First cold snap of the year...just watch that range tumble!

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For those of us who live in colder climbs watch out for the big range hit when you get to 2 deg C (35F) and below.

I managed a poor 1.8 miles / kWh (normally 3.0) this weekend - snow - on a distance of 32 miles. At SOC 85% I had 204 miles range, pre-heated the car to 22C (whilst on the PMCC), set off, AC 23C (ECO mode), heated seats & wheel on, max 60 - 65 mph, range mode engaged for most of the journey, final SOC around 145 miles (can't remember exactly).

If it weren't for the PB+ I would be getting really anxious as to how quickly the energy runs out and setting AC off isn't really an option (window demisting).

Are others seeing similar range degradation (I assume so)?

Here's hoping Porsche are keeping up with Mercedes (???kW battery, new tech), Lucid (114kW battery), others with real world range of 500+ miles in the near future.
Pretty much my experience too. As soon as it got colder, my consumption moved from 2.7 to 1.9m/kWh. The battery was shedding miles faster than I was travelling - on a short journey of 11 miles, I seemed to use 20 miles of battery.

I put it down to battery inefficiency at lower temperatures and extra heating of stuff - obvious really. Even so, the degradation was more than I was expecting.

The car's performance is just as good though - love it!
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I drive in some cold weather, but not the really cold stuff so thought I would check if I should update my thinking.

First buy more range than you think you need. You will lose 30-50% of your 70F/20C range depending on how far below zero you go. And if you ski, your racks will kill you even more so put them inside. And don't pull a skimobile on a trailer behind you, or you will need it to get home. And cold weather kills range faster than hot weather.

And this part is a change. Unless its really cold the loss in range comes from increased cabin heating demands and battery heating demands due to the rush of cold air beneath the car. Not from a reduction in the rate of battery chemistry. This surprised me a bit. But you will still need a warm battery to charge in a reasonable amount of time.

So there are some things you can do.

Plug the car in at night and set a departure timer. If really cold this should obviate issues with a cold soaked battery. Tom Moloughney did a range test last year with a cold soaked battery. I did the same test under similar conditions and my battery wasn't cold soaked and we got similar mileages. 210m/340km at 20F/6C. I now think it wasn't cold enough for a reduction in battery chemistry to kick in.

When driving, use a heated steering wheel and the seats and not the cabin air. Apparently heating the cabin air takes around 3000-5000 watts vs 75 watts for the steering wheel and seats. No time frame was given so the actual amount of energy needed isn't apparent but could be significant?

Use winter tires as the tread compound is designed for cold temps.

And if its just short trips, doesn't matter.
 
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I drive in some cold weather, but not the really cold stuff so thought I would check if I should update my thinking.

First buy more range than you think you need. You will lose 30-50% of your 70F/20C range depending on how far below zero you go. And if you ski, your racks will kill you even more so put them inside. And don't pull a skimobile on a trailer behind you, or you will need it to get home. And cold weather kills range faster than hot weather.

And this part is a change. Unless its really cold the loss in range comes from increased cabin heating demands and battery heating demands due to the rush of cold air beneath the car. Not from a reduction in the rate of battery chemistry. This surprised me a bit. But you will still need a warm battery to charge in a reasonable amount of time.

So there are some things you can do.

Plug the car in at night and set a departure timer. If really cold this should obviate issues with a cold soaked battery. Tom Moloughney did a range test last year with a cold soaked battery. I did the same test under similar conditions and my battery wasn't cold soaked and we got similar mileages. 210m/340km at 20F/6C. I now think it wasn't cold enough for a reduction in battery chemistry to kick in.

When driving, use a heated steering wheel and the seats and not the cabin air. Apparently heating the cabin air takes around 3000-5000 watts vs 75 watts for the steering wheel and seats. No time frame was given so the actual amount of energy needed isn't apparent but could be significant?

Use winter tires as the tread compound is designed for cold temps.

And if its just short trips, doesn't matter.
Thanks but not practical to drive and keep the windows clear without AC on - impossible.

No need for winter tyres in Scotland for the rare time they might be needed - if there’s that much snow around we just stay indoors!
 

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There are a couple of other things you can do. Run the demister to clear the windows and keep the glass clean to reduce contaminants where moisture will gather. But practically, yeah, it's a modern car so we shouldn't have to worry about this stuff. Shorts and tee shirts in February.
 

