It's now been two years since I've converted a 2002 Saturn Vue from gasoline to all electric. Other than a few minor hiccups, as previously documented, the Vue has been my daily commuter five or six days a week. It now has over 10K electric miles on it.
This winter was a little tough for using the Vue. Everyone who has ever driven a regular car in the winter knows that the starter battery isn't quite as "peppy" when it is cold out. Well lead acid batteries in electric cars are just as finicky about the cold.
On a nice hot summer day, dead empty for my two year old batteries is probably about 35 miles. This poses no problem since my round trip commute is 20 miles. (My wife continually reminds me that it is only 13 miles if I don't go out of my way to get coffee. But it's really good coffee!)
Anyway, I digress. During the winter my range drops to about 20 miles. That means for my 20 mile round trip I need to charge at work in order to make it home. No problem. I have an outlet behind my office. Eight hours is more than enough time to recharge to full.
So my winter routine is drive to work 13 miles one way. Charge eight hours during the work day. Drive back home 7 miles. No problem at all....except for the snow.
You might be asking yourself what does snow have to do with electric vehicle range. My answer would be nothing. Except for when it comes down....and down...and down.. and down...for a total of about two feet over a couple weeks.
You still might be asking what does that have to do with the car? Roads get plowed and the Vue is front wheel drive. So that's not a problem. And the car has a great electric heater. So that's not a problem. What's the problem?
Glad you asked:-). The problem is that all of that snow has to get plowed somewhere. And the guys at my office complex decided that the best place to plow it was in a corner...behind my office...where the outlet is located :-( Yep, several feet high and deep of rock solid plowed snow right where I need to plug in.
I thought about trying to dig it out but then the second shoe dropped...more snow. And this time the outlet wasn't the problem. You see I have to plow the snow in my drive somewhere. And after all the snow had been plowed as far off the drive as possible the only place left for me to plow it was in front of the garage bay where the Vue is stored :-( So now not only couldn't I recharge at work, I couldn't even get the car out of the house!
Luckily the snow melted, the garage door unblocked, the plug visible, and the Vue back on the road for the last several weeks :-)
