WHERE EV DRIVERS THRIVE

The best—and worst—places to drive your electric car

Nsikan Akpan, 20 February 2015 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)

“…Researchers have conducted the first investigation into how electric vehicles fare in different U.S. climates. The verdict: Electric car buyers in the chilly Midwest and sizzling Southwest get less bang for their buck, where poor energy efficiency and coal power plants unite to turn electric vehicles into bigger polluters…Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)…[found e lectric cars in California and the Deep South travel the farthest, as the balmy temperatures yield the best energy efficiency and therefore longer trips before they must be plugged in again…Vehicles in cold places, in contrast, have less battery capacity and thus shorter range. The average range of a Nissan Leaf on the coldest day drops from 112 km in San Francisco to less than 72 km in Minneapolis, according to the study [in Environmental Science & Technology]…When batteries are cold, they have a lower electrical capacity, which limits the duration in which they can pump power. But extremely hot cities, like Phoenix, were almost as bad…[because too much heat can degrade battery] life span and output...[T]emperature extremes require drivers to charge their cars for longer…Average energy consumption by electric cars was 15% higher in the upper Midwest and Southwest versus the Pacific Coast…[But electric] vehicles are still in their infancy, and the findings offer policymakers new insights into how best to introduce electric cars across the country…” click here for more

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