Winter Driving

[DonDakin]

New personal low today....

Temperature that is......

It was -18 Deg C on the dash on the way to work this morning. With the wind it was ^%$#@&*&^%%% cold......

Only problem was lot's of window fogging requiring the defrost on pretty high. The car can handle these temps no problem. I'm very impressed.

Decreased range is not a problem for me at least to go to work and back. Just the fact that this little electric runs without complaining in such cold temps is amazing.....

I love this little car....

Don.....

 

[sandange]

DonDakin

Sure was a cold one yesterday,..My wife & I experienced -27 C ( -16.5 F )
on our 5:30 am departure for our, 70 km ( 43.5 miles ) trip to the city, (1 1/2 hrs)

We charged level 2 while we visited the Auto show (Palais des Congres).
At our departure - 2:00 pm the city eventually warmed up to -16 C ( 3 F )

We visited family (near Rockland Shopping centre) 12 km ( 7.5 Miles ) in the afternoon and drove on to the west Island - 16 km ( 10 Miles ) . Fully charged and shopped at Fairview shopping centre.

Attended a family Birthday party that evening in Roxboro and made it home by midnight 75 km ( 46.5 Miles ) without having to charge again since Fairview.

The temperatures had warmed up to -13 C ( 8.5 F ) for the ride home.

Total trip- 170 km ( 105 miles )
Same experience as you
No noticeable change in the cars performance at these temps.

Side Note - love charging at the Rockland shopping centre great mall to visit
Free underground parking, 4 "Addenergie" chargers available for free, , free wifi, and very comfortable food court and seating area, lots of stores.

 

[JoeS]

DonDakin and sandange, thank you so much for posting about the car's performance in the extreme conditions you're experiencing. This certainly answers a lot of questions about low-temperature behavior which, until now, were unknown to us. Seems to me that your charging support infrastructure is being located quite logically and certainly conveniently for you. Of note to everyone is that it takes personal organization and planning which then results in no "range anxiety".

 

[sandange]

Thought I would share our Quebec, weather forecast for our area,

We'll be parking in the garage for the next few days


http://s211.photobucket.com/user/Sandange/slideshow/miev/Winter forecast EV parking

 

[peterdambier]

Here it is bouncing around zero and "Snowwhite" has become an ice ball time and again. The only way to clear the windows is a few minutes of a portable 2kW heater, switched to 1kW. After a few minutes our car looks as if we have been driving all day long, except for no mess. We get it to comfortable living room temperature and the i-MiEV heater can easily maintain that. The way back home needs a lot of heating and climbing up the hill. Better dont look at the guessometer it is telling tales in both directions. Looks like 80 kilomers or 50 miles easily doable.

Tramways are down because of iced power lines. Airports are almost down because they cannot deice the planes fast enough and it is foggy. Highway on the rocks.

 

[MLucas]

Maybe the ASC was forcing you to slow down

+1. Definitely agree. The car took over and saved you from having a wreck. Its good to know.

 

[MLucas]

Thought I would share our Quebec, weather forecast for our area,

We'll be parking in the garage for the next few days

Have you noticed any of the cold weather affects from our Cold Weather chart?

 

[sandange]

This morning....

Temperature at 5:30 am was -27 C, (-16.5 F)
Days high was forecast at -23 (-9.5 F)

I drove my wife to the train station (34 km, 21miles , round trip)
I didn't want to leave the car parked there all day at those temperatures.

Left from heated garage, preheated, and a full charge.
Since this was a short trip I decided to test the cars heater under these conditions.

I had both heated seats running, and the heater set at almost full, same for the fan speed and set on defrost.
Did not use lap blanket but kept my gloves on. - fairly comfortable.

Average speed was 45 kmph (28 mph)

78km ( 48.5 miles) showing on RR & all bars were lit up on power gauge at departure.

15 minutes into the drive the top 4-5 inches of the wind shield iced up - had to open the window to change the cabin air for fresh dry cool air, and then turn the fan and heat up to full for several minutes (Not Max)

50 minutes round trip - Even with the heater on the car had noticeably cooled down on the way home.

Noticed the Regen was not as aggressive.
The car performed as normal otherwise.
Have not tried charging the car outside in these temperatures

21 Km (13 miles) on RR at return and the power gauge was showing 3 bars under half.

 

[DonDakin]

Hi All,

As Sandage posted a little while ago, temps in Montreal are in the "Why do I live here again" range. But it great weather to do some low temp testing of the iMiev.

I took a few photos and some video of my adventures going to work. Nothing very dramatic our little iMiev worked pretty well on the commute to work and back even with these crazy temperatures....

Here are the links:

http://youtu.be/5h7i1GqZueU

Don........

 

[JoeS]

DonDakin, thank you! Loved it!

 

[sandange]

Great pics & video Don D

Helps a lot to explain the conditions we are driving in this month .
Great shots on how the ice creeps in around the frames of the wind shield and side windows.

 

[MLucas]

Thanks for posting the pictures and the video. I feel for all of you living in these extreme temperatures. Here in the Niagara Region we are only seeing -9c, today. It's definitely much warmer than what you are experiencing. This weekend, we could be seeing +6c. Time to go wash the car and pull the pool out of the shed, maybe have a picnic, too.

 

[DonDakin]

Hi All,

It was fun to make a little video of the car in super cold weather. Hope it wasn't too long/boring.

A bit off topic but....

Today I went to the Montreal Auto show. I'm mostly interested in the electric cars. There is more information on Electrics this year. But it's really clear that Electric's are a small portion of the show. It will be a slow progression almost generational before the masses turn on to EV's. I think the people makeing this change possible are the people who are buying EV's today. So cheers guys......

