Recently, a Business Insider reporter discovered how impractical electric vehicles can be when faced with cold weather. To maximize his battery range, he was forced to turn off the heater and bundle up in winter clothing. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t curse these silly electric cars under my breath once or twice,” he said after the trip.
Tim Levin of Business Insider found himself driving a new Toyota bZ4X electric vehicle on a road trip from New York City to Washington, D.C.. According to reports, he spent a third of his journey just charging the battery to the car. Compare that to a gas-powered vehicle, which could likely make the trip on a single tank of gas. Even if you needed to refill at a gas station, that would probably only take 5 to 10 minutes, including a bathroom break and refreshments.
It took Levin 9 hours to complete the drive, where 3 hours were spent charging. According to Google Maps, a normal drive from New York City to the Capitol would take under 4 hours. Supposedly, Toyota even specifically engineered this vehicle to prioritize battery longevity. However, this does require longer charging times, and the overall range is still only between 222 to 225 miles of driving.
These advertised battery ranges can change drastically when you actually get out on the road based on various factors. Levin said, “That turned out to be a savvy move. Factors like high speeds, inclines, and — as we’ll discuss in more detail later — use of the climate settings can deplete an EV’s range faster than expected. So unless you know your EV well, don’t blindly trust what it tells you.”
Electric vehicles also use energy from their battery to produce heat, so this can lead to drivers having to choose between maximizing their range and being comfortable during colder weather. Levin continued, “I hit the road back to New York on a chilly morning with 176 miles of range. When I went to turn on the heat, the indicated range plummeted to 125 miles. The options became: Stay toasty and charge twice, or endure the cold and stick with the planned one-stop strategy. Given the bZ4X’s lackluster range and my previous, lengthy experiences charging it, I went with the latter.”
“I bundled up and relied mostly on the seat and steering-wheel warmers (which are more efficient than the regular heater) to make things almost bearable.” he said. This is an excellent example of how electric vehicle technology is underdeveloped compared to the reliable gas-powered engines we have used for generations.
Furthermore, there is an undeniable political hostility toward traditional gas-powered vehicles, where some states have even banned the sale of new non-EV cars in the near future. The government is going beyond free market powers to impose over the rights of citizens to determine if EVs are a viable product. If we think EVs are great then we’ll decide to buy one. Concluding his article, Levin states, “But the electric future seems inevitable at this point, so we might as well learn to live with it,” implying we should get used to driving substandard vehicles so we can appease the woke green energy movement.
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