Will electric cars be reliable in wintery conditions?

Question

Will electric cars be reliable in wintery conditions?

Answer 1

If you look at some of today's electric cars like the Tango, the weight of the batteries should keep them nice and stable and help the tires punch through snow (not much help on ice, though).

Answer 2

The Tesla Roadster (http://teslamotors.com) is 2700 lbs or 1.2 metric tons. If you're interested in how it handles, check out Tesla's extreme environment testing:



http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=55



Electric cars can be designed to handle just as well as combustion-engine powered cars. Batteries and motors can be designed to work in extreme temperatures.



If your interest in electric cars is to "save the environment," then sure, the fuel production may move to a coal plant but if you're on the east coast it could very well be nuclear. This is going to have less of the EVIL CO2 emission but if you're concerned about things like that I would expect that you would be MORE concerned with the livestock we are raising and all the methane production that comes with them. Much more damaging to our environment!



If you interest is to save money I think you are on the right path. I sure hope electric cars take off since I'm an electrical engineer. I think they will have severe competition from Hydrogen and Hybrids since the oil companies are hoping to stay in the game somehow.



I'm very curious to see what happens with Tesla. I would guess that some might powerful people are trying to figure out a way to stomp them out but maybe that's all just conspiracy. (Why did they give up on all those EVs out in California again?)

Answer 3

I think that they should drive ok, I can't see traction or anything being a big problem. The thing that I would worry about is would the extreme cold cause the battery to malfunction or lose power? I guess we'll know more as these cars come closer to being released to the public.



I plan on getting one of these too, so I'm really hoping that they live up to the hype! The thought of hardly ever having to fill up a gas tank just brings a smile to my face!

Answer 4

We've never really licked the battery weight problem, so electrics are just as heavy as gas powered cars. The cold will indeed reduce available battery power, and heating the car will be a problem. We really need a zero point power supply.

Answer 5

One of the factors that makes electric cars so efficient is their light weight. This has some unwanted side effects. They will be the underdog in a collision with heavier vehicles. Also, they are prone to high cross-winds--especially in icy conditions. I'm sure, that as more of these become available, there will be choices for the various conditions you are anticipating in your region.

Answer 6

Everyone is worried about the batteries losing power as they get cold. I expect that any engineer worth his slide rule (remember them?) will think to insulate the battery compartment, and maybe build in a small heater to keep them from freezing. As long as the batteries don't go completely dead, they can keep themselves from freezing. And don't they give off a little bit of heat as they discharge? That should help warm them as well. I expect the engineer will think to waterproof the compartment too - driving through a big puddle may not be the best way to keep your batteries warm and happy.



As to handling snow, they CAN work as well as any gas car. The tires on the car you're driving now have no idea what generated the torque that turns them. They're just happy to have it. The same with electric vehicles. And if the electric vehicle is driven by a motor at each wheel, there is nothing to keep it from being 4 wheel drive, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, left side drive, or any other combination you can think of. The computer could send electric power to the motors on whichever wheels get traction.

Answer 7

Traction would be great do to battery weight however the batteries die in the cold.

Answer 8

A purely electric car doesn't get "MPG" and although it is possible to calculate the cost per mile for fuel, the calculations are tricky and you'd need specialized equipment to measure the amount of electricity used to charge the batteries.



Battery performance drops off as the battery's temperature drops. This is true for all types of batteries. Some systems in prototype development enclose the batteries in an insulated container and provide heating elements to keep them warm and at full capacity. However that costs money to do so as electricity isn't free. Even so, given enough time they will become "cold soaked" and capacity will drop of significantly. Using the batteries to provide the heat would defeat the purpose since you'd lose capacity just keeping them warm enough.



The problem to date with electric cars is the limited range. Much progress has been made in improving battery capacity per pound of weight but we still have a long way to go on that issue, and vehicle with sufficient capacity to go 400 miles between recharge cycles would be extremely heavy. Don't forget that hauling all of that weight around costs money too!



We are still a long way away from a vehicle that will travel 400 miles on a charge AND be "refillable" in the same 10 minutes or so that a gas stop currently takes. The few vehicles on the market currently take overnight to charge and there are no commercial recharging stations anywhere yet. You need a dedicated high-current circuit just for the charging equipment and that's currently limited to fixed locations such as your home. And don't forget the added cost for an electrician to install the outlet to connect the car to as well!



All of these limitations relegate electric vehicles for short-distance commuter use or inner-city runabout use only at present. We'll get there eventually; just don't look for wide spread adoption as a general replacement for the internal combustion engined vehicle for at least another 20 to 50 years, if even that soon!

Answer 9

probably wouldn't hurt to have an electric car, and with the money you save on gas you could buy an old beat up truck to drive in the snow and ice during the winter

Answer 10

I think traction would be as good as a traditional car. I wonder if cold temperature will affect battery power and range.

