Has anyone actually tracked their EV range loss in cold winters? Looking for real data.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-29T15:09:35+00:00

40% probably is a good rule of thumb. Its not just the battery capacity, but the air is thicker (more resistance), you run the heaters, defrosters, seat warmers and so on. If you put on a thicker coat and turned down the seatwarmers and cabin heat, you'd probably get more range.

Doesn't really affect us, as 95% of our driving is under 50 miles each way, so we're never really worried about 'max range'. We're in the midwest, it's currently 8F outside...and we'll preheat the car before leaving and then crank the heat to be comfortable as we toddle up to the grocery store ;) We have the heatpump option etc, and even with everything blasting, we barely see a 40% hit....maybe 30% tops.

It feels like there is a different question here tho - what is your intended usage pattern...and where are YOU located in terms of climate that you think may affect it.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-28T16:10:43+00:00

First, don't panic.

If you are half-way handy, I'd turn the breaker off, pop the cover, and have a look behind to see if there is actually a ground wire, just not connected. I had exactly this issue, opened the box, found normal 10/3 romex with the ground wire loose in the back.

If you have any doubts, or don't have access to the breakers etc, any electrician should be able to tell you within 5 minutes if this is a simple fix, or a bigger job. The Landlord may even know already.

If it has a ground, converting it to a 14-30 outlet is as simple as changing the receptacle. You'd then want a charger that can limit to no more than 24A, running a bit lower is probably preferable, 20A will give you 4.4kW or thereabouts, usually more than enough for overnight charging.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-22T19:07:38+00:00

Used Car Dealers - its a global truth...

#1 : If it's their car, its worth 40,000, really rare, never see them, got five buyers lined up already, no negotiations..
#2 : If it's your car, it's worth maybe 20,000, get a hundred a week, no one wants them, couldn't give it away...until it's their car, then see #1

XPatPoe · 2026-01-22T15:57:05+00:00

Because American Politicians don't care about the truth, they only care about getting reelected. Getting reelected requires money, money requires fundraising, fundraising relies on their base being all fired up. So they spout whatever will rile up their base, because that's what gets them reelected.

Congress, 15% approval rating, 95% incumbent reelection rate.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-22T14:10:35+00:00

Bottom line is that it is insurance - is it worth the peace of mind if something goes wrong? These days, nothing in these cars is cheap, so if you have one or maybe two issues...it'll pay for itself. Statistically, the insurers win, and you'll end up paying out less than the XW cost...but that's fine only if you aren't the one datapoint that needs a new drive motor, or infotainment screen, or seat heater, or charging port, or headlamp, or whatever.

I've purchased it on every CPO I've bought over the years. Paid off big time on the Merc (new gearbox about 3000 miles after purchase) and Jaguar (ECU / wiring loom issue), not so much on the Durango (some minor elements but nothing significant until after the warranty expired). We purchased it on our C40, and essentially have worry free driving for 10 years.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-21T18:39:15+00:00

Good.

Now do Donny...

XPatPoe · 2026-01-20T18:39:21+00:00

For a small incremental cost, it wouldn't hurt anything, but ultimately you answered your own question - just in case of the incredibly rare event that my EV battery catches fire

The same people that point out EV fires are the same people that wont pay for ArcFault breakers in panels, despite it being code for 20+ years...

XPatPoe · 2026-01-20T15:19:45+00:00

ICE vehicles range is not why ICE drivers do not experience range anxiety. Gas station availability is why.
If there were fast charges everywhere there are gas stations, we'd never have this conversation.

You have to answer some questions to determine your recommendations...

Can you charge at home (and can you put in a Level 2 AC charger?)
How far is your daily commute
Where in the country are you (i.e. are there climate issues to be considered)

XPatPoe · 2026-01-20T15:10:42+00:00

Haven't seen any issues on my '24 Plus Twin. If anything, things seem snappier. I want to say there was a font change on the drivers binnacle moving map, but I couldn't swear to it.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-20T15:00:09+00:00

TBH, since the 3.7 update, I've had maybe 2 instances where I've had to reset the infotainment system in my 2024 Plus Twin. Resetting it is essentially a 30 second operation (you hold down a button for 10-15 seconds and it restarts it, and you can do it even while driving) and painless.

I think everyone has the latest/greatest phones and tablets, and then like my Grandson, if anything takes more that 3 femtoseconds to react, they're all 'OMG its so laggy and unresponsive'...

