Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Electric cars - a question.

I know some ot you are fans of the electric car so I have a question

How do their ancillaries impact on range, especially heating and air con?

I’ve been watching Vintage Voltage but no mention has ever been made of heating the old cars that they convert. Fella had a really nice mini converted that must have cost in excess of £40k (and devalued it too probably). Wouldn’t fancy traipsing round in that without a heating during the winter

Ta

Ancilliaries consume power and reduce range as indeed they do with petrol. I believe that in winter with heating on etc, the real; life range of a modern EV is reduced by 30%. That does depend on whether they have a heat pump as some now do.

Without a doubt. De-icing windscreen is also an issue given lack of heat flow from IC engine. General heating is mitigated by use of heated seats though.

I can only speak from my Tesla experience. The car takes no longer to heat/cool than an ICE car, and has the bonus that as long as the car is plugged in then pre-heating doesn't use any battery energy. Hetting into a defrosted car with the interior at 20C is a nice experience.

The latest Tesla cars have an air source heat pump/air conditioning unit that is part of a complex liquid based heating and ventilation system.
The fluid is connected to the cabin heater, engine CPU display and main car computer and the battery. A sophisticated CPU moves heat energy from where it isn't needed to where it is, for example on a cold day a car parked in the sun will harvest heat in the cabin and the car will use some of this to preheat the battery, for greater efficiency.
In winter the range of the car falls, by about 20%, but this is down to a number of factors.

I feel that any conversion of a classic to an EV is bound to compromise heating and ventilation and eat range.

My son in law has just taken delivery of a Merc EQC 400. After I had a couple of pints, he took me for a ride in it. Put his foot down. The acceleration was mind boggling and I immediately felt nauseous (car sick) to the point I asked him to slow down!. Not felt like that for 50 years.

He is getting used to it as a daily commute car. Range is proving a concern.. Round trip to work and back 194 miles. To be comfortable and based on "range left" he has to recharge at work.

The only thing more mind boggling than the acceleration is the money in pocket tax benefit change from his previous Lexus Hybrid.

Who in their right mind would spend £40K to convert an original Mini? It’s criminal what that Vintage Voltage outfit gets up to. They recently bastardised a superb Gordon Keeble which must have cost in excess of £50K to convert. A lot of fun and the glorious soundtrack of an American V8 can be had for many many years for that amount of cash. I’m sorry but I’m not a fan!

I've not really noticed an impact from heating and air con Per Se, but it has to be said that cold weather generally reduces the available range. I get around 3.6m/KWh when the weather's very cold (around 0C) but more like 4m/KWh when it's a bit warmer. I've only had the car since December 15th though so can't comment on how much more I'll get when temps are up around 20C.

Here is a test on a Skoda Enyaq with some interesting results one of them being if you have a caravan don't buy an EV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmQJUW-VyRY&t=1s

EVs make really good tow cars, but you can't go far...

Yes, I think it's going to be a very long time before EVs will be able to do jobs like this. But OTOH, they are ideally suited to dealing with the vast majority of road miles covered.