Answer 11

No such information is available, because there aren't any production electric cars. The Tesla won this year's Vaporware award for not existing outside of advertisments, and there haven't been any others. There likely won't be any, either: the economy isn't likely to support a lot of experimental vehicles in the next couple of years.



You also might wish to think about the heater. The GM EV1 had a heat pump that really pulled battery power, which is one reason they only leased the car in southern California.



Beyond that, an electric would probably handle as well as any car in icy conditions; the battery would be pretty sluggish below 20 degrees or so but would heat up in use.



Even electrics are better than hydrogen cars, because nobody's determined just where the hydrogen is supposed to come from (there aren't any hydrogen wells.)



While you're counting all your big money savings from electric cars, consider that they need roads, and thus the states are going to have to start assessing road taxes from them. Probably there will be an odometer that can be read with an RFID wand, like that on your water meter. Then you'll get a nice bill in the mail, and it won't be cheap: consider the proportion of the price of gasoline that consists of taxes.

Answer 12

A TRUE electric car does not have an MPG rating because it does NOT use gas. There are NO hybrids that will come anywhere close to 300 MPG. It sounds like you are describing a 'plug in hybrid'. That is a normal hybrid that has a built in charger to recharge the batteries from a home outlet without using the gas engine at all. The '300 MPG' assumes 90% of the energy used will come form this source and IGNORES the cost of electricity AND the emissions of the electrical plant.



Aside from the above, they would handle EXACTLY the same as any ofthe vehicle of similar sive and weight.

Answer 13

There were great electric cars out a few years back.where did they go? The oil money got rid of them, they even came and took all the cars away. See on comcast demand the free movie electric cars ( title I forgot).

My point is this, We have already had great electric cars, but big oil money killed them.You may read about coming cars, but they were up and running, so big oil will kill them to.We had a water powered (power station) the inventor was killed.I saw the U.S. patent office on-line and the invention is there and anyone could make one and power their home, I kid not.A great video on google tells about this, google water power vid, wow.



Again big co. killed the idea and so no one knows of this invention.We hear in the media that we must find alternate power to keep green house gases down ect, yet we have the inventions now and we do not use them, so who wants any clean, non oil power? no one, we would not be at war if this was the case.



This is a hot topic in the media cause the E.U and the U.N. is pushing to cut back on emissions, yet these same people know we have and had alternate power sources for real, hay there would be fewer wars if we used what we already had and know, so as the war continues we see big brother still wants big money from oil.

We must find a way to be independent from foreign oil, this is what we hear on the news, we have the ability, now, today...



But, that would make it so the world would need l;ittle or no oil...think about it and google some of these points, I doubt we will see an electric car again any time sooon.

Answer 14

Electrical devices.. work better when its cold unlike the combustion engine which it hardens oils an other fluids.. electrical things like computers, radios, or even a remote control car work somewhat better in the cold.. the processor/circuit board flows electricity a lot more fluently while it is cold..



in dependability of a electric car, basically the same.. if the car has front wheel drive.. it would just behave just as a regular front wheel drive car would on ice.. it would get better traction cause all the weight of the car is on the front two wheels, allowing better turning control and driving stability...



If the electrical car is reduced weight, which they might not do cause of the risk factors of lite weight objects going at very fast speeds; If the car was lite weight this creates many problems in secure features, one is going at top speeds the vehicle would/could bounce on turns causeing flips of the vehicle.. even on Ice if the electrical car was to be lite weight you couldn't get no traction what so ever.. just cause the car wouldn't have no way to gain friction cause of its lite/reduced weight, but i doubt they would ever reduce a car weight drasticly like that, just cause it would be a hazard on freeways an collisions the car could literally go bounceing off the side of the street...



it would be about as reliable as any modern car we have today, an for hazardous blizzard coditions.. any car can put chains on the tires

Answer 15

I don't think they will. If everyone converted to an electric car can you imagine the drain on the power grids? Most families have two cars that would all be charging overnight. Or one would always be charging while the other one is running.

I intend on having a gas combustion engine until something better comes along and I don't see that happening too soon. I think the best solution right now is to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and in the ice in the north.

Besides I need to haul my horses with a horse trailer and heavy truck, there's no other way to do it.

If the people driving cars electric or otherwise would show more courtesy on the roads I would ride my horse for local errands but inconsiderate people make it oo dangerous.

Answer 16

You would have to consider three issues.



First, electric motors have a lot of torque. When the streets are dry, that is not a problem but when they are covered in snow or ice, you could easily spin the tires if you are too hard on the "gas."



Second, cold batteries do not have near the power of the warm batteries. If you leave the vehicle outside in the cold it will still be able to move but your power would be quit a bit lower when you first start out until the battery pack warms up. That could be a problem if you try to go right onto a freeway before the batteries warm up to full power.



(They do have battery heaters right now for the standard 12 volt battery in cars right now and the charger for the electric car could also keep those batteries warm but what about when you park the car at work all day long?)