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Update report.
During the night: +2 degrees
when driving: between 5 and 6.5 degrees, temperature of battery 7 degrees.
consumption: 25,3kwh/100km, avg.speed: 57km/h, battery. 12 degrees.
(btw: I'm using AC all the time)

Conclusion: we definitely don't like cold weather :idea:
 


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Update report.
During the night: +2 degrees
when driving: between 5 and 6.5 degrees, temperature of battery 7 degrees.
consumption: 25,3kwh/100km, avg.speed: 57km/h, battery. 12 degrees.
(btw: I'm using AC all the time)

Conclusion: we definitely don't like cold weather :idea:
My trip - SOC 100%, Range 230, Battery Temp 14C, Outside Temp 3.5C, cruise set to 70 mph for 9/10s of the journey, average speed 50 mph.

Drive mode - briefly RANGE but PIRM advised NORMAL to obtain 1% additional SOC at end of journey (it was bang on!).

AC on - 22C plus heated seats (level 2)

At destination

Porsche Taycan First cold snap of the year...just watch that range tumble! 1638433669325


Porsche Taycan First cold snap of the year...just watch that range tumble! 1638433730626


Trip reading from Porsche Connect App: Avg E-consumption 2.4 mi/kWH

In conclusion not that bad considering and curious about the RANGE vs NORMAL selection. I did notice that for the entire journey only the REAR motor was actually doing all of the work whilst the front appeared to be idle (I'm sure historically that there has been more of a balance between front and rear).

So apart from the obvious impact of cold weather and longer journeys my conclusion is to state the obvious and say that short journey's in a cold EV eats juice disproportionally (sounds like and ICE scenario (no pun intended)). In my case 0.5 - 0.6 miles per kWh compared to spring / summer / milder months.
 

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So apart from the obvious impact of cold weather and longer journeys my conclusion is to state the obvious and say that short journey's in a cold EV eats juice disproportionally (sounds like and ICE scenario (no pun intended)). In my case 0.5 - 0.6 miles per kWh compared to spring / summer / milder months.
Agree, the battery is heated from the beginning and that is a large consumer. No idea how much this takes, but preheating in my garage at a previous cold I could see 7 kW being supplied by PMCC. That is a lot if you only do a short trip.
 

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I did notice that for the entire journey only the REAR motor was actually doing all of the work whilst the front appeared to be idle (I'm sure historically that there has been more of a balance between front and rear).

could this be the new software that has a positive effect on the range?
 


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No need for winter tyres in Scotland for the rare time they might be needed - if there’s that much snow around we just stay indoors!
I know you are being a bit glib here but I could not disagree more!

The biggest problem driving in winter in the UK is the lack of education here about the benefit of winter tyres when the temperature drops.

I know I am a bit of an outlier but 35 years running racing cars makes me very sensitive to the importance of tyres, and being on the right ones.
The difference between winter and summer tyres on a cold wet road - think braking distance to avoid an accident in particular - is marked and on snow the difference is laughable, between struggling along ay a snails pace with little steering contyrol and no brakes and driving reasonable normally.
This just shows the difference between all weather and normal tyres on snow even on low powered cars. The difference is less marked with no snow but still there.




I wouldn't dream of driving around on normal tyres in winter and Oxfordshire is on average 5 deg warmer than Cullen on the Moray Firth where my wife comes from.
 
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So apart from the obvious impact of cold weather and longer journeys my conclusion is to state the obvious and say that short journey's in a cold EV eats juice disproportionally (sounds like and ICE scenario (no pun intended)). In my case 0.5 - 0.6 miles per kWh compared to spring / summer / milder months.
We went up to Scotland to visit my brothers, my wife's brother and her best friend a few weeks ago.
I was in a plug-in hybrid and forgot my charging cable so most journeys were just petrol.
I have the fuel consumption up on the display and it was about 50% worse for the first 10 miles or so, and after an eating stop the fuel consumption was amazing straight away.
The car is a plug in Prius so it is about 600kg lighter than the Taycan and much smaller tyres and frontal area so I get around 6 miles per kWh in summer running electric and between 68mpg (legal speed on motorway) and 75 to 80 mpg on normal roads, also at speed limit.
I am expecting the Porsche to have a consumption more in line with the petrol V8 which it will replace though.
 
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I know you are being a bit glib here but I could not disagree more!

The biggest problem driving in winter in the UK is the lack of education here about the benefit of winter tyres when the temperature drops.

