It’s no secret that ambient temperature can have a significant impact on the performance of battery electric vehicles and temperature differences can therefore have a major impact in the range of said EVs.
To combat this Volvo has equipped its C30 Electric (which started out as the Recharge Concept) with three climate systems including a bio-ethanol powered heater and put the vehicle through a barrage of tests in the rough winter conditions found in the automaker’s Swedish homeland.
On top of the stringent testing regime Volvo exposes all its ICE vehicles to, the company has also developed several new test methods for its EVs to ensure they run smoothly in temperatures as low as -20° Celsius (-4° F). These include tests on the three climate systems found in the C30 Electric – one to supply heating and cooling to the passengers, another to cool or warm the battery pack when necessary, and a third that water-cools the electric motor and power electronics.