Third, you would have to make sure the batteries are designed for cold weather. A battery that would do great in Florida in the summer may freeze up in Minnesota in the winter. One frozen battery is a mess, a frozen battery pack would be a disaster.

Answer 17

Two fundamental problems will need to be solved before electric cars are reliable in winter.



(1) Motor coils could seize in wintery conditions

(2) The Battery charge will be lower.



I think both these problems could be overcome by providing automatic space heater for both battery system and the motors. Also would need a trickle charger driven by solar cells or hidden wind turbines to improve the battery life and charge.



I think there is no problem which engineers cannot overcome eventually but remember it has taken us a century of development to get to where we are with IC engine so it's bound to take some time.

Answer 18

In fact electric car will be much better that IC engine.Electric car will be needing only Battery to power up the electric motor used as a substitute for IC engine .Rest of the parts could be same like any other car with little bit modification .Actually In the patrol pump charged battery should available instead of patrol.A fully enclosed motor will have no effecf of climate ..there are many motors work in side the water .In fact if you have a aopproprite motor and suitable battery available ,It will be great all the way.Even pollution problem can be controlled. Actually it will be better to have less weight than more as it will be more millage efficient .how ever it should have good stability on speed for which you can adjust the with body building materials.Use metal having approprite weight to build the car in a way to get equilibrium.

Answer 19

I think one major obstacle is the cold effect on the battery itself. Cold is a major hangup with conventional batteries so I am guessing the electric cars will be fine in warm weather.



But there are new technologies that may be overcoming this as well. The fact that the battery/batteries have to be charged before using and there is a bit of heat generated with that process, may be no problem, anyway.



As far as the handling, I would think it would be much the same as conventional cars taking into account that in snow and ice, it is advisable to have the appropriate tires for the season. Stopping is no different obviously, so that isn't much of a factor. Take off shouldn't be a problem either if you exercise reasonable care and no attempting jack rabbit starts.

Answer 20

Many of the electric cars I have read about recently say that they will have a motor at each wheel, so tht would be four wheel drive, and that has to be good for ice and snow. A new technology I just found out about called pyrolysis, may be more likely the resource fr our energy needs creating oil from wood and waste. I think the electric car sounds good but everyone would have to buy a new car an with an alternative source of petrol the car you have will be around for a while and gas would be reduced, because the cost to produce this oil via the pyrolysis technology is extreamly cheap.

Answer 21

No. They are not efficient and/or effective in ANY conditions.



Where does electricity come from? Coal-fired power plants? And what does physics teach us about energy?... Instead of converting fossil fuels to horsepower (like in a regular car), you have to convert horsepower to electricity, then transfer the electricity to the vehicle, then charge the battery, the the stored electricity is converted to horsepower. EVERY ONE of those steps consumes some of the energy. It is simply not efficient.



Car manufactrers have been experimenting with electric vehicles for many years. Why then are they not on the market? - Because the internal combustion engine is the most efficient and effective product that the market can produce today.



Also, what happens to your rechargeable camera or laptop batteries after they have been used for some time? - They go bad and you have to replace them. People do not realize that the same is true for electric cars. Every few years, the owner would have to replace the battery cells which would be VERY EXPENSIVE. Oh, and what do batteries have in them? Sulfuric acid, lead, mercury.... Aren't those harmful to the planet also???

Answer 22

But I was wondering, how these cars would handle on a street after a ice storm? The car would be great for me, but i live in the midwest and require a car that can get around ice and snow.

Answer 23

First off, if it's an electric, you make infinate mpg because you don't use gallons (DUH!) so yea. Second, the only problem I could see is that they tend to jump when they start driving. They do a sudden burst rather than like the internal combustion engines that start moving slowly. Electrics are pretty fast in acceleration because of this. but anyways that's the only problem, and also that it's probably gonna be real heavy because that's how the batteries are. But it all depends on the car. Now I have a question for you. What car is this? I could probably tell you more about it then.

Answer 24

sounds like you're talking about a primarly electirc hybrid, but any way their should be litlle differnce between handling of an eletric car on icy roads then a tradition car, if anything, considering eletric motors can be made smaler then ic moters, they could have more traction then gas powered cars. The problem that there would be is when it gets around 0 degrees ferinhight and below for long streaches of time, it's much harder for the bateries of today to take a charge, hold a charge, and give a charge; then in normal california temps. Hopefully this will be one of the concerns of auto makersand batery devolptors

Answer 25

Before the electric or gas/electric hybrid car can be sold on the market, it would have to be thoroughly tested first in extreme conditions. The manufacturer actually places the car inside a room with a big gas fired heater with the cars engine running they test the car at temperatures as hot as 150 degrees! They also test the car by placing it inside a huge freezer and see how well it runs at -60 degrees!



Aside from the static testing they also test the car by driving it around the world in every possible driving condition conceivable to see how well it holds up to real world conditions.

Answer 26

why don't you get a Toyota prius?

