Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said while icy temperatures do not pose problems for the actual charging of EVs, drivers will have to toss up whether to stay warm.
“What drivers of EVs – especially older ones with lower ranges – should consider is how they keep warm,” he said.
“In a petrol or diesel car a heated seat is a luxury but in an electric vehicle it is often a better bet than turning on the blower which requires a lot of battery energy to heat the air.
“In a car with an internal combustion engine the hot air comes from the waste heat of the engine.”
The warning comes ahead of the second storm of the season to be named by the Met Office, which is set to bring heavy rain and snowfall to areas including the north-east and north-west of England, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and much of Scotland.
The Met Office recorded -7.5°C in Warcop, Cumbria, on Tuesday night – some 10°C lower than the national average for this time of year.
The UK Health and Security Agency issued the first amber cold weather health alert of the season in some areas, warning the plummeting temperatures could cause a rise in deaths among the vulnerable, including the elderly.
As hundreds of schools were forced to shut with heavier than expected snow, the RAC reported a sharp rise in breakdowns, with many drivers’ batteries failing because of the cold.
This uses valuable battery stores and therefore reduces the range it can travel.
The Government is sticking to its commitment to phase out sales of petrol cars by 2030.
This comes despite a warning from car manufacturer Nissan who this week told Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, that “urgent action” on strict EV sales quotas was needed to protect UK jobs and investment.
The plea followed an announcement from Ford, which revealed its plans to cut 800 jobs across the country.
The ban was previously branded as “terrible for the UK”, by Carlos Tavares, the boss of Vauxhall maker Stellantis.
