Electric car in cold weather: testimony with the Leaf

[I Citro]

The last great colds that we experienced in France date from 1984 and 1986 ...
In 84, it was down to minus 17 °, I remember well, I was 17, and we were made to keep broken planes at the military base where I was ...

The diesel (finally the paraffin it contained) froze indeed and clogged everything, the engine blocks which were not protected by antifreeze sufficiently dosed cracked and the batteries burst.

So when you say that in Canada everything is fine in cold weather, you forget to say that everything is planned to make it work, even if it is not visible, the batteries, the vehicles, the fluids are adapted to the conditions climate.


In Affrique and in many other countries, we put the water of the river as coolant ... The cars do not look so different ...

[Gaston]

Well agree with Citro.

In 1986, we were cross-country skiing on the Canal du Midi in Toulouse and many friends ended up with a split engine or, for the lucky ones, an exploded radiator.

If everything seems so simple in countries where it is very cold every year, it is because the equipment is suitable and the users agree to pay the additional cost because they know that it is essential for them.

We regularly make fun of the cities of the south of France paralyzed by 10 cm of snow, but who wants to finance what to buy, maintain and operate snow plows which will serve 3 days in 10 years

[Macro]

I had -21 two years ago the tank of GO of my 4x4 turned to butter (but it makes 2 liters ...) Started the 4x4 with the start pilot and rocked on the fry the heaters did their job .. .I was alone on the road ...

[Gaston]

This confirms what we said above: it is a question of equipment.
Diesel in our country is rarely equipped with heaters ...

[elephant]

There is no shortage of solutions: when you see the temperatures to which airplanes are exposed.

[chatelot16]

bin yes but the refinements are there to sort: the paraffin does not go in the kerosene for the planes, but in the diesel for the c .. which buy it

a long time ago I had fun distilling fuel oil: what comes out at the start of distillation never freezes: what comes out at the end of distillation freezes at 10 °! proof that the fuel merchants deliberately introduce as much paraffin as they can put in

there is a whole range of natural paraffin: the paraffin which melts at more than 50 ° has value as real paraffin ... the paraffin which melts at 20 ° is worth nothing the only way to make something of it is to leave it in diesel, even if it breaks down when it's cold

my distilled fuel was perfect for winter ... the part rich in paraffin can be consumed in summer

I also confirm that the right solution is a good diesel heater: better than mixing petrol with diesel

diesel never freezes en masse: it is only the paraffin that clogs the filter: with good heating of the filter there is no longer any problem

without heating the filter one solution is to let the engine run for a long time without rolling so that the engine heat warms up well ... while driving it is more serious because the speed makes the wind which cools everything: in the event of a drop in power while driving, stop at the side of the road and wait for it to heat up before setting off again

of course it only works on a normal engine or the filter is well placed to heat up ... useless on a traveling chrysler which has the diesel filter in a mudguard

[Macro]

This confirms what we said above: it is a question of equipment.
Diesel in our country is rarely equipped with heaters ...

They are almost all original ... which heat the diesel between 15 and 30 ° ...

The Chrysler Voyager 2 with its filter in the mudguard too and it is even relatively powerful it is located in the lower transparent bowl as well as on the 3 the whole thing is that it works.
The small pigeot 1.4HDI engines have one (disposable incorporated in the filter) the VW of the 80 / 90th have a reheating system by looping the PI on the filter with a thermostatic capsule, the Peugeot XUD9 is also heated by a coil system under the filter holder with a thermostatic capsule also tud 4 and 5 have a filter heater in the case on which it is screwed (with a thermostat too), plus many other more or less efficient systems but if the car manages to start and the heater system is in state (very often source of air intake) by letting the engine run on its idle for a few moments you can drive. The catch is that they are very often heaters by the LDR so they need a little time to be active, the electrics are by reason of obvious security conditioned to the rotation of the engine and not forced (unless to find the relay to remove it and replace it with a paper clip )
Since 2004 I have been able to go around the question ...

Now some IDHP even have diesel coolers before returning to the tanks because the fuel returns exceed the flash point T ° ...

To deparfine a diesel or a fuel and yes it is enough to distill it and stop the distillation. Only one loses a significant% age of product and calorific power ...

After it is also necessary to have a tank in good state of cleanliness and filters not mired by various mud ...

Everything is played in the first minutes of start-up ... do not accelerate above the slow down wait for the fuel and LDR flows to set up then it must work ...

A yes in the event of extreme cold, reheating the injectors for a few minutes with a heat gun (be careful not to burn the return pipes) and your diesel will go back and forth ...

[yannko]

Without getting to the extreme of Canada, we are having a few difficult weeks here, but in general we are getting by.

It's true that I enjoy being the only one on the road in EV , but here it does not last very long in general unfortunately, it rolls constantly.

Arctic diesel should be enough for Europe I think, after the best is to have a Webasto time to warm up the LDR, it is done more and more on large fuel oils.

[Jean François]

What is a webasto?

[bamboo]

A car boiler