Extreme temperatures can affect electric vehicle range, but the extreme heat of the South is nothing to offset the extreme cold in other parts of the U.S., according to new findings.
Vaisala, a Finnish instrumented measurement firm, analyzed the effect of weather and road conditions on EV range across the Lower 48 states, looking at how these factors affected range at different times of the year. That analysis involved not only temperature by month, but also winds, rolling resistance from snow, air density, and solar radiation, among other factors.
States at lower latitudes, with hotter average temperatures, showed better results. The top five states for EV range, based on a median and across all local climatic conditions were Arizona, Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Louisiana. The bottom five were the more northern—and frigid—Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Minnesota.
Analysts also compared the median-range findings to rates of EV adoption in each state. Some of the states with the most ideal conditions for EVs have the lowest adoption, and vice versa. Further, California is a surprise; although tops in EV adoption, it doesn't actually have ideal conditions for maximizing range.
Florida, however, is second only to California in EV sales. And Texas ranks especially high in EV sales as well. Those two states—and some others with high EV adoption rates—don't have sales mandates or strong incentives for them, either.
The pattern here also doesn't follow the states that have adopted California's EV mandate, which tend to be in the colder, northern parts of the country where weather appears to affect EV range more. Although Connecticut and Maine, a couple of the most challenging states according to the data, have delayed adopting the mandate.
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