But nevertheless it was a good show. I saw a smart electric car and I even got the chance to test drive a Leaf and the smart for two electic (3 Km road course). The leaf is very nice. It really drives like a regular car. It has a bit bigger heavier ride then the iMiev. Acceleration seems on par with the iMiev. It pulls harder at lower speeds just like the iMiev.

The smart EV is very different, it really has a go kart feel to it, very stiff ride. I think the steering is not powered from the feel. Lot's of leg room and head room. It's cheaper then the iMiev and if you can make it on two seats only it's not bad for an EV, good value. I think they did a good job.

I also saw a Chevy spark ICE. Not too much different from the iMiev in terms of size. It will be interesting to drive the EV version to see what it's like. I think we will only see this car in Canada very late in 2013 if not 2014.

The only other EV I saw was the focus EV. I drove this car in the summer, super fast and fun but really no trunk at all. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Both the Leaf and the Smart car seems to be light on the regen, I'm used to and like the regen of the iMiev. To tell the truth I think the iMiev is the right car for me.

The iMiev has many advantages compared to the current crop of EV's.

On the topic of winter driving, the drive to the show was 32 Km and it was -16 Deg C this morning. I parked indoors for $10.00 and found ton's of 120 V plugs to charge on. I charged for 4 hours L1 8 amps during the show and blasted home on the highway at -8 Deg C in the afternoon in an almost matter of fact manner.


Don......

 

[MLucas]

Don - did the Smart EV have the adjustable regen switch on the steering wheel as I heard mention in some articles? I was wondering if this made it through to production or not.

 

[DonDakin]

Hi There,

I don't know about the regen switch. I was in the car for a short drive I can't recall. Sorry I can't comment on that.

Don......

 

[Applewins]

Winter has arrived in western Michigan with wind, snow and some pretty cold temps. Maybe not has cold as the MiEV friends north of us in Canada, but still pretty nasty. In this area we get quite a bit of lake effect snow that can pile up in a hurry and so far the MiEV has performed marvelously. I really appreciate the B mode for slowing down in slick roads and I like to pull away in the E mode while everybody else are spinning their tires. So, very happy with snow driving capabilities.
My typical distance is 14 miles one way and maybe a lunch ride. I run the heat/defrost enough to stay comfortable and yes, it does consume quite a bit of power, so the range is limiting but not enough to change my driving habits. I really like the ability to pre-heat the car in the morning especially when the thermometer hits 0 F. Defrosting icy windows after sitting all day is really quite fast, so no complaints there either.

The MiEV is a little car that can.

 

[joev]

Here is the scenario:
The i car was in the garage at 50 degrees Fahrenheit and just came off a 1 hour charge. The outside air temperature was 30 degrees F. The RR gauge showed 55 miles.

Drove to a friend's house and the RR gauge showed 35 miles. When we left our friends house 3 hours later, we got in the car and turned it on, the RR gauge showed 25 miles.

My question is where did the 10 RR miles go? OAT was still about 30 degrees F. We did not use heat in either direction. Everything was turned off. Could the RR gauge have compensated for the temperature difference in the batteries from when we left the garage?

Here is another tid bit, when we got home I put the car in the garage, the RR showed 12. 3 hrs later I moved the car and it showed 18 RR! Did the batteries warm up? Has anyone noticed this phenomenon?

 

[MLucas]

Winter has arrived in western Michigan with wind, snow and some pretty cold temps. Maybe not has cold as the MiEV friends north of us in Canada, but still pretty nasty. In this area we get quite a bit of lake effect snow that can pile up in a hurry and so far the MiEV has performed marvelously. I really appreciate the B mode for slowing down in slick roads and I like to pull away in the E mode while everybody else are spinning their tires. So, very happy with snow driving capabilities.
My typical distance is 14 miles one way and maybe a lunch ride. I run the heat/defrost enough to stay comfortable and yes, it does consume quite a bit of power, so the range is limiting but not enough to change my driving habits. I really like the ability to pre-heat the car in the morning especially when the thermometer hits 0 F. Defrosting icy windows after sitting all day is really quite fast, so no complaints there either.

The MiEV is a little car that can.

Like this. I'm finding the same results in winter. We have about the same weather as you do in GR but not as much lake effect north of Buffalo. The i MiEV does very well in the snow, it's been a very good car.

 

[tonymil]

Here is the weather alert for Albany, New York for Friday, 2/07/13:

• Locations...All Of East Central New York And Adjacent Western
New England.

• Hazard Types...Heavy Snow Possible.

• Accumulations...Snow Accumulations Of 9 Inches Or More Are
Possible Friday Into Friday Night.

• Maximum Snowfall Rates...Snow Rates May Exceed One Inch Per
Hour During Friday Evening.

• Timing...Snow Will Begin Friday Morning...And Become Steadier
And Heavier By Late Friday Afternoon. The Heaviest Snowfall Will
Occur On Friday Evening...Before Tapering Off Saturday Morning.

• Impacts...Snow Covered Roads And Reduced Visibility Will Make
For Dangerous Travel.

• Winds...Northeast 10 To 20 Mph With Gusts 30 To 35 Mph.

So, do I take my i MiEV to work tomorrow with it's original all-weather tires, or do I take my 9 year-old Elantra which also has all-weather tires but with less tread? Decisions, decisions.....

 

[MLucas]

So, do I take my i MiEV to work tomorrow with it's original all-weather tires, or do I take my 9 year-old Elantra which also has all-weather tires but with less tread? Decisions, decisions.....

Take the i MiEV with the Active Stability Control and rear-motor/rear-wheel drive. It's a perfect combination for snow. I find the i MiEV to be very stable in wind and snow conditions. We are bracing for the same weather, when we are done with it - we'll pass it on to you.