Quote Originally Posted by arjan View Post
A very interesting thread, up here (greater vancouver area) I don't see many electric cars. We have 3 quite dark and rainy months a year. I would imagine the heating, lights and wipers, and cool temperatures would reduce the range a fair bit in the winter.

I've actually looked at them, but the range has always been my concern.


Range will be a limiting factor for EV sales as long as the range remains <100 miles as it is today. The fact collectors keep telling us that is all the range we need because we drive less than that on a daily basis. While that may be true, it takes a while to get used to driving a car that essentially starts out with the equivalent of only one-quarter of a tank of fuel. It works great for me because nearly all of my routine driving is within the range of the car, with one exception. My family all lives in the foothills, just over 100 miles away. On those routine trips I would take the Leaf if I could, but need to take the gas car because there is not reliable public charging infrastructure in those mountain towns. So the 150-200 mile range EVs that are apparently hitting the market next year won't be a game-changer for me, but it would broaden the coverage of my routine driving from 98% to 100%. I think many people want a vehicle that is capable of 150% of what the intended use is (isn't that what these 4x4 forums are all about?...making sure our vehicles are overbuilt for the intended use?) So I think that extra range will help EV sales immensely. It still won't work for some people though. For me, it's great because on really long trips we would take the 4Runner anyway.

Headlights, wipers and even A/C use very little of the battery, but heating is another issue. The 2013+ Leafs use a heat pump rather than a resistance heat heater, which uses 1/2 to 1/3rd of the amount of energy. But in cold climates it does cause a noticeable range hit. That's why Leafs come with heated seats front and rear and heated steering wheels--those are far more efficient than heating the entire cabin. When I turn on the heat in cold weather, the range meter instantly drops a couple of miles. In my California climate this is not an issue, but back east you can loose 20% of your range.

That converted Porsche is so cool. Love the classic body with futuristic drivetrain.