Cold Weather Travel Range and Energy Consumption of the Chevrolet Volt PHEV

The operation of electric vehicles in cold weather is a concern, but the precise nature of the impact on travel range and energy consumption is not well characterized. The Chevrolet Volt, a commercially-available plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) was driven-to-depletion across a broad range of temperatures as occur naturally in Winnipeg, Canada, due to its climate. Results conform to a simple model of electric range found previously, in particular with a flat plateau of electric range reached at cold conditions, where range does not vary with temperature. Energy consumption was also monitored, and confirmed an inverse relationship with vehicle travel range.