Frigid weather can cut electric vehicle range and make charging tough. Here's what you need to know

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For nearly a week, frigid temperatures from Chicago to northern Texas have made life painful for electric-vehicle owners, with reduced driving range and hours of waiting at charging stations...

The temperature hit a low of minus 9 Fahrenheit (-23 Celsius).. Outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Teslas were plugged in at six of eight charging stations Wednesday as the wind howled with a temperature of 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 14 Celsius)..

Bruce Westlake, president of the Eastern Michigan Electric Vehicle Association, said most EVs are programmed to warm the battery if the driver tells vehicle's navigation system that a trip to the charging station is coming...

"The more you drive it the more you're comfortable knowing how far you can go and how much to charge it," she said.. Burney said she loses roughly 15% to 20% of her battery range in cold weather, but it gets dramatically worse in cold snaps like the one this week...

In some cases overall range might have to be sacrificed a little to get better cold-weather performance, he said.. Millions are being invested in new battery technology that performs better in the cold that will find its way from military, aerospace and undersea applications into electric vehicles, Dasgupta said...

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