There’s nothing like a true Canadian winter to serve as the backdrop for the ultimate stress test of real-world electric vehicle performance in cold-weather driving.
Inspired by the Norwegian El Prix winter EV range test, the Canadian Automobile Association created its own slightly smaller version. In the El Prix tests, vehicles are fully charged and driven until they run out of juice to determine the delta between the advertised range and the real-world range. In the latest El Prix winter test, the car with the longest claimed range, the Tesla Model 3, not only lost but came in near the bottom. Rather, it was the Polestar 3 that topped the list, achieving 330 miles (205 km) with a rated range of 348 miles (216 km).
But back to Canada, where fourteen EVs were driven from Ottawa to Mont Tremblant in sub-zero temperatures. The temperature varied from -7° C (19.4° F) to -15° C (5° F).
The results? Out of the 14 EVs, two did surprisingly well. The results for the rest can just be described as damning.
The vehicles were grouped together in caravans of four or five EVs and left Ottawa at different times depending on rated range with the goal of reaching Mont Tremblant, Murielle Pierre, manager of public affairs for the CAA, told a reporter.
Not all made it.
The winner, in terms of how little range it lost compared to the official range according to Natural Resources Canada, known colloquially as NRCan, was a tie between the Polestar 2 and the Chevrolet Silverado EV. Both were able to drive 86% of their rated range, which meant they only lost 14%.
The Polestar, of 444 km (276 miles) and achieved 384 km (237 miles) until it could no longer move under its own power, while the Chevrolet Silverado EV has a range of 724 km (450 miles) and achieved 456 km (283 km).
Snow plows are supersized in the region.
The two winners were followed by the Kia EV9, which lost 20% of its range; the Honda Prologue, which lost 24%; the Volkswagen ID.4, which lost 28%; the Kia Niro EV and the Tesla Model 3, which both lost 30%; the Ford Mustang Mach E, which lost 31%; the Chevrolet Equinox, which lost 34%; the Ford F-150 Lightning, which lost 35%; the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which lost 36%; the Toyota bZ4X, which lost 37%; and the Volvo XC40 Recharge, which lost 39%.
The range calculations were adjusted to reflect that the Chevrolet Silverado EV started at a 73% state of charge and that the Ford F-150 Lightning started at an 89% state of charge.
All vehicles other than the Tesla were charged using 350 kW chargers. The Tesla was charged at 150 kW due to compatibility requirements with a non-Tesla adapter.
Pêche sur glace. An ice-fishing house.
The CAA also tested each vehicle on how many displayed kilometers its gauge added when attached to a DC Fast Charger for 15 minutes. The winner was the Tesla, which added 205 km (127 miles), followed by the Silverado with 199 km (124 miles), the Equinox with 131 km (81 miles), the Polestar 2 with 120 km (80 miles), the ID.4 with 112 km (70 miles), and the F-150 Lightning with 109 km (68 miles). The rest of the vehicles didn’t even manage to add 100 km and the Toyota bZ4X only managed to add an embarrassing 19 km (12 miles) in this test.
In addition, due to an unspecified complication, one EV, the Kia EV6 did not participate in the range test, Pierre said, but it did participate in the charge test, while another vehicle, the Honda Prologue, was not included in the charge test as it encountered an error and data was unavailable.
During the tests, charging was provided by CAFU, which specializes in mobile charging solutions for fleets, and some of the vehicles tested were provided by Plug ‘n Drive, a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable transportation.
(Photos: Accura Media Group)
A snowy road in Montebello.