I know I am a bit of an outlier but 35 years running racing cars makes me very sensitive to the importance of tyres, and being on the right ones.
The difference between winter and summer tyres on a cold wet road - think braking distance to avoid an accident in particular - is marked and on snow the difference is laughable, between struggling along ay a snails pace with little steering contyrol and no brakes and driving reasonable normally.
This just shows the difference between all weather and normal tyres on snow even on low powered cars. The difference is less marked with no snow but still there.




I wouldn't dream of driving around on normal tyres in winter and Oxfordshire is on average 5 deg warmer than Cullen on the Moray Firth where my wife comes from.
I was being glib indeed.

Typically, most drivers simply stick with the tyres that are supplied with the vehicle they own and rarely go to the expense of having a specific set for winter driving (cost and practicalities of fitting and storage being the main excuses not to).

For me, much like wearing seat belts, banning mobile phone use, MOTs etc the missing link is to not force this issue via law as per other countries where winter tyres are mandated for a pre-defined time period.

Having winter tyres is 100% sensible and safer - no question.
 
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I was being glib indeed.

Typically, most drivers simply stick with the tyres that are supplied with the vehicle they own and rarely go to the expense of having a specific set for winter driving (cost and practicalities of fitting and storage being the main excuses not to).

For me, much like wearing seat belts, banning mobile phone use, MOTs etc the missing link is to not force this issue via law as per other countries where winter tyres are mandated for a pre-defined time period.

Having winter tyres is 100% sensible and safer - no question.
Education is, as always, the key.
People make bad decisions in the absence of sound knowledge.

I have always been amazed by the idea of them being expensive or inconvenient though, particularly at the price of a lot of cars people are driving on unsuitable tyres!

I have ordered a set of winter tyres on Porsche rims for around £4k with my Taycan CT order, about 3.5% of the order cost but for my Prius I was cheapskate and bought the (much smaller) wheels and tyres from an independent saving a lot on the price of Toyota's OEM rims but the percentage of new cost was still 3.5%
This is much cheaper than a crash, or worse, killing a pedestrian when you can't stop in as short a distance as you could have. IMHO
 
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Education is, as always, the key.
People make bad decisions in the absence of sound knowledge.

I have always been amazed by the idea of them being expensive or inconvenient though, particularly at the price of a lot of cars people are driving on unsuitable tyres!

I have ordered a set of winter tyres on Porsche rims for around £4k with my Taycan CT order, about 3.5% of the order cost but for my Prius I was cheapskate and bought the (much smaller) wheels and tyres from an independent saving a lot on the price of Toyota's OEM rims but the percentage of new cost was still 3.5%
This is much cheaper than a crash, or worse, killing a pedestrian when you can't stop in as short a distance as you could have. IMHO
Agreed wholeheartedly.
 

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My trip - SOC 100%, Range 230, Battery Temp 14C, Outside Temp 3.5C, cruise set to 70 mph for 9/10s of the journey, average speed 50 mph.

Drive mode - briefly RANGE but PIRM advised NORMAL to obtain 1% additional SOC at end of journey (it was bang on!).

AC on - 22C plus heated seats (level 2)

At destination

1638433669325.png


1638433730626.png


Trip reading from Porsche Connect App: Avg E-consumption 2.4 mi/kWH

In conclusion not that bad considering and curious about the RANGE vs NORMAL selection. I did notice that for the entire journey only the REAR motor was actually doing all of the work whilst the front appeared to be idle (I'm sure historically that there has been more of a balance between front and rear).

So apart from the obvious impact of cold weather and longer journeys my conclusion is to state the obvious and say that short journey's in a cold EV eats juice disproportionally (sounds like and ICE scenario (no pun intended)). In my case 0.5 - 0.6 miles per kWh compared to spring / summer / milder months.
As far as I remember, before the major software update Range mode primarily relied on the front motor pulling, whereas after the update Range mode mainly relied on the rear motor pushing.
 
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As far as I remember, before the major software update Range mode primarily relied on the front motor pulling, whereas after the update Range mode mainly relied on the rear motor pushing.
Could be but what does RANGE now offer apart from raising the spoiler slightly (saloon only), messing with the AC and lowering the car that apparently now makes it more inefficient?

Not convinced as I use RANGE all the time (on the same journey) and the only time the drive is to the rear is when going downhill and then reverting to the front for non-declines and on the level. Something else is at play here and perhaps the lower temperatures are part of the logic / mix.
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