This spate of reports about performance and reliability problems for electric cars in extremely cold weather has pointed out lots of problem with reliability and reduced range. To be meaningful and useful, these really ought to include comparisons to conventional internal combustion cars.

I lived in Fairbanks for a while, and I found that lots of things don’t work well when it’s -40, especially cars. I had to plug in the block heater at least a few hours in advance of starting, and then idle for at least 15 minutes before driving. A block heater and battery blanket were necessary but sometimes not sufficient. My gas mileage was reduced by about half. There were lots of cars with mechanical problems that only crop up in those conditions. Some had doors, windows, or gas doors that would freeze. Relays and (starter!) solenoids would get stuck. A few had heater cores that would would ice and stop working so the heat and window defrost were not usable. Some displays won’t work when they are cold. The manufacturers say they test for this stuff, but it was obviously not fully addressed.

Don’t assume your ICE car is going to work well when it’s that cold. Nothing works right when it’s that cold. When we use things in an environment that differs greatly form that in which they were engineered and tested are bound to surprise us. Even my bike didn’t work right up there. The grease in the headset and wheel bearings got really viscous and stiff, the cables and shifters were balky, and the breaks felt funny.

I actually managed to bike commute pretty often as a student, partly because it was more reliable then driving. My ski jacket was made plastic so it got really stiff and crumpley feeling like cardboard. When I got to school my phone screen didn’t work, and my laptop wouldn’t turn on until it warmed up, but the bike at least never made me late, which is more than I could say for any car.