Driving an EV in winter? Do THIS to protect your range! Pro tips revealed

Cold weather can be hard on electrical vehicle range– however with the ideal knowledge, you can keep driving further, much safer and more comfortably all winter season long. In this video, we share our top suggestions for maximising EV range in freezing temperature levels, from smart pre-conditioning and heating tricks to driving style.
We'll likewise describe why EVs really have some huge advantages over fuel and diesel cars in snow and ice– including smoother power delivery, instant traction control and the advantages of regenerative braking in slippery conditions. If you think EVs are even worse in winter, this video might simply change your mind.
Whether you're facing icy early mornings, snowy roadways or simply trying to squeeze every mile out of your battery during the huge freeze, this guide will assist you remain positive behind the wheel all season long.
#ElectricCars #EVTips #WinterDriving #EVRange #ColdWeather
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MORE ABOUT ELECTRIFYING.COM. Electrifying.com is the # 1 location for electrical car reviews, explainers and guides. Established by Ginny Buckley, we bring you the current updates on EVs and thorough reviews of the hottest brand-new models. Whether you're switching to electrical or just curious, our plain-English guides and expert guidance make it simple to navigate the world of electric vehicles. Stay informed, make confident choices, and sign up with the electrical transformation with Electrifying.com! #ElectricCars #EVReviews #SwitchToElectric #GinnyBuckley #NicolaHume #nickishields. 0:00– Do EVs Truly Dislike Winter? Arctic Circle Test. Electric vehicles vs freezing temperatures: myth or reality

? 0:20– How Much Range Do EVs Lose in Cold Weather? Genuine winter variety loss
explained (10– 30 %) and why it differs. 0:46– Why EV Power Shipment

Is Much better on Snow & Ice. Instantaneous torque, regen braking, and icy hill control. 1:43– Why Winter Is Difficult on EV Batteries.

Battery temperature level, performance, and winter season performance.
2:15– EV Preconditioning Explained (The # 1 Winter Season Suggestion).

Warm the battery & cabin before driving to conserve variety.
3:08– Where Your EV's Energy Goes in Winter.

Driving vs warming vs battery care– genuine information breakdown.
3:37– Quick Charging in Winter Season: What You Need to Know.

Cold batteries, sluggish charging & how to repair it.
4:02– Why Cabin Heating Eliminates EV Variety. Why EVs lose range faster than

gas cars and trucks in winter season. 4:36– Heated Seats vs Climate
Control( Huge Performance Win). Heat yourself, not the

cabin ❄. 5:25– Do Heat Pumps Really Improve Winter Range? Heat pump benefits described( +8– 10 %range increase
). 5:50– Finest EV Driving Modes for Winter Season Issues. Eco vs Typical vs Performance– what to use and when. 6:56– Regenerative
Braking in Snow & Ice. More secure braking, better effectiveness, smoother control. 8:07– Winter Driving Safety Pointer That Likewise Conserves

Variety. Look ahead, brake early, regen smarter.
8:30– Smart Path Planning to Maximise EV Range.

Why slower roads can beat freeways in winter season.
9:36– Are Electric Cars Fun in Extreme Cold? EV winter season driving

decision on ice & snow. 10:02– EV Winter Season Driving Summary+ Arctic Sauna Reward ♀. Everything you require to learn about
EVs in winter.

Comments

32 responses to “Driving an EV in winter? Do THIS to protect your range! Pro tips revealed”

@robertd-dh8qm

January 5, 2026

Happy New year to all you. Looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us this year 👍🤗

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@simonevans8979

January 5, 2026

I have never used heat in my car without AC – stopping the car from misting up, even in Winter. But my car doesn’t have heated seats…

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@Gixer750K2

January 5, 2026

To be clear from your video explanation. Battery Pre-conditioning and Climate controls to warm the cabin are often different things. Warming the cabin does not mean the battery is warmed/pre conditioned. Battery pre-conditioning is primarily used to have a warm battery before using a Raid/Ultra rapid DC Charger.
Hyundai/Kia Ev’s for example (including my 2025 Ioniq 5) have a separate Battery preconditioning settings from the climate controls, so warming your EV using the climate controls will not pre-conditional the battery.

