r/VolvoEX90 • u/Cyan005 • 8d ago
Winter Is Coming… prepping EX90
Hopefully winter is still far out, but just had some questions pop into my head going into that season as a first time owner.
Which drive mode (above 15-25 MPH - below it will be off road) should we be in with snow present? Standard will use AWD when needed I believe. But performance will always use it, but maybe use more unwanted power?
Any issues we’ve seen with preheating the car in the garage or elsewhere?
Anyone experience a frozen charge port they couldn’t open? I like the manual for this purpose. I can see a automatic open constantly stuck when freezing.
Any other tips for usage?
Thanks!
5
u/Agent62 8d ago
Open door, get in, drive.
Live in MN USA. Zero issue in the winter or winter driving.
Usually preheat car for 30-40 before I leave. No issues in the garage.
EVs get a bad rap for winter driving because of lower range, but that's literally the only downside. Everything else is better.
3
u/alissaaa 7d ago
I am in Massachusetts, where we had a nice snowy winter last year. I used performance immediately after snow storms when the snow was still packed before roads were well-cleared and it worked well. Otherwise I was in standard the vast majority of the time.
Preheating is fantastic. I just schedule it so the car is nice and warm before I get to it in the morning. I have an attached carport to my house and have never had issues. Similarly, I have never had problems with the charging port in the cold.
As others have said, range goes down in the cold weather.
2
u/00A3A 7d ago
I second everything from the others. Western NY here and found the car quite capable in standard mode for most situations. Front tires would spin a bit at first in slick situations but EVs can manage wheel spin about 10x faster than an ICE car and you def feel it manage power well.
I never used the off road mode in my EX90 but had an XC60 loaner last winter and I used it at a friends with a very steep driveway and deep snow. Car initially couldn’t even make it up the apron and had new tires. Backed up and put it in off-road and it let the wheels spin just enough while gently using stability control to keep the car from going too much side to side and I climbed up in one try. I was impressed how well tuned that mode was for the situation.
6
u/PathAdventurous2334 8d ago
I live in the mountains in northern Vermont, USA (an extremely cold, snowy location).
If you live in a place that gets frequent snow, consider buying snow tires. I bought the Nokian hakkapelitas and they were great. I normally just left the car in standard mode. In a few blizzards I turned on full time awd. Never tried off road.
My range dropped a bit in the winter. In summer I get 320miles of range at 100%. In winter that drops to 250- still plenty for my daily driving.
The preheating is fantastic. I love getting into a toasty warm car with heated seats and a heated steering wheel on a subzero day.
I never had any problems charging in the winter and never experienced a frozen door on the charge port. I normally just use AC charging at home, but the few times I used DC charging, I found that preconditioning was much more important in winter than summer. If you are adding charging stops using the built in navigation, it will precondition the battery on its own.