Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Western New Yorkers critical of electric vehicles oftentimes raise issues of durability of the vehicle's lithium-ion batteries in the harsher colder months, but with the heat wave hitting hard this week, should our local EV owners be concerned with temperatures pushing over the 90s?
AAA Western and Central New York's Battery & ERS External Training Specialist Brian Jajkowski notes that in extreme weather conditions, EVs will oftentimes lose their "range" or distance it can travel on full charge when exposed to certain temperatures for a certain duration of time.
"In temperatures above 90 to 95 degrees, you can expect a 15 to 20% decrease in range because of the heat," said Jajkowski. "It's not as critical as cold is with electric vehicles, because electric vehicles in their battery management systems have cooling capabilities, so they can do their best to keep the battery cool. Similar to how a radiator works to keep an engine cool, it's liquid and heat exchangers."
Jajkowski says EV owners should have little concern with batteries overheating.
"Because of the battery management system that all electric vehicles have given them, they will shut the vehicle down before the battery gets to a temperature where it's going to overheat."
Bob Gugino of Bison Automotive notes that electric vehicles require significantly less maintenance than gas-powered vehicles. If the battery no longer works in your EV, you'll most likely just have to get it replaced. But to prevent a potential big spend, it's important to do the little, simple things to ensure that the vehicle's battery doesn't exhaust significantly due to weather.
"Try not to park the car out in the direct sun. If you have a garage, or of course it has a shade or a tree or an awning or something like that, as with any car, do try to keep the heat away from the car as much as possible."
Jajkowski reminds EV users to use their air conditioners sparingly.
"Make sure you keep the battery charged as much as you can. Because the more you use the air conditioning, the quicker that battery is going to become discharged. And if you can make sure you have a full charge going out every time you're going to increase the range that you'll get out of a vehicle like this."
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, running the AC on high can reduce the range of an electric vehicle by up to 25%.
In addition, if you need to charge your vehicle, try not to charge it in the heat and refrain from using the "fast chargers."
