The range of electric cars becomes significantly shorter if there is not enough coolant in the car.
Danish electric drivers are rarely aware of that connection, and it can cost them dearly.
For electric car owners, the coming summer heat poses a particularly big challenge. Just like with petrol and diesel cars, the air conditioning system in an electric car must be continuously filled with coolant, but in the electric car it can significantly affect the range if there is not enough. This is explained by Christian Rud Ingvardsen, owner of Christonik, who are specialists in air conditioning solutions for cars.
In cooperation with FDM Christonik has tested the correlation between the amount of coolant and the power consumption of a Hyundai Ionic 5. By halving the amount of coolant from 900 to 450, the power consumption almost doubled.
– When the car loses coolant – and it does so continuously – the compressor needs more power to cool, and in addition to keeping the cabin cool, the electric car’s batteries must also be cooled to function optimally. When more power is used for cooling, there is less to run on, says Christian Rud Ingvardsen, and emphasizes:
– A cooling system may well have lost half of the coolant without you noticing it, because the air conditioning system can still keep the car cool in the Danish climate, but in electric cars it has a big effect on the range – and to an even greater extent, the warmer it is is.
A lot to save for Danish electric drivers
Electric car sales in Denmark reached a new milestone in May, when half of the new cars were electric. With the positive development, according to Jesper Valentin Lund, who is concept manager for Denmark’s largest network of electric car workshops – Det Grønne e, it is a growing challenge that many electric car owners are not aware of both the consumption of coolant and the effect if not enough is filled on.
– Many electric drivers don’t notice at all if they use more power than usual, because you just go home and plug it in, and then it’s ready for the next morning. If you have an electric car, it is therefore a good idea to have the amount of coolant checked regularly, because if the system has, for example, lost half, you can expect the power consumption to double, and this results in a significantly shorter range, says Jesper Valentin Lund.
From comfort to safety
Where the car’s air conditioning system was previously only for comfort, today it plays an important role in relation to the range of electric cars, and ultimately it can even affect the car’s reliability.
– In the past, the AC system only had to ensure that it was nice in the cabin, but today it also cools a number of electrical components such as the battery. If you do not have optimal cooling in your system, your electrical components work harder and therefore become more worn and lose their lifespan, says Jesper Valentin Lund and points out:
– The temperature is critical in relation to the capacity of electric car batteries, but a lack of cooling can also result in expensive repairs, and in the worst case you can burn a battery.
Source: it-kanalen.dk
