It’s cold outside. Some people like it, some don’t. Drivers of electric vehicles typically don’t like it, because consumption is higher and range is lower.

Just in case you never thought about it: Internal combustion engines are not very efficient, but you can use the waste heat to heat up the interior including the windshield. That is a pretty good side effect, and whether you want to drive wearing a T-Shirt or not does not matter, since the energy needed for heating is available anyway.

An electric vehicle is much more efficient. However, that also means that you have to use “good” energy to heat up the interior. And heating with electrical power has never been a good idea from an efficiency perspective.

Now, what’s my consumption? Is it higher than in summer?

Absolutely. I do not have precise statistics, but here’s an observation:

I have had the Tesla for one year now. I have done some 17,000 kilometers. My average consumption was 21.4 kWh per 100 km. This corresponds to approximately 2.5 Liters of gasoline per 100 km or 94 miles per gallon. Not bad for a sports car.

As you can see on the picture, my current consumption is 38.6 kWh/100km. This number covers two different trips: one last Thursday to a restaurant with a customer and one trip to town and back today. The consumption of my trip back home was 47.5 kWh/100km. We had 6 degrees C, and it was raining. Traffic was dense, so it took like 25 minutes for 6 km. You know what I mean: this kind of stop-and-go traffic where you think “If I had taken my bike, I would have been faster.”

Long story short: I was definitely not driving fast, but my consumption is roughly 100% higher than normal. That’s why we, the pioneers of electric mobility, are looking forward to higher ambient temperatures again.

I’ll keep you posted.