My experience for the coldest day this year
3 Jan 2013
This just happened to fall on a day I had to drive a 140 km (87 miles) round trip.
Charged level 2 full overnight in heated garage and preheated the car for 15 minutes.
Commute started out at 5:35 am - outside temps were -26 C, ( -15 F )
Car was warm & toasty on departure , fully dressed in full winter gear , parka, wool hat, ski gloves, winter boots. Armed with both front heated seats, Electric Car lap blanket, and Coleman 3,000 btu heater
THE CABIN HEATER WAS NOT USED ON THIS TRIP IN ORDER TO EXTEND THE RANGE
Departure
70 km ( 43.5 miles ) route into the city - mostly 50-70 kmph ( 30- 45 mph ) speeds, light holiday traffic conditions
Only heat used was both seat heaters , Lap blanket acted as a heat trap for seat heater and kept the legs warm,
I had to keep the fan on medium to high speed on full defrost, front drivers and rear passenger windows cracked open to control frost from forming on the windshield, and occasionally used the rear window defroster.
Performance of the car - nothing different in its performance
Dropped of my better half off at the train station 17 km (11.5 miles) & 25 minutes later,
Turned passenger seat heater off. The car had cooled off by then, -
Once the interior of the car had cooled down, the humidity that was icing up the windows was easier to control , one less body & I guess the wet carpets had frozen solid.
The drive went well , light traffic, arrived at destination at 7: am.
Started charging immediately with modified level 1 charger.
Surprise was that the bars on the Energy scale resembled pretty much the same as any other normal temperature day for this same commute ,
- the RR gauge was more conservative with it's reading - I wonder if it's tied in to the temperature gauge.
The city was warmer and temps went up during the day to -16C, ( 3 F )
Return trip - 70km, (43.5 miles)
4:00 pm - Temperature was around -16 C , ( 3 F ) preheated the car for 20 minutes before unplugging and started the commute home. Light traffic ,
Reading on RR was 102 km, ( 63.5 miles)
The car had cooled of all day and it was cold getting into it even with the preheating.
Kept the heated seat on all the time, had to use the car heater to defrost the windshield at first for 4-5 minutes to clear the windshield , Should have preheated longer.
Drove about 10 km, (6 miles ) (15 minutes) and then decided it was time to try out the electric blanket with power.
The heat was non existent or so it seamed, but helped , feet were now getting cold.
Drove another 10km, ( 6 miles) and decided it was time to pull out the big guns , fired up the 3,000 btu Coleman catalytic heater, without the on board fan.
Link to photos of my installation -
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=224&start=40
The next 40 km, ( 25 mile ) - on route to the train station to pick up my wife.
At first (5 minutes) it seemed like the heater was having little effect so I turned on the circulating fan and it helped a lot but temps were very slow to warm up, feet were still very cold
I arrived at the stations 45 minutes early, pretty cold and a little low on power.
I plugged in level 2 charger, sat in the car, kept the Coleman heater on with fan, and used the remote to start the defrost preheat. 15 minutes later the car was comfortable and by the time the train arrived the car was warm -
But the feet were already cold and the floor felt like a block of ice.
It seemed like charging up was very slow to raise the RR reading at these temperatures with the preheating on. .
The last leg home we had both seat heaters on, powered up & shared the electric blanket, & the Coleman heater with fan on.
Made it home with 10 km left on the RR gauge .
My Conclusions on extending the range in these extreme temperatures -
1) When you go from a warm garage for long drive - (more then 1/2 hr)
turn on the auxiliary (propane) heater as soon as you feel the temperatures dropping off sharply, don't wait for the car to freeze up - 3,000 btu are maybe enough to sustain a comfort level not enough to bring up temperatures
2) To bring the temperature up in a car that has been parked outside for hours at these temperatures, with out plugging in, is very energy consuming. - best done preheating Defrost mode, plugged in at level 2 for at least 1/2 - 3/4 hour before departure.
3) Once the car is cooled off, the floor is the coldest, and the most difficult to heat up. and the feet are the first to suffer.
4) The temperature had little effect on the cars performance.
Still a great little car
