variable .

Developing and implementing test procedures is a whole science unto itself…

The point is that we have the ability to extend our cold-weather range to a much greater extent than 'test' results lead people to believe, and some of our iMiEV owners have come up with some very creative ways to do just that.

Nevertheless, it's admittedly tough to compete with the inefficient ICE vehicle using its waste heat to warm the passengers :evil:

Yes, winter range is generally less than summer range and actual figures vary a lot depending on other variables such as what level is the heater operating (and how long), is the car pre-heated in garage or not etc.

But, there is a nother interesting aspect that can alter the practical range in the opposite direction: EV range also depends very much on the speed of course and how much regenerative breaking is used. On dry summer roads, it is much more likely that the traffic moves along at a higher speed, while in the winter with bad road conditions, snowing, it is more likely that you spend significant amount of time in a crawling traffic at 20-30 km/h speed and lots of opportunity to use regen-breaking.

Case in point: overnight we had a snow storm here in Toronto, when driving my daughter to school and then myself to work, traffic was very slow due to road conditions, I drove in 'B' mode 20km before the first bar on the gauge went off -- this very rarely happens in summer conditions. Of course, it does not mean I drove 20km on 1kW, the first bar always takes longer to drop than the rest.

I like using 'B' mode on slippery roads, it means I am less likely to step on the brake reducing the chance of slipping.

Brrr. :shock: Woke up this morning to -9 degrees F. "Regen reduced", no kidding. I had maybe 1/3 into the blue. Power steering was also weak.

Did 61.1 miles yesterday, arriving home with 0 bars and 1 mile RR. I immediately plugged into level 1, 12 amp, and let it charge for 13 hours. It finished charging by morning, although it only went to 98%. I checked 30 minutes later (via OVMS) right before I switched over to level 2 to pre-heat, and it lost :!: 3%, down to 95%. It wasn't charging, pre-heating, or in READY. It was just sitting with the cord plugged in, EVSE disengaged. It came alive and pre-heated without any problem, but I only got 95% charge. Even turning off pre-heating while still plugged in didn't result in any additional charge. I set a personal record low RR of 50 miles.

Although you may be traveling slower in winter, keep in mind the (sometimes dramatic) effect of head and tailwinds. Heading north, I used 3-4 bars over 20 miles. Coming back 20 miles, I used ~8 bars, with the headwind. Going home the last 10 miles used 4 bars and 20 miles RR. It took 2 miles RR to make the driveway, spinning all the way up.

ZsoZso said:

I like using 'B' mode on slippery roads, it means I am less likely to step on the brake reducing the chance of slipping.

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I like driving in 'B' mode all the time - I don't see any conditions where there is any advantage to using either D or Eco.

Don

Don said:

I like driving in 'B' mode all the time - I don't see any conditions where there is any advantage to using either D or Eco. Don

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I'm actually reverting to D now and then when feeling 'lazy' and don't wanna feather the pedal or constantly shift for coastdown, eliminating unnecessary regen. Often in B I'll do the jackrabbit start and then subconsciously lift off, wasting energy thru regen rather than maintaining momentum. Of the three modes, I'd most want to modify D or E for zero regen.

PV1 said:

Although you may be traveling slower in winter, keep in mind the (sometimes dramatic) effect of head and tailwinds.

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Regarding said winds, it is also worth mentioning that the cold dense air this time of year causes a lot more wind resistance that in the summer. It's harder for the car to push it out of the way.

Don said:

I like driving in 'B' mode all the time - I don't see any conditions where there is any advantage to using either D or Eco.
Don

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I find it much easier to cruise around in the near-zero region (between the blue-regen and green-eco sections of the power meter) using 'D' mode than 'B'. So in low traffic conditions if I want to stretch my driving range, I find it easier to do that in 'D', because 'B' is too agressive in kicking in the regen breaking, losing momentum when I did not intend to slow down.