-you don't have to weight three years

-they get 61mpg in city and 50 on highway

-they have 4 wheel drive

-plus you'll be helping the enviorment more by buying this than the electric because, where do you think they get the energy to produce the electricity?

-They're cheap

-Toyota quality

-resale value more than any other car

-allot of interior room.

-well equipped



so yeah the only reason to but electric is that you wont have o pay for gas, but you'll have to pay for the electricity! on the prius you pay for gas but whenever you hit the brakes the brakes produce electricity from the friction and store it in the battery. so whenever you're at a red light for a long time the gas engine stops and the electric motor starts ans when you accelerate they switch (you'll never know the difference) and when you're maintaining a speed the electric motor goes on.



Never have to charge it, no worrying about how much power you have left.

Answer 27

First of all, electric cars do not burn fuel, so the MPGs are obviously much higher than 300mpg. mpgs are not a measurement of efficiency in an electric car.



A more accurate measurment would be miles per kilowatt hour.



Gasoline and diesel engines have proven reliable and been improved over 100 years of service, so I doubt electric cars will be as reliable. Then again, they do not require a warm up period as do thermal engines. Chemical batteries are infamous for not performing as well in cold weather, and the electric heaters will draw a lot of the battery power.



Where gasoline engines, waste about 80% of their energy as heat, we have used the waste heat to heat the interior of our cars, that probably will not work with electric cars.

Answer 28

All the questions you have right now are on the drawing board I am sure. As for power I think there will be a way to get electricity out of cold air, makind fuel effeciency even better in Winter. Have you ever notices how your hair acts when you have been out in the cold and come in and take your hat off. Would a fiberous surface, like velcro or any thing like that collect static electricity? It could then be translated to the battery storage somehow. Maybe you could create a car that met all the specifications that you would like to see. I personally think gas is going to be a thing of the past and I think they could eliminate it now if they were not afraid of the ecomomic backlash. They are trying to do it in a way that will let the greedy boys down easy.

Good travels on the "Hightech Highway"

Answer 29

I don't think that they would handle as well...like some of the other answers suggest they are lighter and batteries are easily affected with extremes in hot or cold weather.



Also with being lighter you'll be more likely to have reduced traction, and be vulnerable when it comes to a wreck.



While the idea of an electric car is great for the fight against global warming, I think that there is still much to improve as far as the electric car market goes.

Answer 30

ask a bigwig from gm the reasons why the ev-1 was built and subsequently killed off. it was never meant to be a success. if the vehicle is front wheel drive, it will be fine in the snow. handling should be no different than todays cars. i too am very interested in the chevrolet volt. i've read the car could have a range of 40 miles per day on one charge, without ever dipping into the gas tank. like many, that would get me to work and back. one concern from middle america, will it be truly affordable? as for 300 mpg, lets take things one step at a time. i read that too. sounds a bit too good to be true. but i'm interested in anything that may someday stop our friends in the middle east from owning us.

Answer 31

More than likely electric cars in the near future will have a computer controlled drive motor at each wheel. The computer will sense loss of traction at any given wheel and adjust the speed of rotation of the others (by either braking or accelerating each independently), to compensate in milliseconds. I believe that electric cars will soon have far superior ice control than any conventional drive system available today.

Answer 32

Diesel cars use a coil to heat the fuel, so they work in winter.

Electric cars would simply insulate the batteries so that they retain their charge.



Inside space, weight , front wheel drive etc depends on what target audience the manufacturer is aiming at.



Since your quoting the 300mpg vehicle thats gonna cost around $30K. I'm pretty sure the manufacturers website would have a spec sheet that would cover most of your questions and possibly a sales guy/gal.

Answer 33

Traction and winter performance will always be at least as good as conventional piston powered cars and can be much better.



The secret to this is in the ability to use computer control with sensors on each wheel/motor to give precise control and power delivered to the wheel that needs it. Think of it as ABS for going, not stopping. Electric motors are extremely easy to control with computers. Oh, the full on electric car could be a dream to drive, summer or winter.



Now me personally, I like the big block Chevy with fool injection and a rock crusher 4 speed, but with Gas at 3.25 a gallon, that ride will become a garage queen for sure!



OH, and Merry Christmas to all!

Answer 34

If it is electric, 300MPG of what? I bet their overall cost will be higher than one thinks. They should handle well, I just hope they can stay charged. I live in the mid-west also. We have put men in space, nuclear subs can stay under water for months at a time, aircraft carriers only need to refuel once every 20 years on a piece of uranium the size of a golf ball. And we are now just coming up with electric cars?

Answer 35

An electric vehicle will be more reliable due to the tech available. There are very limited liquid parts involved to cause freezing. This cars have been worked on since the late 70's.

For some (unknown {aka oil industry} reason, Congress cut funding for this projects.

We worked on an all electric car - rechargble thru 110V outlet, in high school, 15,16,17 yr olds, we got it to run, just couldn't get it ready for our homecoming (86).