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1. @foppo100
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  Thanks for that explanation.My E Berlingo you can’t precondition the battery.Yes warm the cabin but like you say two different things.
  
  Reply
2. @BavarianCarEnthusiast2030
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  @foppo100 yes they are separate as systems…but connected for efficiency- if you heat up your battery or its heated because of your driving style 😉 you have the heat pump to harvest this too much heat for the interior
  
  Reply
3. @voltaelektrifiera3556
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  You just had to find something to mansplain, right?
  🙂
  
  Reply
4. @owennato
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  If you use scheduled departure it does. At least on the Tesla.
  
  Reply
5. @justefe
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  Unfortunately the BYD DOLPHIN can’t precondition the battery. So cold charging is a slow process!
  
  Reply
@kanenaskanenopoulos4314

January 5, 2026

While regen is great to modulate speed, OPD/harsh regenerative braking – abruptly letting off the accelerator instead of easing off – can lock your wheels in the snow, even just on greasy roads. Something to keep in mind, it might be safer to turn it down or off depending on conditions.

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1. @IanRossDavies
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  Yup – had this earlier in my Polestar 4. Didn’t even ease off that harshly either. Front wheels decided to do a jive on me haha first time driving it in the snow/ice – lesson learned!
  
  Reply
2. @tomsgrinbergs8020
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  Yep, had exactly that in my Kona, thankfully I have steering wheel paddles where I can switch regen off real quick, never getting an EV without those paddles!
  
  Reply
3. @matsgardin8332
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  Funny, It haven’t happened to me in 5 winters in Sweden. And I always use it.
  Sure I might get a minor shake breaking or accelerating, but that has happened in every car I’ve driven in winter.
  (I tend to drive quite harshly, though keeping distance)
  /Mats from Sweden
  
  Reply
4. @mickykwartz5383
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  @IanRossDaviesexactly the scenario as me, I had to turn regen fully off. Other than that the P4 performed very well in the snow.
  
  Reply
5. @IanRossDavies
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  @mickykwartz5383yeah, think I’ll be doing the same for the next few days! Shame though, as I’m addicted to regen braking now, think it’s fantastic. Traditional braking feels so harsh and wasteful now 😂
  
  Reply
@chapmandu2

January 5, 2026

It makes sense to precondition the battery and cabin if you are going to be doing a long journey, but for a short journey it is quite a significant waste of energy to heat the battery. Warming the battery can take up to an hour because that’s a lot of cold metal to heat – not much point if you’re only nipping to Sainsbury’s. In addition, if you plug in to precondition then that’s good in that you don’t deplete your battery but you may be doing this at a time when grid electricity is (relatively) expensive. This is OK if you’re doing a very long journey and planning to use a public charger later, as even peak time home electricity is cheaper than public charging, but if you’re travelling a distance shorter than the range of your car and are planning to plug in at home later and recharge with cheap overnight electricity, then it makes more sense to draw energy from the battery to heat the car than it does to plug in.

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@mmm1826

January 5, 2026

The graphics really help. Great explanations.

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@rainerinedinburgh5807

January 5, 2026

6:40 to 6:45 — Nice bit of alliteration there. Eco mode .. eke out. Now I know where the term “Eco mode” came from.

Reply
1. @jamesengland7461
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  EEK! Grammar references 😂
  
  Reply
@urbanstrencan

January 5, 2026

The biggest problem is range lost, but otherwise EV are great in winter: cabin preheating, linear power,…
Good winter tyres and let’s go 😅😅

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@esaedvik

January 5, 2026

First winter with my BMW i3…absurdly slow charging (7kWh in almost an hour), halved range (even worse with a properly heated cabin). I don’t have home charging, so pretty much shafted as it is. And of course, just as temps drop down to -15C, my 12V battery gave out. During the summer, it was at least usable, so I could drive to my mum’s (250km away), but in the winter, it’d take way too long.
I did my research, but clearly not deep enough. Especially the slow charging rate was a surprise. Didn’t notice anywhere that it barely gets to half the max rate of the car (which is 50kW). No battery pre-conditioning (unless home-charged) makes things miserable.
Without AC running, you’ll fog up your windows in no time, so that’s a no-go.

