If you've ever started an EV on a freezing morning and wondered where all those missing miles went, you're not imagining it. Electric vehicles can lose a substantial amount of driving range in cold weather, sometimes enough to make a familiar trip suddenly require a charging stop.
The battery is part of the reason, but it is not the whole story. Cold temperatures affect the battery's chemistry, while heating the cabin and bringing the battery up to its preferred operating temperature also consume electricity. Put all of that together, and winter can be a serious hit to an EV's efficiency. So why does cold weather have such an outsized effect on an electric car?