As for weather, weight is irrevelant, the car weight will be porportionate to is size. For winter driving, like all vehciles, proper winter maintainance will be required @ snow tires, antifreezing agents as required. Remember, you want to go thru the snow/slush, not over it.

We built this car in MN... read on. Their webpage is not up & running with those pics, but you can contact that school. (Just don't flood them with questions for details - remember, it is a high school.)

Answer 36

lectric car will be needing only Battery to power up the electric motor used as a substitute for IC engine .Rest of the parts could be same like any other car with little bit modification .Actually In the patrol pump charged battery should available instead of patrol.A fully enclosed motor will have no effecf of climate ..there are many motors work in side the water .In fact if you have a aopproprite motor and suitable battery available ,It will be great all the way.Even pollution problem can be controlled. Actually it will be better to have less weight than more as it will be more millage effi

Answer 37

WATCH OUT! High Voltage wet icy ground people do not know Technicians and first responders to an accident have to be able to power down that car and its braking system in order to remove accident victims. So far about 30 people have been killed working on Hybrids Full electric there better be some standards soon. Or just even recharging the A/C system can be fatal if the wrong A/C oil is used. I think your only moving the pollution to another place full electric cars have to be plugged in some where.

Answer 38

Most electric cars do not do well in crash tests, the batteries are extremely expensive (in some cases almost as much as the car and must be replaced every few years), the power to pull or haul is much less than gasoline engines, the pollution expended to create the vehicle and dispose of the batteries is very high and many still have gasoline engines in them to supplement the cars need to charge.



Electric cars are not yet at a place that they are of much use for most people. Gasoline powered vehicles will be the main vehicle of choice, at least for Americans, for many decades or longer.



In addition, there need to be additional coal & nuclear power plants built to help our growing economy and any needs for mass electric cars in the future. Currently our power plant problems are severe and there is not much movement by our inept politicians to fix it.



Careful of your "investment" in an electric car. It will more than likely cost you much more over its' life span than any savings you will receive from buying gas.

Answer 39

When my children once had an electric car to play ; it was pain in the neck to keep charging the battery every night for 7 hours . beside the fact that i've never known the monthly cost i had to pay for this charging of the battery .



Electric cars are very good idea but not to the ordinary guy . it needs discipline . it is maybe better for commercial use like in the malls or hospitals or company compounds , there they have manpower and resources to keep them operational and in good shape .



The question concentrates on cold weather but what about hot weather ?. can anybody drive an electric car in Arizona or in Nevada? i doubt it . they will need air conditioning which need a lot of power .



I have seen that big commuter cars like buses use a separate motor to generate power for air conditioning . i think there it goes . if you want to use electric cars ; then you make a separate motor for air conditioning either for hot or for cold . the weight of the new motor helps in keeping the car stable .

Answer 40

Some electric-car designs contain two or four motors, each located within a wheel. This design is elegant in the simplicity that it allows for systems like traction control.



Each wheel can be independently controlled in order to gain the maximum possible traction, and responding to changing conditions is as easy as running computations on the feedback from various components of the car.

Answer 41

Here in Quebec we now have Honda, Toyota (Primus, Camry), etc. They sell hybrids from now 2 or 3 years without problems I heard about battery in cold times. I don't know for the rest...



Quebec's good place to test winter conditions, we can have some days down to -25 -30 degrees (Celsius) every winter (most in Feb/March). We also get a lot of icy/snow roads.

Answer 42

An interesting question is, will having a heater, to make the interior comfortable in winter, cost extra in terms of energy consumed? It is not an issue for internal combustion vehicles, because waste heat from the engine has to be got rid of, so that heat which is not used to heat the interior is radiated by the radiator. Will the electric vehicle have waste heat which can be diverted to the heater, or will the heater require additional expenditure of energy?

Answer 43

They probably have already gone through that, and have been tested and passed the test to function in any foreseable conditions, otherwise they would still be on the drafting table.



I heard that externally they look the same as every other car, and can operate on gas in case you cannot find a recharging station, they probably look and weigh the same as any old car since these manufacturers are not necesarily redesigning the wheel.

Answer 44

Yes, they are. We've had snow, ice, and blizzard conditions for several days this week. I took my child to the library a couple of days ago and one of those tiny electric cars was parked next to us. We got out and just kept looking at everything inside and outside of the car. It must have been parked outside because it had snow and icicles on it just like everyone's car. Coffee mugs , etc., were in the cup holders. So, yes, they are reliable and out and about like every car during this weather. :D

Answer 45

Electric cars have very few moving components and are less complex then a conventional ICE car , so they require less maintenance except from battery.

Any person trying to sell vehicle in your area will have to test it for the conditions there so obviously they will be able to give you more precise answers instead of people on yahoo.

Good batteries last long and have no problems, except for temperature variations.

Why dont you send an email and ask the manufacturer about your the tech specs of the car you are interested in especially pointing to the climate in your area.

