Cold winter means wrapping up a big padded jacket and stepping on snow boots! Don’t forget to take good care of your beloved car after winter equipment is complete~ Today, let’s popularize the common sense of winter car use, car owners, listen carefully! ! !
When it comes to the common sense of car use and maintenance in winter, I believe everyone can tell one or two points. If you are an old hand, you can definitely talk about it for a long time. But when it comes to new energy vehicles, it may "spread your hands". Now, more and more people choose to buy electric vehicles, so how much do you know about the common sense of charging and using electric vehicles in winter?
1 Fully Warm Up the Car
The battery activity of new energy vehicles is relatively low in winter, and warming up the car in advance in a low temperature environment can make the power battery reach the ideal working temperature. Therefore, new energy vehicles also need to be properly warmed up. If the car is not warmed up, it will affect the cruising range, because direct and violent driving will result in high power consumption, low speed, and will reduce the cruising range. Under the same power consumption, a battery that has been fully heated by a hot car runs faster than a cold battery that has not been heated.
When electric car is warming up, it is not idling on the spot, but driving at a low speed to achieve the purpose of warming up the car. When standing still, the battery does not work at all. Only during slow driving can the coolant in the battery gradually heat up. Be careful not to accelerate or decelerate rapidly during this process.
2 Precautions for Charging
- Charging in winter to ensure that the tip of the gun is dry, it is recommended to charge slowly
New energy vehicles are mainly divided into plug-in hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles. Regardless of the power mode, you should ensure that the tip of the gun is dry and clean when charging in winter. If charging is performed when the charging plug is dusty or wet, it may cause damage to the vehicle. Therefore, when using a public charging pile in a large parking lot, you should pay attention to whether the charging plug is clean.
AC slow charging is recommended for daily use, especially when using public charging piles outdoors. Because slow charging can better protect the battery pack and prolong the life of the battery pack than fast charging. Reasonable allocation of fast charging and slow charging is the key to maintaining the battery pack.
- Do not discharge deeply, and charge regularly even if it is idle for a long time
It is suggested that you should try to avoid frequent deep discharge and pay attention to the power of the car, but it is still possible to recharge the battery once in a while to stimulate the activity of the battery. Like the battery of a fuel vehicle, the vehicle will lose power if it is idle for a long time, which will cause great damage to the battery. For new energy vehicles, this is even more fatal. Therefore, even if the car is idle, you should always check the battery and replenish it in time. This will ensure that the battery is in a healthy state.
In winter, there may be such a situation: the day before, the ev still had 70% of its electricity, but after driving it one night later, it was found that there was a "leakage"! In fact, this is not leakage, but caused by "low temperature". When an electric vehicle is running, the battery is in a state of continuous discharge, and the battery will heat up during discharge, so the battery itself is relatively hot, and the battery voltage is relatively high, so it can be seen that the remaining power of the electric car is relatively large. However, after a whole night in a low-temperature winter night, the battery has cooled down long ago and the voltage has dropped, which is why the BMS will automatically adjust the displayed power and cruising range.
3 Precautions for Using A Car
- Reasonable storage of vehicles
In winter, try to park the vehicle in the garage if possible, or take certain measures to keep warm and prevent freezing, such as covering it with a warm tarpaulin to ensure battery activity and battery capacity.
- Try to avoid slamming on the gas pedal
In winter, when the vehicle is starting, carrying people, or going uphill, try to avoid slamming on the accelerator to accelerate, it will cause a large current discharge. Driving in winter should be driven at a constant speed to keep the battery healthy
- Don't slam the steering wheel
When driving on a slippery road, if you slam the steering wheel, you will lose steering control in an instant, and the vehicle will also cause accidents due to inertial sliding. Whenever you are driving on a slippery road, you should slow down and turn the steering wheel lightly.
- Select click brake
When driving on icy and snowy roads in winter, if you step on the brakes directly, the vehicle will easily lose control. If you want to control the vehicle to the maximum while driving, you must perform continuous point braking, so that the braking effect is the best.
- Clean up the body dirt in time
Timely cleaning of car body dirt is a problem that needs attention in every season, but it is especially important in winter. Some car owners will use deicing agent to quickly melt snow after snowfall, but some components of deicing agent may corrode the paint surface on the car. In addition, for ev owners, the melted snow may also freeze around the charging port. If it is not cleaned up in time, it will easily cause short circuit and leakage during charging. Dirt and snow are necessary for winter driving safety.
Next, let me share a few Common Problems with evs in winter:
- Antifreeze is used, but the motor or electronically controlled cooling system fails, resulting in motor damage --> antifreeze failure
- Vehicle lights are dimmed in foggy weather in winter --> bulb aging
- The wiper is deformed or the windshield is frozen --> the glass water is not suitable for low temperature weather, and it freezes below zero
- Sudden short circuit of current, even spontaneous combustion --> spontaneous combustion caused by dry winter, or line damage
- Driving skidding in rainy and snowy weather --> tire friction coefficient becomes lower at low temperature, and tire pressure is unstable