EV alternative for light/medium duty trucks

pianotuna wrote:

Reisender wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Does anyone know the wattage on the battery heaters used in EV's?

It depends on the car Don. But generally speaking EV’s do it different than ICE cars. Unlike an Ice car that uses an electric element to heat metal, most EV’s use the power from the battery to heat itself, or in many cases the coolant which is circulated. But that only happens down till about 20 percent battery and then that gets turned off so the battery isn’t depleted. It also doesn’t heat it unless the owner decides to either pre-condition the battery in preparation for charging or if the owner wants to warn the interiour and defrost the windows. Even if the car is plugged in the power will still come from the battery, but the battery will be charging because it’s plugged in. The power for everything always comes from the battery. The only thing that changes when it is plugged in is the battery is charging.

So in answer to your question, you can use anything from 8 amps at 120 volts to 48 amps at 240 volts. But the battery won’t be heated unless the user or the software decides it needs it. Below minus 30 the algorhythm changes a bit from what I understand. But only if it’s plugged in. The coldest we have used ours over the years is about minus 30 so I can’t speak to colder than that. We don’t plug ours in if it’s out in those temps as the cord gets to stiff to put away. The car doesn’t care either way. It takes an extra 5 minutes to warm up and defrost the windows at that temp.

We have a garage but unfortunately it is often occupied for projects so it is not always available.

Hope that helps.

I should have been clearer

I wanted to know if the battery was kept warm while plugged in at temperatures down to -37 c (-34 f)--and if so, how much power does it use to do so.

I'd have access to level 1 charging.

I seem to remember that the Leaf does use energy from the battery bank to keep the bank warm. But really not sure at all

All EVs will be able to keep the pack warm, but normally you program your departure time and the car will use power from the plug to heat up the battery. Level 1 charging (a 11 amp 110v load) is sufficient for that purpose unless you get a Porsche Tycaan or the Merc.
The advantage of the Level 1 is that while it is charging that maintains the temperature of the pack, so a slow charger is actually saving electricity because the car will be slow charging all night long, the batteries will maintain temperature due to the charging process and there is no need to use the heater.
In opposition to that, if you have like me, a Level 2 in parallel with my RV plug, the car charges before the time I leave, so if I was in cold weather, the car would have to "heat up" the pack.
Level 1 will give you 3-5Miles of range depending in the vehicle, so even if your battery is big and you don't charge it to full, you can get an idea on how much you can charge.
Also, not charging to 100% and charging in a Level 1 are the best things you can do to the battery. That is how I got my Leafs to last longer than average.
If you have any more questions in particular (Particular car, number of hours, etc) PM, maybe I can help you with info a little more precise for your case.