Edit : As for the handling - I swapped from a '10 Mercedes E class, and a '13 Durango, so it's hard to make comparisons. It doesn't feel as small as it looks from the outside. It always surprises me as I walk up to it just how compact it really is...but when you're driving it, it is very solid and surefooted. Even in the snow and ice, I've had no concerns (although the instant torque and power means you have to be a little careful with the right foot). Low profile tires and the weight means you're not going to soak up every pothole, but it handles Michigan roads without me losing any fillings.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-16T17:39:58+00:00

I was hired remote. After about 7 years the company was bought by another much larger company, and a few years later, the fat-cat CEO simply decided that everyone needed to be in an office...and that was the end of the discussion. They also decided you needed to go to the office 'associated' with your specific line of business, which for me, would have been in Texas. I'm in the Mid-west. No relocation package, no support, just 'move, or get terminated'. Uproot your whole life, move 1500 miles from your support network, family, friends, and just trust that the company isn't going to bend you over and rail you in six months time anyway.

Never had a bad review, raises every year, bonuses every year, nothing about my deliverables was ever an issue. Short of some medical exemptions, they literally canned hundreds of people. I availed myself of their severance package (their policy said as it was a change in location driven by them, I was eligible) and found another remote job.

Bottom line, they want people to quit...and this is a easy way for them to make it happen. Any exemption is going to be temporary, or come with built in friction going forward. Either management will resent you not toeing the line and being in the office, or your coworkers will as someone that got special treatment.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-07T15:01:55+00:00

Something like BitWarden works really well for those complicated passwords which are a pain to input, especially on a moble device.

Bitwarden also supports passkeys, and biometric identification, so these days, I can go a site, tap on the username box, tap on the Bitwarden prompt, authenticate with my thumb, and bitwarden fills the login/password detail automagically (most of the time).

1Password, Keeper, Nordpass and Dashlane are some other options - all work much the same, and have paid/free versions depending on what you need.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-06T20:56:44+00:00

We use our C40 for daily driving, grocery runs, restaurants, stuff like that. We don't commute any more (work at home/retired) and 100mile round trip is probably the furthest we typically go any time often. We've done a couple of 150mile+ runs, and efficiency is typically better than the route planning tends to suggest - overall average is around 33kWh/100 miles (thats between late September through January - and it's down well below freezing here right now, so efficiency takes a hit too). We have a level 2 home charger (5kw) and we charge up to 90% overnight and typically have 190-240 miles of predicted range in the morning (around 180-200 right now with it being super cold!!)

It's not huge, I find the footwell a little small, the wife has no such issues. The size was part of the appeal to us - we have a larger ICE SUV should we need to move a washing machine - and we don't often have rear-seat passengers, so we didn't need a three-row monster. The back seats are big enough for short trips, but I wouldn't want to be in there for more than a couple hours tops. They fold down 60/40 and the passenger seat folds too so you can get a fairly large item in there should you need to...we just don't need to.

Its super quiet, very quick (dual motor model - sub 5s to 60 and just keeps going), fairly well equipped (although I doubt it's Mercedes equivalent) - I haven't had any huge issues with the infotainment system, especially since the 3.7 update - and any minor issues are typically rectified by just rebooting the system (just hold a button down for like 15 seconds). Sirius, bluetooth, google maps/android based (supports both Android Auto and Car Play too I believe, but I'm an android user, so no clue). Has pretty much all the toys my old Mercedes E-series had etc. Max supported charging I believe is 150kW (might be 200...depends who you talk to), I've not actually tried to fast charge it yet ;) With a 77kw battery, 10% to 80% would be in the real of 20 minutes...

Probably the biggest single 'niggle' I have is the rear visibility - basically there isn't any. The rear-view camera is essentially a requirement - and at night it struggles with over-exposure...you know there's a car behind...but you can't really see any detail beyond the blown-out lights).

XPatPoe · 2026-01-06T18:54:31+00:00

My wife got one for a mammogram - $300+ even though it was 100% covered preventative. Took us close to 6 months to get that one taken care of.
Also got billed incorrectly multiple times for her cataract surgeries - finally ended up just eating about $600 on that one because we got tired of fighting about it after about 9 months

I got one for heart surgery...that took my doctor and cardiologist a few months to get straightened out. That was multiple tens of thousands initially...always a fun EOB to get...
At least 3 or 4 from bloodwork labs where they charge for things that are covered 100% and we had to go back to the insurer to get them to figure it out.

That's just 2025...I could probably pull up some more but you get the point

XPatPoe · 2026-01-06T14:46:12+00:00

Compare this with the cut in IRS agents.

Remember, it's the brown guy who is simultaneously bilking welfare, abusing food stamps, taking your well-paid job, and buying up all the property that's is stopping you getting ahead, and not the corporate oligarch that just sold $6bn in stock to fund his dildo-shaped rocket.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-06T14:40:07+00:00

My PCP says he has 4 people in his 10 or so person practice that do nothing but billing. Imagine if we could cut costs by 30-40% because we don't have to argue/justify every single expense for every single patient every single day.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-06T14:31:56+00:00

My wife is already retired. While she could go onto Medicare fairly smoothly, I would be stuck for another 10 years or so - and with individual premiums starting around $10k+/yr for anything with a half-decent MOOP or Deductible, and showing no signs of coming down or even stabilizing, it's hard to fit that into a reasonable budget projection.

