Now that we have a new president that is interested in solving the so-called problems of global warming, it’s made me start thinking once more about the electric car. Also, since we are having some of the coldest weather in recent years, I began to think about what it takes to heat that electric car.

In conventional cars with an ICE (internal combustion engine) we use waste heat from the cooling system to keep us warm in the winter. This heat is a result of the huge inefficiency of the ICE (internal combustion engine). If not for that inefficiency, the gasoline engine would be an excellent option to power our vehicles. In the past two decades we have made huge advances in engine design, but we are nowhere near where we need to be in efficiency.

I began to ask myself, how do we heat the passenger compartment of the electric or hybrid cars. The hybrid offers a logical, and tried and true, source of heat, the internal combustion engine. After some research I found that when first starting the hybrid car the ICE runs until the engine rises to the proper operating temperature. It is only then that your car becomes truly electric.

Obviously while the ICE is running you have a ready source of heat. The hybrid car doesn’t use that source of heat, but chooses to use electric heaters. The more heat you need to stay warm, the more the ICE will run to keep the batteries charged. I haven’t as of yet found numbers on this, but I would assume in frigid temperatures the ICE rarely turns off. Maybe this tells us that the hybrid car is more suitable for temperate climates.

While on the same subject, lets look at the cooling of hybrid vehicles. They use electric air conditioners much like the ones in your home. Although the ICE will not have to run to keep itself warm, as it will in cold weather, it surely will have to run often to provide the needed electricity to keep us fresh on our way to work. Anyone living in the southern USA can vouch that air conditioning is a necessity unless you want to arrive at work with your clothes soaked and your hair a stringy mess.

Now lets look at the electric car in severe climates. As someone that has more than thirty years in AC and DC motor controls I can promise you that heat is the electric car’s worst enemy. On days when the climate control in the buildings where I worked went out, we found ourselves putting electric fans in front of control opened panels. Many of the control panels were so sensitive to heat they had their own refrigerated cooling systems.

So far in electric vehicles I have not heard this problem addressed. I am sure they use very efficient ventilating systems for the vehicle’s controls. Will that be enough as those components age? The space industry uses especially hardened electronics for their mission, and still a large portion of their energy goes to maintaining the proper operating temperatures for the components.  Hardening electronics for extreme temperatures raises the cost drastically.

In winter or summer do not be surprised if your mileage per charge drops drastically in the electric car. I just hope you take this into account when buying your hybrid or electric vehicle. Too often all we hear about these vehicles are the positives, rarely the negatives.

Do not forget that behind the electric and hybrid cars is a political agenda. Many honestly feel we need to do something to stop global warming, and some day the facts may bare this out. Right now look at your choices and don’t act out of guilt when buying your car, or else you might find yourself turning off your heater in subzero temperature to get home in your electric car.

http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/electricCar.htm

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