As the US Winter takes an icy grip,, Americans’ interest in electric vehicles hots up.

Volkswagen ID.4 SUV is due in showrooms in weeks. Some EV-curious drivers are concerned about how an electric vehicle stacks up as the snow piles up on the sidewalks.

The answer is: quite well, and all owners have to do is take use the benefits EV technology.

Other GayCarBoys EV Stories:

“Winter isn’t a reason to avoid joining the EV revolution,” said Matthew Renna, vice president of E-mobility and innovation at Volkswagen of America. “We’ve designed the ID.4 to make the transition to electric driving as seamless as possible regardless of the season, and we think owners will enjoy it year round.”

Above: This Week’s VIDEO Car Review -2020 Suzuki Swift Sport

GayCarboys Subscribe to our channel

Help Support Gay Car Boys Subscribe to our Youtube Channel 

ABOVE: 2021 VW ID4

Cold temperatures can affect the efficiency of all vehicles. It isn’t that EV batteries perform worse in cold temperatures, but that heating uses vastly more energy. In a conventional car, the engine burns fuels, the engine heats up, and that heat is used to warm the cabin. An electric vehicle motor is 95 percent efficient, but heating is electric rather than using hot water from the engine.

Heaters lower an EV’s range, especially when the outside temperature dips under freezing. The Volkswagen ID.4 EV has several technologies to minimise that reduction.

The first is pre-heating. Like those who warm a fossil fuelled vehvilce prior to being driven, Volkswagen’s Car-Net mobile app¹ can be used to connect to your car. Heating can be turned on while the ID.4 while it’s still connected to the charger.

This uses energy via the plug, which is in turn connected to the main power grid. The vehicle leaves the charger full, warm, and ready for the road. Just like cooling in summer, the power used to bring the vehicle to the desired temperature is substantially more than maintaining that temperature at cruising speed.

All 2021 VW ID.4 EV’s have heated front seats and heated steering wheels. Heating directly is more efficient than just wafting warm air around the cabin. ID.4 also has an electric resistance heater as part of the Climatronic automatic climate control system. This starts heating straight away, whereas fossil-fuelled cars have to wait for the engine to warm up.

By next winter, the ID.4 will get four-wheel-drive powered by 302 hp from two electric motors. AWD gets a better grip in ice and snow as shown in frost-bound countries like Norway. There, EV sales are around 40% of all vehicle sales.