“This serves as a good excuse for anti-EV people to condemn the EV technology. …”

To me they’re missing the point (maybe that’s on purpose): economy. Has anyone noticed that since our battery capacity decreased in the winter so does the charging time? I haven’t done exact measurements, but I’m willing to submit (and take the heater variable out):
1. ICE cars cost/mile (in terms of cost/mpg) increase in the winter. And the range goes down. And short trips make it worse.
2. EVs cost/mile (wall to wheels cost/Whr/mile) stay about the same. But the range goes down.

Now add the heater variable. ICE cars lose a lot of mpg in this 0°F weather. And EVs lose a fair chunk of cost/mile. But it’s still cheaper to drive the EV. When I add the heater variable in my Prius 2002, my gas mileage drops 20% (44mpg in winter to 35mpg). And ironically, in a Prius, the gas tank shrinks from 12 gal in the summer to 10 gal in the winter. And to top that off, winter gas is terrible for ICE engines because of all the additives. It’s like we’re trying to burn water. And thus my Prius has less range.

Other things noticed: the iMiev always starts easy and moves at 0°F (no frozen starters or jelled fluids). The iMiev is easier to handle in the snow than my van or Prius’.
-Barry

BarryP said:

“This serves as a good excuse for anti-EV people to condemn the EV technology. …”

To me they’re missing the point (maybe that’s on purpose): economy. Has anyone noticed that since our battery capacity decreased in the winter so does the charging time? I haven’t done exact measurements, but I’m willing to submit (and take the heater variable out):
1. ICE cars cost/mile (in terms of cost/mpg) increase in the winter. And the range goes down. And short trips make it worse.
2. EVs cost/mile (wall to wheels cost/Whr/mile) stay about the same. But the range goes down.

Now add the heater variable. ICE cars lose a lot of mpg in this 0°F weather. And EVs lose a fair chunk of cost/mile. But it’s still cheaper to drive the EV. When I add the heater variable in my Prius 2002, my gas mileage drops 20% (44mpg in winter to 35mpg). And ironically, in a Prius, the gas tank shrinks from 12 gal in the summer to 10 gal in the winter. And to top that off, winter gas is terrible for ICE engines because of all the additives. It’s like we’re trying to burn water. And thus my Prius has less range.

Other things noticed: the iMiev always starts easy and moves at 0°F (no frozen starters or jelled fluids). The iMiev is easier to handle in the snow than my van or Prius’.
-Barry

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Are you joking?
ICE cars take maybe around 15% more gasoline per mile in the cold season than in the summer.
But EVs need considerably more electricity in wintertime. Almost twice the amount of summer driving. The costs will double aswell.

About public chargers, here it is not free to use public chargers and as the billing is based on number of chargings and the range per charging drops considerably in the winter, then the cost per mile effectively doubles.
Adverse side effect may be, that you get serious flu while waiting for the end of the dripping of power juices into the batteries and must waste considerable amount of money for medical treatment.

So far even Tesla Model S (85 kWh battery, declared range 502 km) was not able to drive from Tallinn to Tartu, and back (total 370 km) without intermediate charging stop at the roadside in wintertime.

Kuuuurija said:

But EVs need considerably more electricity in wintertime. Almost twice the amount of summer driving. The costs will double as well.

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It's not that much at all unless you are blasting the heat and driving 120 kmh all of the time. I'm only using 1 or 2 kw more in the winter than I do in the summer on my daily commute. It's all in how you drive it.

“Are you joking?
ICE cars take maybe around 15% more gasoline per mile in the cold season than in the summer.”

Umm. I thought that’s what I said; maybe not clearly.

“But EVs need considerably more electricity in wintertime. Almost twice the amount of summer driving. The costs will double aswell.”

Nope. No double costs here. That’s rather obvious. I just noticed I used to charge at ~2 bars/hr. But in the winter, I’m getting ~3 bars/hr (thus charging faster in the winter). But I don’t use public chargers; just my garage. I was hoping someone is keeping track of their wall-to-wheels KWhr/mile w/o using the heat for more precise measurements.

Thanx,
-Barry