Answer 46

Hey there. We have a security vehicle that is a prius (why a security prius ... I have no idea) and it is *terrible* in the winter. It is lightweight and doesn't have that great of traction - after the second time it skidded on the ice and we had an officer go off the road our boss took it out of comission for the winter. I know they are making some hybrids now though that have a lot more options - so maybe you could find one that has better traction. As far as my experience, I won't touch the prius when its snowing out.

Answer 47

Don't batteries lose power in the cold? Probably just have to be a summer car, that's just gonna be great...It'll be a reliable big money-maker for the auto industry, that's for sure, gotta have a summer car and a winter car, nice,,,{In Michigan, we only have two seasons, Winter and July, we will definitely be screwed}

Answer 48

electric cars have a simpler transmission of power from the power source to the wheels, since instead of mechanical transmission they use cables, this allows a 4X4 drive and high agility

protecting electric cars from water is not a big issue, and electric generators & motors are much less sensitive to cold temperatures.

The main problem with electric cars are batteries, which are heavy, and take substantial volume, and can not produce an equal amount of energy that could be produced from fuels.

Answer 49

Second, cold batteries do not have near the power of the warm batteries. If you leave the vehicle outside in the cold it will still be able to move but your power would be quit a bit lower when you first start out until the battery pack warms up. That could be a problem if you try to go right onto a freeway before the batteries warm up to full power.

Answer 50

you may have to buy two models - one for summmer and one for winter or they may come with a winter kit. It is too early to guess the suitability in harsh winter conditions as you have in the midwest, and the weight will be a big factor but then there is always ballast which can be added to provide the stability. \and then there goes the 300 mpg attraction.

Answer 51

well electric car what makes them run well you got to get power some were.well it takes fuel for to make electric for use.we are no sovling nothing it just looks good saying there going to do that cars are not cheap once they brake down.and you would have to change all the gas stations all around you plus youy would not be abale to go far.at least i would not.its all about the money thats like the change in tvs bull s--t wake up people and see what really going on

Answer 52

If the batteries and electrical system are insulated well enough, there should be no problem driving in cold and icy conditions. Depending on what type of battery is used, it might or might not be able to stand up to the cold temperatures, but insulation should solve that problem.

Answer 53

Electric car? MPG? Miles per gallon of what?



Forget about it. The most efficient car is a diesel. Beyond that, electric/hybrid electric become less efficient when you factor in battery replacement, costly maintainence, etc.

Answer 54

How can an electric car have up to 300MPG? If its truly electric then it won't use gas and therefore would not have MPG but a range. Did you mean a Hybrid?

Answer 55

Yes, why not.



This is design requirement for cars intended to be sold in those area.



While the internal combustion engine will be absent, the car will definitely have more battery power to take care of heating, traction etc.

Answer 56

They will have to be reliable in cold climates, although perhaps not as relaible as in warm climates, if a company plans to mass produce them. If they can't be mass-produced, then they will be quite a bit more expensive than the alternative and unaffordable to so many people that it will result in failure.



I think the economics of manufacturing and selling electric cars will dicate that thye are reliable in all climates.

Answer 57

Well, alot of your questions really depend on the TYPE of electric car your talking about.



most of the gas/electric cars that look like their regular gas-only counterparts will have the same reliability.



but the cars that are the size of a motor cycle , and weigh the same, will behave exactly as you think.



in places with thick snow, and icy conditions you should stick to normal sized hybrid vehicles like the toyota prius, ford escape, and honda civic ,

Answer 58

I would think so a lttle bit. There were electric cars when Henry Ford was alive and I think they worked ok. As far as the batteries go, batteries tendency to lose power in the cold.

Answer 59

Great question. And this is why I steal cars and not buy them.



It's so much easier to steal a car for a day then dump it somewhere that same night. Instead of buying one.



I don't have to pay for gas or the meter.



Say NO to electric cars...

Answer 60

Think about this...how would such a car hold up to temperatures that can get down to 20 below zero and colder. Cold such as that can be very hard on batteries and would replacement batteries cost a lot?

Answer 61

Do You Mean The Aptera Type-1?

Answer 62

Electric cars tend to be light, so I doubt it. They will probably be FWD though as most economic cars are, so that gives added traction, but the light weight will probably be a problem until they come up with more designs.

Answer 63

It will be a big failure in icy land. The car will become heavy with the equipments



To save your Dk and As when it is a short circuit.



like fire extinguisher, If required a Shovel to throw ice on the fire. Bla bla bla............



Do not forget the good and bad conductors of electricity.



All the best........

Answer 64

Eventually they will be! They can't be any worse in the snow and ice than the first 20 years of automobiles were!

Answer 65

Wow, what about in a lightning storm, electrical storm, it could stop the engine I think. I imagine they will have to compensate some type of load for the weight a gasoline engine has, otherwise it will be like a bicycle on ice!

Answer 66

Next three years I thought Chevy was coming out with one in 08 09 or something the Chevy Jolt.

