Electric car range is temperature-dependent, but still great

Back in January, in the midst of Canada's third wave of the pandemic, I finally bought an electric car, a Hyundai Kona Electric. And I have been thoroughly enjoying it ever since, particularly having all that power and acceleration at the press of a pedal, an area that my old Toyota Prius was sadly lacking in.

Range anxiety has not been an issue. In fact, it has been a pleasant surprise. The car's specs suggests that it has a range of 414km on a full charge. In practice, I was seeing about 440km over the winter. As the temperatures started increase, though, that range started to increase too, to 480km, then 520. The last time I charged it, in early June, the dash showed 563km available. Granted that goes down a little (20-30km) when you turn on the air conditioning, but it's still way more than I was expecting.

It just goes to show the radical effect that the ambient temperature has on battery performance. I had the rather unnerving (if gratifying) experience the other week of seeing my range INCREASE while I was driving. Setting off from our house near the lake, I happened to notice that the range was showing as 395km. About 3 or 4km later, I happened to notice that it was at 398km, and a couple of kilometers further on, it was showing 402km available range. What I realized was that, as I drove away from the lake and into the interior of Toronto, the temperature was gradually increasing, and the car's range gradually lengthening accordingly.

Anyway, the experience has been a very positive one thus far, although I haven't tackled a long, multi-day trip yet, there being still nowhere to go just yet, while the pandemic grinds on. Maybe I'll report back when that does finally happen.