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[BamBam]

Nice, thanks for the input. I have a Tesla, but that has a battery heater. The only difference is energy expenditure goes up, way up. So I was curious about how things go without the heater.

Yes, expect range and power reduction when it is very cold outside.

[Haag13]

I hope you don't have any hills to negotiate or need for higher speeds or acceleration.  My Zero FXS couldn't climb any decent hill at anything above 45 mph once the bike had been outside in sub 20 degree weather.  My commute on the way to work was fine because my bike was in the garage at night, but after being left outside in the cold, my ride home became very slow sometimes when it was in the "teens" outside.

[Ramsay Snow]

Luckily Chicago is flatter than an EV torque curve. Highway on/off ramps are the biggest hills i'll have to occasionally conquer.

[staples]

Riding my '18 FXS 7.2 around Chicago has not been too bad in the chillier times. My commute is 10 miles, basically all on LSD, so I'm riding at "highway" speeds. When I rode to work on Friday, ice was the biggest problem in the morning when the temperature was 0C. I put it in ECO mode so I didn't do any unexpected donuts, and only had the back tire spin on me once. I was riding conservatively. On the way home after it warmed up a few degrees celsius, I switched back to SPORT mode and was able to fly home. I had no problem hitting 80, but it kinda topped out there.

Thinking back to some cold days last winter, there were times when it would top out around 65-70, but I don't remember the air temps at those times.

[Crissa]

It never gets that cold out here, but riding through the mountains I sorta wish my Zero dash had an external temperature sensor display so I'd know what temps coincided with what performance...

...Mostly so I can wear the right number of gloves and coats...

But riding in that weather sounds really awesome   Makes me want to visit my sister.

-Crissa

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

The battery (well, a monolith) does have an ambient temperature sensor, in addition to 7 internal sensors. This is logged but not displayed anywhere, and the location of the sensor isn't in the wind. I don't know where it'd be on  a modular or longbrick battery, but I'd guess it'd be in the doghouse.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

I forgot to mention that one thing Aerostich did for their "Zero Below Zero" blog bike was to wrap the batteries in a custom heated wrap.

For a while, I was working on a simpler derivative, a "battery cozy" which more or less amounted to 3mm (1/8") thick neoprene sheeting, cut, sewn, and tied-down to the battery area to keep the wind and precipitation from hitting the casing. It's not so much that it insulates too much, but it is enough that the battery surface temperature doesn't drop terribly in winter, keeping performance up.

You'll still lose range in the cold from increased air resistance, but battery performance degradation from internal resistance changes can be mitigated.

[staples]

I think I need a battery cozy. These past couple days the top end has been non-existent. The air temp has been between -11c and +3c, and my FXS has been topping out between 50 and 60 mph.