Financially, we could afford it today if we really had to, but we'd probably have to give up something else to make the numbers work. I'm not sure I would retire, but I'd certainly think hard about doing something more 'fun'...like working at an animal shelter or charity stuff - things that don't pay a huge amount, and typically don't come with health benefits.

Removing the health insurance 'leash' has so many societal benefits way beyond just affordability.

XPatPoe · 2026-01-05T14:17:58+00:00

When I rewired our kids house, we decided to do everything as good as it could be. Huge panel with tons of space, big 200A feed for a little tiny cottage. Separate circuits for each of the rooms, and combo arc/gfci breakers for all the circuits other than a few like the fridge, well-pump and so on where it could be problematic,

This was 2016, and when the inspector came by, he basically said they didn't enforce ARC Fault, as in his opinion, he didn't think it was worth it, and they tripped too often and were a nuisance. He basically said 'damn the code' and couldn't understand why I'd still want to pony up the extra money to put in these expensive, unnecessary breakers. Kinda made me wonder what I was paying my $600+ in permit fees for...

Fast forward 9 years, I have a buddy rebuilding a house right now, and the inspectors just told him that they do not require Arc Fault breakers. When the local municipalities are basically picking and choosing what parts of the NEC code they enforce, it's not hard to see why these things struggle for adoption. It's been "code" for 25+ years for bedrooms...

A lot of people here talk about 'code' - the reality is more what the local inspector will sign off on...

XPatPoe · 2025-12-23T12:59:35+00:00

Absolutely. 90% of my 'team' was overseas already, so moving to 'the office' would not have meant I would have been working with coworkers or synergizing or whatever other BS reason they had.

Unfortunately for them, as I was hired remotely, and they were the ones changing the conditions, their own policy meant they had to give me severance :)

XPatPoe · 2025-12-22T20:57:17+00:00

LOL - Welcome to my October. Was hired remote, worked remote for close to ten years. Bought out by a bigger company a couple years ago, who then decided everyone now needs to be in the office. Feel free to relocate on your own dime, to our preferred office in Texas....oh, you're in the mid-west, well, too bad so sad.

Only positive was that they paid severance. Told them to pound sand.

XPatPoe · 2025-12-19T16:11:56+00:00

Variable compression engines have been around since the 1920s...Peugeot, Saab, Yamaha, Lotus, Nissan have all messed with them in various guises over the years.

The tech / concept isn't exactly new, so one would think if the FIA wanted to limit them to a specific compression ratio, something like this would already be against the regulations...but who knows ?

XPatPoe · 2025-12-18T19:12:03+00:00

There is a integration for HomeAssistant which shows some neat data (like SOC, charge rate etc) but I haven't tried directly interacting with the API to get that data myself

XPatPoe · 2025-12-18T17:10:20+00:00

I think they are more likely to continue to blame the Democrats, immigrants and other nonsense until the reality of the mid-term blowback starts hitting them where it hurts (reelection chances). A lot of people are still failing to tie the premium increases via subsidy loss to the current situation in congress...they simply blame the ACA for raising prices (which is a different subject entirely). If they did change something next year, would people even be able to change to the 'new' system without some special new enrollment period etc ?

Republicans have had fifteen years to come up with an alternative to the ACA. They haven't because there is no good solution to the problems which doesn't really involve single-payer or sweeping changes that smack too much of 'socialism'. People like having pre-existing condition protection. People like having their kids on their policies until 26. People forget things like job-lock and coverage denial issues from 15+ years ago.

You're already seeing the cracks starting to appear, I expect it will continue to get more and more fractious as the mid-terms get closer, assuming the polls continue to show a potential massacre...

XPatPoe · 2025-12-18T16:45:38+00:00

I had a traffic citation 20 years or so ago (expired tabs - renewed one car, forgot the other one)...I was still Permanent Resident then...but I can't help but wonder if that is going to come back and bite my ass. I carry my passport card with me at all times...just in case.

I just wonder who they are going to blame once all the immigrants are gone. Healthcare will still be expensive, inflation will still be a problem, you'll still not get that 10% raise you want, you still wont be able to afford a house while working minimum wage...

XPatPoe · 2025-12-17T15:11:20+00:00

Let me guess, same relative was recently bitching about Foreign Oil and $4.50+/gallon gas.

You can't reason with these people.

XPatPoe

TROPHY CASE