Originally Posted by
noglider
My spouse bought a 2023 Tesla in August of 2023. The cabin heater is a heat pump. The car heats and cools the battery automatically, and it will preheat the battery before we drive if we tell it we are going to drive it. I don't know if it uses the heat pump to warm the battery. It also cools or warms the battery when we charge, depending on the conditions.
So with extra machinery and software, you can use these batteries in cold weather, but all of that comes at a cost. It's not a cost that makes sense for a bicycle light.
I was really surprised when my niece's hubby told me how much worse their Tesla performed for "mileage" in near freezing temperatures compared to normal temperatures, but for them the car works great as a primary commuter. They have a gas car too for longer trips. I think the one with the short commute drives the gas car, the longer commuter drives the EV. But longer trips, they tried that once in the Tesla and had trouble getting it charged without spending a lot of time and effort to do so.
I am retired, so no commuting. I average about 4000 miles a year in a vehicle, buying any vehicle that is new makes no sense, the warranty would end before the oil needs changing. And more than half my vehicle miles are on trips of several hundreds of miles, so an EV makes no sense for me. Most of my in town trips are on a bicycle. (Exception, as I type this it is minus 9 degrees (F) outside, not biking anywhere this week, we had something like 20 inches of snow last week.) I do not have a heated garage to store an EV with it's battery inside in this kind of weather. The 19 year old Volvo will do for my dentist appt today.