Electric Car Stuck in Snow?! How Long Will the Heat Last?!

Winter driving can be stressful enough, but throw in the possibility of getting stranded in a blizzard and anxieties really start to spike. A common worry I’ve heard, and even pondered myself, is whether an electric car's battery will just give up the ghost in freezing temperatures, leaving you shivering and stranded. But is that fear truly justified? Recent tests comparing electric and internal combustion engines in cold weather offer some surprising insights, challenging some of our preconceived notions.

Electric Car Stuck in Snow?! How Long Will the Hea...

German electric vehicle expert Stefan Moeller, CEO of Nextmove, decided to tackle the myth that "electric cars drain quickly in the cold" head-on. He designed a real-world experiment under sub-zero conditions to see just how long an EV could keep its occupants warm. Moeller chose a Kia eNiro for his cold weather crucible.

On a particularly frigid night, with the air temperature dipping to -5 degrees Celsius (that's 23 degrees Fahrenheit for us Americans), Moeller set the eNiro's interior temperature to a comfortable 19 degrees Celsius (around 66 degrees Fahrenheit) and settled in to sleep in the back seat. Now, that’s dedication!

The test began with the battery at 86% charge. Initially, the system pulled a hefty 7 kW of power to rapidly heat the icy car. Once the desired temperature was achieved, the heat pump kicked in, and the power consumption dropped to a more manageable rate of under 1 kW per hour. After a solid 9.5 hours of testing, the battery had only lost 12% of its charge. That 12% translated to an estimated range reduction of approximately 70 kilometers (around 43 miles). Not insignificant, but definitely not a catastrophic battery drain.

Moeller's conclusion? A modern electric vehicle, especially one equipped with a heat pump, can comfortably provide heat for well over three days in freezing conditions. That's a pretty reassuring finding.

Of course, internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, those powered by gasoline or diesel, have their own way of staying warm. Their primary advantage is "waste heat." The engine generates a lot of heat while running, and that heat is cleverly used to warm the cabin. When an ICE vehicle is stationary, a diesel engine (around 2.0 liters in size) typically burns about 0.5 – 0.7 liters of fuel per hour at idle. A gasoline engine will use a bit more, around 0.8 – 0.9 liters per hour. The calculations suggest that a vehicle with a full 50-liter tank could theoretically idle for about three days, providing warmth. It's worth noting though, that smaller engines might not produce enough heat while idling to fully warm the cabin because they aren't under the same load.

Ultimately, the tests reveal that there isn't a huge difference in "survival time" between modern EVs and traditional gasoline-powered cars in these cold-weather scenarios. And experts are offering the same advice for both types of vehicles: make sure your battery or fuel tank is full before embarking on a winter journey. At the end of the day, it's not the type of engine, but the amount of stored energy, that's going to keep you cozy.