Answer 67

I am avoiding this problem entirely. By not driving an electric car, and sticking exclusively to my SUV, I intend to simply abolish wintry conditions. Maybe others will help me. If there is snow anywhere on any polar landmass or mountain peak, it means you need to drive more, America.

Answer 68

First I'm going to wait a while after they come out to see how any of the new small cars really do. But I do like the looks of the fortwo.



http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=117630

Answer 69

batterys are not affected much by cold. HEAT

is their biggest enemy.. I am thinking that the

midwest climate would be good for them.

but the traction thing,, well it shouldn't be a big

problem, because when the snow flies everybody

has a problem.. wait till the roads are clear

and that should cure that problem.

Answer 70

You Are getting crazy so take 45 times sleep in 25 july to 30 december and never wake up yooooooo uuuuuuuuuu bustur

Answer 71

with a battery operated car it doesn't need a starter, so I believe it would be more dependable.

Diesels are hell to start in cold weather without plugging up to electric block heater.

Answer 72

Yes. It shall be exactly like a regular car except it shall run on electricity.

Answer 73

If they are designed like the gas powered cars, I would say they would handle well on wintry conditions. but the question would lie in how the batteries would handle the cold weather more. I would check on the hybrids with someone who has used one in the cold weather to get possible ideas of what to expect. I know it is not of equal comparison but a thought on on it.

Answer 74

I dont think wintery conditions might effect electric cars badly.

Answer 75

I think you need to wait till the actual models are announced. They may be talking right now of prototypes. They need to do a lot of testing before bringing them on the road.



Best wishes.

Answer 76

I'm sure electric cars will be fine for winter conditions.

Answer 77

Most electrical car does not use lead acid battery, so that the temperature is not that important. The Ni-HM battery does not like high temperature.

Answer 78

kinda iffy, if you ask me. batteries also present a mammoth waste and pollution problem that must be dealt with soon. most are going into landfills from ordinary consumers. don't kid yourself about these recycle programs. people just haven't been convinced. they will not change their ways. the more batteries sold and used by ordinary consumers, the more will go into landfills, or dumped where they should not be.

Answer 79

With traditional batteries, colder temperatures increase battery length.... So maybe it would be more benificial. Although, they may operate on some other principle that would change that. As far as hydroplaning goes, they would become scrap metal reallllly quickly....

Answer 80

Again big co. killed the idea and so no one knows of this invention.We hear in the media that we must find alternate power to keep green house gases down ect, yet we have the inventions now and we do not use them, so who wants any clean, non oil power? no one, we would not be at war if this was the case.

Answer 81

Temp will affect battery usage. Also, the car you are referring to appeared to me to be very light weight, when I read about it the other day. I wouldn't think it good for bad roads.



Also, consider buying this car and what will happen if the company goes belly up like Daewoo America did and you have no warranty coverage.



These cars are not going to be cheap to repair and the odds of a new start up company like that surviving are low.



While this car sounds like a good idea on paper, it has allot of potential pitfalls.



Also, no one can answer me on the effect that this car, other primarily electric cars and their used batteries will have on the enviroment.



I was watching Boston Legal of all things and they spoke about the enviromental mess these batteries are. I went and did my own research on the topic and what they said was mostly true.



Also, what about all the carbon spewed out of the power plants to charge them. They are not carbon neutral or negative as the greenies make them out to be.



I see hydrogen fuel cells as the whey to go. I saw one GM is designing for mass production in the next 4 - 5 years. It comes with its only little hydrogen machine you hang on the garage wall.



You come home, plug it into the car and by morning the cell is full, with a minimum of electricity used and the only output of the motor is water.

Answer 82

The heater would use up a lot of juice when it was cold. As far as traction goes, that's more a matter of the correct tires.

Answer 83

Eco cars would be good. People could power cars with sun rays in atmosphere and power eco cars with fuel during short time winter.

Answer 84

My dad has a hybrid, 4 wheel drive. it works great in the winter.

Answer 85

Your problem is not traction but with generating heat. You will get alot less mpg if you have to run a heating element or an engine for heat.

Answer 86

Don't know. Have they solved the annoying little problem of them spontaneously bursting into flames while recharging and burning down their owners' homes?

Answer 87

As long as you treat the car normally i.e. adding snow tires, etc. then the car (electric) should run as well as any other.

Answer 88

the cold air drains battery power from battery's so i don't know how well the battery would work in a car like that

Answer 89

they would die in an ice storm, my car already dies in ice storms so i believe an electric would be messed up

Answer 90

An electric car that does 300mpg?

Per gallon of ******* what?

Answer 91

yeah, because there still will be the sun and on snowy or icy days, the sun's power is saved, so it can be used anytime, when there is no sun......





If you have no more sun power than you can you gas, because it has both on those cars.

Answer 92

I have wondered about this for years...what about overheat if you get stuck or deep snow.....how about on ice...how jerky is it.....how will they hold up(batteries) in the winter -20.......If you get stuck how long will heat last before you freeze.........????