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@matsgardin8332

January 5, 2026

EVs are supposed to be bad in vinter – right?
Well my wife envied my EV – for it’s winter performance!
It is a dream in snow, I have never scraped my window screen in my 2021 EV (that advantage might be difficult to appreciate for someone outside Scandinavia) and if I remember to put the heating on 6 min before I go, I can sit in a short sleeve when it is -18C outside going home from work.
She swapped her Lexus hybrid for an electric R5 this summer and she loves it!
/Mats from Sweden

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1. @rasheedalli-p2r
  
  January 5, 2026
  
  What 2021 EV is your EV?
  
  Reply
@Gazer75

January 5, 2026

Regen can be dangerous in slippery conditions. The wheels might slide if the regen is to hard. Many EVs only have regen on or off which is even worse. You have to make micro adjustment with the pedal to not regen to hard.
Regen is also inefficient if you really need range. Free rolling is a lot better.

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@robertchuffart

January 5, 2026

When Solid-State coming to Polestar?… hoping is soon

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@chrisfisher2839

January 5, 2026

It’s all very well saying use the heated seats & steering wheel however your legs & feel get cold. You need warm tootsies to drive safe 😅

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@nickharding1623

January 5, 2026

I have one of the last long range vw id3 77kw useable range with no heatpump…i pre warm the cabin at home while plugged into the mains for 30 mi s before leaving for work and even with that as soon as i jump in and start driving with 80% charge my range instanly drops aprox 40 miles….2nd jan 2026 i used the heater all the way to work 30 miles,im not a fast driver and i did use the m1 but on total it used ove 60 miles of range for that journey…today i pre warmed.the cabin while plugged in mains,once in car,heated seats and steering turned on and the cabin heater off….my total 60 mile round trip again on the m1 and mix of a and b roads in total for 60 actual miles it used 65 miles of range….but in all honesty im not that bothered of the loss of winter range as it still gives me more than enough and its so cheap to charge from home 🤷‍♂️ if i have to plug in an extra 1 or 2 times a week thats what ill do
..

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@michalziobro7890

January 5, 2026

I hate heated seat 😛 let’s don’t turn off A/C heating.

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@skyworks1621

January 5, 2026

We just got some snow. My Tesla drives so nice is snow. I would never go back to engine car. I loose about 10 % of range now that is from 0 to 5 c. outside. Nothing to even think about.

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@SimplyGregsterEV

January 5, 2026

Recently-30c here in Canada. You are fighting denser air and colder temps. Use your HVAC system as you want. You aren’t gaining that much these days.

If you can heat the cabin and battery before leaving home on ground power do it. Better efficiency for the first leg of the trip also will have full power delivery.

In slippery configuration disable regeneration or back it off. Winter tires really hurt efficiency but again you are fighting so much its just what it is

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@travellinginawhat

January 5, 2026

Gosh the Polestar 3 looks good. Idc bout the depreciation, if I had 100+K to drop rn (Australia) I’d do it in a heart beat

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@travellinginawhat

January 5, 2026

The editing team going hard today. Great job

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@gregcooper2719

January 5, 2026

“EV’s lose range in winter!” So do ICE cars, my civic was doing 62mph on my commute in the summer and is now doing 50mpg. It takes longer to fill it with diesel than it took to plug in my old EV. Costs me a lot more to run. It’s a non-issue and when I changed jobs (thus losing the EV) I wish I’d spent more on another EV… it’s flipping cold to be stood pumping diesel in!

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