We know that the cold is not a friend of electric cars. But in practice, low temperatures affect autonomy, recharge costs and global daily experience? After three winters spent with our Tesla model Y and 60 000 km on hours, it is time to evaluate.
That electric cars lose autonomy when temperature drop is not surprising. It is even expected and a lot of experience shows that there are sometimes more than 25 % less autonomy compared to softer periods. If such a decline may be restrictive for large trips, there is no problem daily to be able to use and priori in the same way.
But who says that increases consumption says that the cost of 100 kilometers, because you have to recharge your car more often. Therefore, we will return to the main impact of colds on electric cars before focusing on a practical example with all the data for years. What should we expect exactly in terms of load strength, autonomy, consumption and costs in winter compared to the summer in the Tesla Y model?
Is cooling too much scared of electric cars?
According to reading here and there that electric cars do not support winter, they can be afraid of new arrivals in electrical mobility. Who has never seen a message on social networks that caricat with a fashionable car driver completely blocked as soon as temperatures switch below 0 degrees? Last year there was even a case of dozens of Tesla blocked in the polar cold in Chicago, which became one of the popular memories of anti -electrical vehicles.
Whether you have an electric car, it is certain that you have already been exposed to this kind of news without knowing whether it was true or not. The reality is obviously less sensational, because electric cars are without a hinge in winter, as you can imagine.
However, it is true that frost temperatures make life difficult for trendy car batteries. Quick loads and consumption are two characteristics the most terrible cold.
For rapid load, it is easy to protect the battery that the system on board limits maximum acceptable power if it is too cold. For example, a battery that receives 25 degrees 200 kW of energy could only take 50 kW if the package temperature is less than 10 degrees. Be careful not to interpret what has just been written: it is not the question that if there is 10 degrees outside, only 25 % of its maximum theoretical force can load an electric car, far from there. Fortunately, the battery temperature does not equal the outside temperature and when you put a quick charger on the target, some cars before turning the battery before turning the interface).
Extreme cases appear in unusual situations where the car is left to sleep outside in the icy cold and which you have to quickly load a few kilometers away: the battery has no time to warm up enough to reach your ideal temperature. And the charging force will be significantly reduced.
In the case of large winter trips, however, this does not represent the smallest problem from driving a few hours before the first time, and therefore had time to wear a battery at a relatively high temperature. However, this temperature increase does not have the effect of consumption, as it is necessary to use energy to heat the battery.
It is therefore unusual to see how consumption flew in winter when you have a quick charger at the finish, It continues to increase excessive consumption due to cold and so much reduction of autonomy. But instead of giving you the lengths of theoretical considerations, go to demonstration by example thanks to data from our Tesla Y model.
Up to 50 % more in winter consumption
Since the delivery of our Tesla Y model, Teslamate has seen all the data provided by the Tesla API. This provides relatively significant data of 60,000 kilometers, which can then be agreed in the period. If you want to notice the differences when temperatures drop, you will see under distances, the average temperatures and raw average consumption for five different months.
By raw consumption we mean the amount of energy that the battery absorbed to go through the distance of the moonTherefore, in particular, the parking phases, ghost consumption, but also those that are associated with the pre -order compartment of the passenger and battery.
| Period | Distance | Average temperature | Average consumption (gross) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | 2656 km | 7.85 ° C. | 245 Wh/km |
| October 2023 | 2325 km | 15.9 ° C. | 172 Wh/km |
| January 2024 | 3066 km | 4.78 ° C. | 252 Wh/km |
| July 2024 | 2793 km | 23.1 ° C. | 168 Wh/km |
| January 2025 | 1470 km | 3.66 ° C. | 277 Wh/km |
As you can see in the blink of the eye, the seasonality is really in consumption. Three months in January (2023, 2024 and 2025) are much higher than the selected months.
In practice, there was excessive consumption in January 2025, where the average temperature was 3.7 ° C, compared to the temperature in October 2023 with 15.9 ° C 61 %. This means that if the average autonomy between 100 % and 0 % Tesla Model Y is 330 kilometers in October 2023 (57 kWh usable and 172 Wh/km of gross consumption), no more than 205 kilometers in January 2025.
But be careful not to overcome these numbers. In fact, it is really gross average consumption calculated for the whole month. Therefore, it takes into account the excessive consumption of small everyday roads, where the cabin is pregnant in winter a few minutes before it hits the road.
To fully understand excessive pre -order consumption, take an example on a typical way:
- 10 km at 130 Wh/km in summer, without pre -version, consumes 1.3 kWh
- The same 10 km at 180 Wh/km in winter (excessive consumption of 38 % due to external temperature and heating on a small path), to which we add 10 minutes preversion to an average power of 1000 W consumes a total of 1.97 kWh.
Therefore, this 10 km is a journey, gross consumption in winter 51 %. The pre -order itself represents 9 % of total consumption and the shorter the paths, the more weigh the balance. That is why long winter roads are not those that weigh the most in balance, but really small roads.
If we take the same amount of energy used for the preliminary unit, but travel 100 kilometers instead of 10, the weight of the preference is almost imperceptible with less than 1 % of the total power consumption to heating before the road.
The impact of winter on electricity account is remarkable
Who says excessive consumption in winter says reduced autonomy, and therefore more important charging of need. Note that in everyday life it will not change much, because for those who are loading the night and are just a few tens of kilometers a day, the routine will not change. In winter, however, more energy will be required than in summer, and this will have an impact on the account.
Take the diameters of consumption recorded in the previous table and see how it translates it in the energy account according to the price selected.
| Period | Average consumption (gross) | Cost per 100 km optional pace | Cost per 100 km Optional clock clock | Cost per 100 km Optional foundation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | 245 Wh/km | EUR 3.19 | EUR 4,17 | EUR 4,90 |
| October 2023 | 172 Wh/km | EUR 2.24 | EUR 2.92 | EUR 3.44 |
| January 2024 | 252 Wh/km | EUR 3.28 | EUR 4,28 | EUR 5.04 |
| July 2024 | 168 Wh/km | EUR 2.18 | EUR 2.86 | EUR 3.36 |
| January 2025 | 277 Wh/km | EUR 3.60 | 4.71 euros | € 5,54 |
Cost per 100 km by loading at home depending on periods and price options
If you followed the recent energy prices, you will not be surprised to see that the pace is getting the most interesting price challenge, but that’s not what we are interested in. In summer you can run less than 2.5 €/100 km, but in winter it is necessary to count around 3.5 €/100 km, because consumption increases sharply.
Again, for someone who combines their electric car daily, nothing will change in terms of customs, but it is clearly visible to the account. But even at 3.5 €/100 km, the electric car remains much more economical than the thermal equivalent, so don’t worry about winter.
