Photo: Audi
Winter-time driving is officially upon most of the northern hemisphere. More drivers than at any other point in history will be behind the wheel of electric cars, too. So Audi has gone to the trouble of explaining how you can get the most range, a warm cabin, and maintain your e-tron GT battery.
Audi interviewed two of their top EV team members to get the 411 on keeping warm in the cold weather. Pierre Woltmann, head of thermal management, laid out how the cold weather can affect the battery of the e-tron GT itself.
"The performance of a high-voltage battery is fundamentally dependent on the charge level and the temperature. The colder it is, the less power the battery can provide... Charging can take longer at low battery temperatures. For that reason, the battery has to be heated during charging, ideally even on the way to charging."
So Audi has a way to handle both issues. First, the brand says that they "protect the battery by releasing less amperage at a lower temperature." Then when it comes to charging, the car is capable of heating the battery once it's plugged in.
What about the cabin though? How are passengers kept warm without sapping the vehicle of range? Both heating and air conditioning can reduce range dramatically. Audi says they have a solution, though.
"In order to ensure a reliable supply of heat even in very cold temperatures, our heat pump system, which is built into most of our electric models, integrates additional high-voltage heaters into the operating strategy," says Thomas Anzenberger, a member of the thermal management development team.
"This ensures a comfortable interior even in extreme situations and quickly produces the ideal battery temperature of about 25 to 30 degrees Celsius (77 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit) for maximum performance. A second electric heater is available in our winter package for the particularly cold northern countries." he continues.
So Audi is confident that they have the right balance of performance and heating capability. Porsche has not released a similar interview. But the e-tron GT and the Taycan share the same platform and batteries.
Recently, a whistleblower claimed that six out of every ten Taycans sold have major battery problems. If that's true then it would seem as though we only have one long winter ahead of us to find out.
"The performance of a high-voltage battery is fundamentally dependent on the charge level and the temperature. The colder it is, the less power the battery can provide... Charging can take longer at low battery temperatures. For that reason, the battery has to be heated during charging, ideally even on the way to charging."
So Audi has a way to handle both issues. First, the brand says that they "protect the battery by releasing less amperage at a lower temperature." Then when it comes to charging, the car is capable of heating the battery once it's plugged in.
What about the cabin though? How are passengers kept warm without sapping the vehicle of range? Both heating and air conditioning can reduce range dramatically. Audi says they have a solution, though.
"In order to ensure a reliable supply of heat even in very cold temperatures, our heat pump system, which is built into most of our electric models, integrates additional high-voltage heaters into the operating strategy," says Thomas Anzenberger, a member of the thermal management development team.
"This ensures a comfortable interior even in extreme situations and quickly produces the ideal battery temperature of about 25 to 30 degrees Celsius (77 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit) for maximum performance. A second electric heater is available in our winter package for the particularly cold northern countries." he continues.
So Audi is confident that they have the right balance of performance and heating capability. Porsche has not released a similar interview. But the e-tron GT and the Taycan share the same platform and batteries.
Recently, a whistleblower claimed that six out of every ten Taycans sold have major battery problems. If that's true then it would seem as though we only have one long winter ahead of us to find out.
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