Answer 93

My neighbor was fixing one and i think, by looking at it, that it could do good on icy roads. But this was one of them old ones. And besides, the batteries could freeze.

Answer 94

What about the duel feul cars? I am not sure if any car is good in ice,

Answer 95

it really depends on what kind of car you want. the aptera electric (the 300 mpg one) would need the right kind of tires and have proper brakes to ensure maximum traction control in icy or wintry conditions. but since the max is 9 mph, i doubt it should be a serious concern.

Answer 96

YES, more so than the engin you are using now, that is if you do proper upkeep which is true with any vehical.

Answer 97

as long as the sun is still shining it will. They made sure to sell a car with no flaws.

Answer 98

not useful at all

Answer 99

Since they will be slow, and boring to drive. Yes, no one will ever die in an electric car accident.

Answer 100

it can be used in snow if it charged and doesnt get damaged to snow storm

Answer 101

Hopefully there will be enough spark left in the batteries to get a comforting fire going while you wait to be rescued. lol.

Answer 102

once the car is going it should be fine. the problem if any is keep the battery warm enough and charged . but just plugging it in at night as is done with all cars up north should be enough

Answer 103

i think that the cars might have the solar powered which saves the energy inside and should have battery powered or rechargeable battery.

Answer 104

Trouble with electric cars. The cords get all tangled up on icy highways. LOL.

thanks for 2 pts

Answer 105

Look at the Tesla skating through the snow,that will give you some idea .

Answer 106

they problably do fine and is better for the enviroment

i hope global warming never happen.

Answer 107

Possibly Shockingly.



I wouldn't stand in water to plug it in.

Answer 108

my friend drives a prius in western new york to rochester and buffalo and to ski resorts and has never had trouble with it. itll slip just as much as any other car, and recovers just fine.

Answer 109

Question is moot.....we aren't allowed to have them cause they don't burn fossil fuel!

Answer 110

Here is a good website that may give you some incentive. http://www.hybridsynergydrive.com/en/quick_guide.html



Good luck!!

Answer 111

Stop Global Whining!!!!

Answer 112

elcrtric has nothing to do with raod conditions,



thats about tires, abs, traction control,



or the ultimate quadro drive by aaudi,



ofcourse depending on the trafic u can get less or more miles/galon, miles/bateryy charge

Answer 113

simple q. simple ans, ew have highway safety engineers that have this problem all figgured out , so sit back and enjoy your ride friend .......!!!

Answer 114

yes

Answer 115

yes

Answer 116

how do you get your question to be featured? why was it on the top? how do you do that? where do you apply your question for nomination? or rather... what is the procedure you used to post this question? standard proceedure?

Answer 117

That is a really good question!



Star for you!

Answer 118

i would think the salt would rot right through it and it could but probably wont last long

Answer 119

Maybe not because of their weight.

Answer 120

just for the fact of our country we need to use electric cars

because we at the edge of losing our country to globa waring.

ppl dont really care but i mean this summer was the hottest ...

of coarse we need to use those eletric cars ,if the make then yeah there reliable in the winter....i mean dude just do wat you can man

Answer 121

Ga i don't think it's so much the handling i would worry about i mean wat if you have no electricty for a week or two how r u suppose to make it run and stuff?

Answer 122

ya, are ther going to be flying cars in the yr. 2008?

Answer 123

yes, they will work in winter just it will consume more eletricity in winter.

Answer 124

Hello??...Is this where I'm supposed to type my response?

Answer 125

it all works fine...and the batterys will do better in the cold then in the heat.

Answer 126

I don't think the type of fuel they use really matters.

Answer 127

oo nmn

Answer 128

yes yes dont worry

Answer 129

probably not that great..........but just have a car for the winter and one for the summer lol

Answer 130

yes they will reliable by insulating

Answer 131

Its a good point, I'm going to wait for the hydrogen car to come out. Recall that an electric car still has to be charged up by a remote power plant that probably burns fossil fuel. In which case an electric car merely moves combustion of fossil fuel from under the hood to the local power station.

Answer 132

the real question is, will your wife be reliable at the office holiday party

Answer 133

honestly who cares

Answer 134

"Yes, lectric cars will be liable."[mdp].

Answer 135

That is a very good question. I saw my first one up close and i think it is a good idea but as we know electricity and water doesn't really mix. This thought alone scares me.

Answer 136

They won't be much different than present cars with respect to handling on slick surfaces. But there is no reasonable prospect for building electric cars with an acceptable range; hydrocarbon fuels have by far the highest energy density per pound of anything that can be found or made.

Answer 137

lopez

Answer 138

Why wouldn't they be!?

Answer 139

we shall see :)

Answer 140

well no because the ice and snow can freeze it!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 141

sure why not

Answer 142

Yes since it does not use petrol





Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 143

just dont drive around with the hood off and you should be fine

Answer 144

Hybrids