Oslo, Norway buses are failing. They can’t deal with cold weather and have problems going uphill. The buses were delivered in April, and this is their first winter.
According to multiple social media users and international tabloids, the cold weather in Norway severely affects the electric bus vehicles’ range and battery life.
They were taken out of service during rush hours. In one afternoon, they had 50 canceled departures. It was always described an error in the means of transport. The range in cold weather was much less than advertised.
There was a complex set of errors, but most of the problems seemed to revolve around charging problems.
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They also have problems going uphill.
One report says, “In Oslo, public transport has completely collapsed. This is due to the city’s 183 new electric buses, which cannot cope with the icy cold. The transport operator confirms that the “electric buses are simply not reliable enough in winter: “The range of the electric buses decreases drastically in cold weather. The batteries run out more quickly.” A total of around 140 departures were affected”.
The Company Addresses the Issue
A spokesperson for the company – Ruter – called the allegations “an extreme exaggeration…We canceled, on average, between 50 and 100 departures, out of more than 4,000 daily departures, for a few days.”
However, the company admitted they had a few “challenges with the range of the buses being shorter in cold weather.”
“We solved this by changing the charging shifts. And also by fixing the charging infrastructure.”
A Professor Weighs In
According to Anna Stefanopoulou, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, at -12 Celsius, a parked EV can lose up to 30-40% of its range before it even starts its route.
About two-thirds of the extra energy consumed is used just to heat the inside of the car so it’s comfortable for the driver and passengers.
Electric vehicles are more efficient than gas engines, which means they can’t draw on the heat produced by the motor to warm the inside of the car.
They have to generate heat in other ways, hence using more energy from the battery, which means losing in range.
Although the cold does reduce an EV’s range and charging speed, Professor Stefanopoulou believes it’s all a matter of organization and planning.
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