One of the advantages of having an electric vehicle is being able to heat the car up in your garage, without emitting dangerous exhaust gases in an enclosed environment. So you can have your car nice and toasty before you even back it out of the garage. However, what if you don’t have a garage and what if you have to heat your EV in the freezing cold? Can EVs handle that well and, if so, which one is the fastest?
The ADAC, Germany’s largest automobile association, conducted a series of tests with various difference cars, to see which EV can handle cold weather the best.
To conduct the testes, the ADAC locked each car in a freezing, temperature controlled room. They then measured just how long it took, at max voltage, to warm the cabin to 20-degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). In every test, the BMW iX dominated, with a close second being the Volkswagen ID.3. Then, after the rapidly heated the cars, it was time for the opposite.
After that, the cars were then turned off and left to freeze, to see how long it took for the temperature to drop back down from 20-degrees. Once again, the BMW iX was the best. That’s likely due to the impressive insulation found in the cabin of the BMW iX, as it just doesn’t let heat out. Again, the VW ID.3 was in a distant second place. In traffic, it takes about 1.5 kWh to 2.0 kWh of energy per hour maintain 68-degree temps.
Among the other cars in the test were the aforementioned VW ID.3, Fiat 500e, and even the Tesla Model Y. For years, Tesla has been known to have the most efficiency. However, BMW seems to have surpassed Tesla in terms of heating and cooling its electric cars, taking yet another feather out of Tesla’s cap.
[Source: BimmerToday]
