Driving Electric in a New England Winter

As we all know, New England winters can be cold. And we also know that living with any car in a New England winter requires us to adapt our driving and ownership habits to cold and sometimes extreme weather conditions. If you own an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, you are probably already aware of how your car is affected in various ways by cold weather. These effects may appear as lower gas mileage or a dead or weakened battery. You’re likely making adjustments to your routine by doing things like carrying jumper cables in your trunk or tanking up your car more often.


If you own or are considering buying an electric vehicle (EV), you may have wondered if there’s anything special you need to know about driving an EV in winter. This article is here to help. 


If you’re a Concord resident who has recently made the switch to an EV (there are more and more each year!), or are considering making the switch, you should first familiarize yourself with some winter characteristics of EVs, understand how these characteristics might affect your EV, and prepare to adapt to them. For example, in extremely cold weather, EVs use more energy to deal with the cold. EVs thus have reduced driving range in winter conditions that can be anywhere from 10-40% less than the EPA-rated range estimate, depending on how extreme the temperatures.


By following a few tips, however, you can reduce the hit to your EV’s winter range. Simply adjust and adapt your charging habits and driving behavior in a few simple ways: 


  • Take advantage of the heated seats and steering wheel.  They can keep you warm using minimal cabin heat.
  • Keep the cabin heat temperature at a lower setting if possible. Heating the cabin temperature to below 70 degrees F will use less energy. If you get cold easily, bundle up and wear a coat and gloves if necessary.
  • Preheat the car’s cabin while you’re plugged in right before leaving on a trip. Most EVs have a preheat function built in (consult your owner’s manual for specifics).  Compared to ICE vehicles, EVs use energy much more efficiently by converting around 80-90% of the “fuel” stored in the battery to moving the car. ICE vehicles, in contrast, only use around 30% of their fuel to move the car forward. The rest of the fuel in an ICE car is spent creating heat (also known as “waste heat”), which during the winter can be repurposed to heat the cabin in an ICE car. Because EVs use their fuel much more efficiently than ICE cars and can’t use excessive waste heat to heat the cabin, EVs have to instead use energy from the battery to warm the cabin. Your EV can thus take a range hit when heating the interior from extreme cold temperatures all the way up to a comfortable warm temperature. Preheating the cabin while your car is still plugged in helps alleviate this issue.
  • Park in a warm garage if possible. You can allow your car’s battery and cabin to start the day warm, before you venture out into the cold.
  • Keep your speed slower than 70mph on highways over longer distances. Just as in an ICE car, fast highway driving, especially at speeds higher than 65mph, will reduce the range on your car faster than any other driving habit at any temperature – but will hit especially hard in winter. So if you want to go further in your EV in any weather, slow down. You might arrive to wherever you’re going a bit later, but you’ll be able to go farther before having to charge, save money on “fuel,” and probably arrive in a more relaxed state of mind, too.
  • Take less hilly routes, if available. Routes with lots of elevation gain will use a lot more energy from your EV’s battery, thus lowering your driving range. So know your route and plan your charging accordingly if you plan to drive your EV from lower elevations to higher elevations.
  • Prepare to spend a bit more time charging, especially at highway fast chargers. Different EVs have different fast charging speeds, but cold weather can reduce the charge rate regardless of the maximum power your EV can handle. Be aware of this and account for the extra charging time when planning your charging stops on a road trip. (On the plus side, this issue is not as important for slower charging at home or elsewhere.)
  • Use available built-in navigation and charge planning tools to help plan winter road trips. These tools might already be available as a feature in your EV’s navigation system, or they might be offered as third-party phone apps, like A Better Route Planner*. Whether available in your car or in an app, these tools can automatically map out a full route to your destination with planned charging and charge times while accounting for reduced efficiency due to weather conditions or terrain.
  • When going on longer road trips, plan ahead to find out where the fast charging stations are. This is important for any road trip but is especially important in winter. Phone apps such as PlugShare, Electrify America, EVGo, and ChargePoint (and more!*) will show you where the charging stations are located and the type of plugs they have. 

As you drive your EV in different winter conditions, you’ll gradually learn what your EV is capable of in different weather, terrain, and driving conditions so that you can plan accordingly. Winter road trips will require a bit more planning in an EV than in an ICE vehicle, but with an awareness of your EV’s limitations and a little foresight, taking an EV on a winter road trip doesn’t have to be difficult or stressful  – and might actually turn out to be a pleasant and relaxing experience.


Good luck, and happy driving!

Do your research! 

*The resources linked on this page are not endorsed by the Town of Concord. Consumers should do their own research before using any of these applications. The list is not comprehensive, and we welcome additional sources, which can be emailed to ev@concordma.gov