According to folks living in Karasjok, the problem with EVs in extreme temperatures is the 12V starter battery capitulating once you dip below -40F. Petrol cars usually fail to start for the same reason.
[1]. https://en.climate-data.org/europa/norge/svalbard/longyearby... [2]. https://en.climate-data.org/north-america/united-states-of-a...
Only 1700 people live in Longyearbyen. The majority of Norway's population lives in the southern part of the mainland, especially Oslo, with much warmer winters.
By contrast, the majority of Minnesota's population lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, which is considerably colder than Oslo or Bergen or Stavanger.
As someone who hasn't spent a lot of time in Norway or Minnesota this seems very surprising—if only because the southernmost part of Norway appears to be substantially farther north than the northernmost part of Minnesota.
And the data I'm finding suggests that the average winter temp is about 5 degrees lower in Norway than Minnesota. Though none of the data I've found in a few minutes of googling seems very reliable and understanding that Norway in particular is a big place. The average temperature of Norway weighted by area is surely much lower than it would be weighted by population.
Does the gulf stream have an impact here, at least on southern Norway?
https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/68697~10405/Comparison-of...
Not only that, but due to the way the winds move in the US places like Minnesota and the Dakotas also tend to get absolutely hammered from the jet stream by arctic air.
Heck, there is a pretty big difference between the coasts and the midwest even just in North America. I grew up in Los Angeles and currently live in Dallas. Dallas is farther south and it actually does get hotter, but it also gets colder. Los Angeles had seen something like a quarter inch of snow in the past century when I left. It snows in Dallas every year. There was snow last week. Even though the currents in the Pacific flow from the north and the water is cold, it still has a moderating effect compared to living on the plains.
Barcelona is actually north of New York City.
"New heat pumps work in the cold now!" where cold is defined as down to 10 degrees F.
That's probably sufficient for most "cold" places, but in Minneapolis every winter we have multi-day stretches where the high temperature is below 10. Large swathes of the northern states are in a similar boat.
Hopefully we can solve these issues, because I don't want to be left behind technologically and environmentally!
The combination heat pump+heat strip does struggle to keep things comfortable when we hit -15, but that's a once a year type deal here, and if it bothered us enough we could add another strip.
Frankly I don't think most of the folks with gas heat fare better during those snaps. Either system can be made capable of course, but it's uncommon enough here that nobody's system is sized to maintain a cozy 70 when it happens.