Bitter cold will settle in to much of the continental U.S. next week, with a polar vortex set to bring below-freezing temps to most of the country. For electric vehicle (EV) owners, that means new range anxiety.
All cars lose range in the cold, no matter their power source. But the issue means more for EV drivers. Refilling a gas tank takes minutes, whereas refilling some EV batteries can take an hour, even at the fastest kind of charger.
Americans are just learning what to expect from EVs in the cold. The country with the highest percentage of EVs on its roads has far more experience. Norway leads the world in EV adoption.
Norway also has cold winters. That has left Norwegian automotive journalists in the best position to test EV performance in the cold.
Norway’s Motor magazine hosts an annual cold-weather range test. Journalists from Motor conduct a simple test each year. They charge batteries to full and set out driving. They record when each car finally falls to empty and then tow it home.
Norwegians have access to some cars Americans don’t. But many of the cars they test are sold in the U.S. as well, so the results are helpful information for American shoppers.
“This time the weather was relatively mild, but the conditions were extra demanding,” they write, because of icy highways.
A Surprise Winner
This year’s tests had a clear victor, Motor writes. “With the final stop after 531 kilometers [329 miles] of driving, the Polestar 3 had a deviation of 5.18%, the second best figure we have achieved in six editions of the winter test.” The only car ever to best it was a 2021 BMW iX3 never sold in the U.S.
A Surprise Slacker
The Tesla Model 3, meanwhile, surprised the testers with its disappointing performance. “Tesla has been at the top of our list in previous range tests,” the magazine writes. “The Model 3 Rear-wheel drive was expected to go significantly further than its competitors this time. But it was a huge disappointment,” losing 24% of its range to the cold.