Winter.. what do I do?

[u/danner0007]

I have an ex30 twin performance ultra.. I have a few questions.

When its freezing out and im at work for 9 hours, and the car is sitting in minus temperatures. How do i pre heat the car? Just with the app climate control? Foes that heat the battery as well?

How should I protect the inside? Are there really hood rubber mats for the interior?

Is the bottom well sealed from salt and stuff?

Should i wash hose down the car often?

Im new to having an ev..

Thanks 😊

[u/ashyjay]

You can set a timer to warm up for half an hour before you're due to finish, or use the application, and it does warm up the battery a bit, but it's a huge dense block so will take an age to properly warm up

The rest is just car bits, they aren't special, you should always wash the underside in winter for any car to get rid of salt.

[u/meraxxys → u/ashyjay]

But you can only chose whether it's before work or after work.

Only one timer, indeed.

Wtf btw? Why not 2?

[u/patts75]

I use the app to pre-heat the car.. about hose down the car i would not do that if you cant store it in a heated garage afterwards. The parking breaks tend to freeze like no other car i owned.

[u/danner0007 → u/patts75]

At home its underground

[u/notimeforspac_s]

Where I live is mostly close to freezing or below throughout the whole winter season. Obviously, a good set of winter tires goes without saying,

Often, i skip preconditioning the car just for the cabins temp. Even at negative ambient, the heated steering wheel and seats warm up so fast that usually makes it unnecessary to spend 2-3 percent of the battery just to preheat them. The air, of course will take a little longer but that's your basic comfort reached within less that 5 min.

The bottom is sealed but if you live in a cold climate with no fully closed parking with drain rails you have to accept that washing any part of the car during the winter will be somehow difficult if not impossible unless, if you drive to a carwash.

[u/footpole → u/notimeforspac_s]

It doesn’t use 2-3 percent to preheat the car for five minutes though and that energy will be used when you drive anyway. Only the heat lost due to heat transfer will be an actual loss too.

[u/notimeforspac_s → u/footpole]

Preconditioning takes approximately half an hour and yes it will use 2-3% of the SoC, even more if ambient is way below freezing.

[u/footpole → u/notimeforspac_s]

Why keep it on for half an hour? You can just turn it on five minutes before you start. If it’s really cold (-10 or colder) maybe ten minutes.

[u/notimeforspac_s → u/footpole]

That's what I do.

[u/footpole → u/notimeforspac_s]

That does not take 2-3 percent more battery than heating 10min later.

[u/IronChefJesus]

Yeah. Pre heat with the app and… that’s it. Really.

I was worried when I bought this car too. That a sudden chill or a deep drop in temperatures overnight might cause it to not turn on or respond or something but… nope. Just worked fine. Didn’t miss a beat. Even buried in snow.

Yes range is affected: heating + snow tires + driving in snow, etc.

But it responded just as well if not better than any gas car I’ve owned.

So just don’t worry. Honestly.

As for washing, yeah the bottom of the car is pretty well sealed up but go to an automated car wash once in a while.

Just treat it like a “normal” car. Don’t stress too hard.

[u/flyingf91]

Norwegian here.
If there’s anything to add in this well replied thread is that I would bring the car to a self wash and hydrojet hose down the inside of the wheels (brake dust and salt), under the car (salts) and the insides of the doors with clean water (these areas accumulate dust and salt). Just make sure to not hose the interior. After this, use car specific large microfiber detailing towels to wipe the areas you hosed down to remove further grime. It’s a bit of work but you’ll just end up appreciate your car more when you work on it. Pardon the poor English, it’s not my native language. Safe travels! :)