8
votes
Is it realistic to operate a fleet of electric buses in countries like Norway? Tackling challenges with the range of buses being shorter in cold weather.
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- Title
- Was Oslo paralysed after all electric buses broke down in the cold?
- Published
- Dec 30 2023
- Word count
- 714 words
One would think there would be a way to insulate the batteries well enough to protect against this. Changing schedules and shortening routes doesn't address the issue at its source.
I'm not an auto engineer, but if I can wear enough layers to keep myself perfectly toasty in -11C, surely there is an equivalent for the machines.
In the industry my company works with, some manufacturers use vents that mechanically open when the interior gets warm. The temperature change actually does it automatically with no power required.
But batteries get hot when you draw or apply current to them. That’s why EV batteries are typically water cooled. If the batteries get less effective in cold weather, why not simply turn off the cooling system?
It turns out the answer is that they do already. The article doesn’t make it very clear but it seems that most of the problem is logistical in nature. The range is going down because the battery is being used to heat the bus. Busses are hard to heat because they aren’t usually insulated well, are large, and spend a lot of times with the big doors being open. It’s also going down because the battery is being used to heat itself to prevent permanent losses from freezing, which can be avoided by keeping it plugged in while it’s not being used, much the same as you would do with an engine block heater on an ICE vehicle. Insulation is an imperfect solution on its own because unlike a person the battery is not generating heat when idle.