AUTONEWS

ADAC: In the extreme cold test the Volkswagen ID.3. it's the worst

The reality of Central and Eastern Europe is something different from ours. With the exception of places like Serra da Estrela, in the summer the average temperature in Portugal can reach 40ºC, so in the peak of winter you are likely to have to deal with 0ºC. But in central and eastern Europe there is less heat in summer and freezing temperatures in winter. Hence the curiosity around the comparative set up by ADAC, the German equivalent of the ACP.

The seven vehicles tested include the Fiat 500e, Renault Zoe, Hyundai Kauai Electric, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Lexus UX 300e, Nissan Leaf e+ and Volkswagen ID.3. The route that would put them to the test was 23 km long and would be covered at a temperature of 14ºC, representing a milder temperature – even though it was already slightly cold for the batteries –, to then be faced again with only -7ºC, a value that already dramatically penalizes the performance of accumulators.

Of the models tested, the ones that lost the least were the Fiat 500e and Renault Zoe, with the former losing 25% and the latter 30%. The 500e revealed a range of 244 km at 14°C and 182 km at -7°C (-25%), while the Zoe saw the range drop from 351 km to 244 km (-30%). Not far from these two rivals were the Kauai Electric (215 km and 147 km) and the Mustang Mach-E (300 km and 202 km), the Hyundai with a drop of 32% and the Ford with 33%. Slightly less effective were the Lexus UX 300e (224 km and 141 km) and the Nissan Leaf e+ (332 km and 210 km), both having lost 37% at lower temperatures.

The model that reacted the worst to negative temperatures turned out to be the Volkswagen ID.3 (324 km and 162 km), which started to cover a distance 50% less when the cold gets worse. All batteries prefer to work with temperatures between 20ºC and 40ºC, but there are energy management systems that are more “greedy” than others, which makes the models less efficient in adverse conditions.

ADAC/Autonews