Electric vehicles and Kashmir winters: Can the two work together?

As Elon Musk refuses to listen to India’s demand to manufacture Tesla cars in the country, Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor is set to invest about 150 billion yen ($1.26 billion) to produce electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries in India, media reports said on Saturday.

Suzuki will build a new electric vehicle production line in India. Reports first surfaced last year that Suzuki Motor will release its first all-electric vehicle by fiscal 2025 in India first.

Nikkei had reported that the first EV model will be made available for 1.5 million yen (around Rs 10 lakh) or less, after government subsidies are taken into account.

India has a goal of making 30 per cent of newly-sold cars to be electric by 2030. To achieve that, the government has offered incentives to purchasers of EVs worth $1.3 billion over a three-year period, starting 2019.

EVs and cold (Kashmir) weather

Cold weather can affect electric car batteries is no secret. In the winter months when temperatures fall below 5 degrees, electric car batteries take a major hit. A study by AAA found that if you use your electric car’s heater while driving in cold temperatures, your range can be temporarily cut by as much as 41 percent. The study of five electric vehicles by AAA also found that high temperatures can cut into battery range, but not nearly as much as the cold. The driving range returns to normal in more comfortable temperatures, say 26 to 30 degrees.

What’s going on, exactly?

That means in cold weather, if you own an electric car that is rated to run 150 miles on a charge, you’ll likely only drive 88 miles before you need a charge. It will take longer to bring the vehicle’s battery up to a full charge as well. Frigid temperatures also limit an electric car’s regenerative braking function, which recovers energy that would otherwise be lost during decelerating or stopping and sends it back to the battery.

The study reported that at 5 degrees, the average driving range fell by 12 percent when the car’s cabin heater was not used. When the heater was turned on, the range dropped by 41 percent.

Within the next five years, new battery technology will not require liquid inside, and they won’t be as sensitive to the cold. But for right now, what do you do when cold temperatures can substantially hamper both a battery’s performance and its ability to accept a charge?