This is a deceiving statement. The potential for the energy is there, but the cold slows the chemical reactions within the batteries. And in order for the heat transfer to work two conditions have to be met first. 1) There has to be heat available to transfer to the battery pack and heat pumps offer no more efficiencies at -30. 2) The transfer of heat to the pack still required energy which comes from the batteries decreasing range and since the cold has already lowered how much you will get out of the battery, the hit is essentially a double whammy as it has less energy to drive the vehicle and also has to heat the pack/cabin.
In freezing Kapuskasing, GM tests whether its EVs can cut it in the cold
In freezing Kapuskasing, GM tests whether its EVs can cut it in the cold
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www.theglobeandmail.com
"...GM’s Cold Weather Development Centre, also known as the Kapuskasing Proving Ground, is the automaker’s only cold weather durability testing site in Canada and the largest facility in Ontario. It’s tasked with testing all GM vehicles destined for the North American market. And as GM transitions to an all-electric future with aims of launching 30 new EVs by 2025 globally, the facility becomes more significant in helping the automaker to assuage people’s worries about range and slow charging....
...On the day we were there in early March, it was minus 20 and we were driving a 2023 Cadillac Lyriq rear-wheel drive to see what an EV undergoes in cold weather tests. First stop is a cold cell block. Used to study the vehicle in a consistent temperature during the thermal cycle, the 30 giant freezer-like units can fit two Bolt EVs inside and replicate temperatures of minus 45. Vehicles undergo a cold soak where they are parked in a cold cell overnight with fans blasting air at minus 30, followed by a warm-up cycle and additional tests within a 24-hour period to ensure everything from the battery to the heated seats operate well.
The Lyriq rides on GM’s new Ultium battery architecture. It’s less expensive to produce, more powerful and uses less cobalt than the batteries found in the Chevrolet Bolt. All GM EVs will have the Ultium battery moving forward.
“The essence of what Ultium is and the way it manages its thermal system is markedly improved over the BEV system [in the Bolt]. We definitely see range [in the Lyriq] that is truer to [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency range] ratings than what we did with the Bolt,” Walton said. And while most EVs lose range in frigid temperatures, “the new Ultium battery pack stays pretty much on par because it self-conditions as you go along. That energy is always present, whether it’s in the battery or it’s coming out in your defroster, that power is always there. We just recycle it and keep the pack warm and ambient,” Walton said.
We see what Walton means during a drive after we speak. The Lyriq’s electric range didn’t drop much in the frigid cold and remained fairly accurate to the distance travelled."
In freezing Kapuskasing, GM tests whether its EVs can cut it in the cold
GM embraces Canada’s cold weather to test its electric vehicles in the harshest of conditions at Kapuskasing Proving Ground facility
www.theglobeandmail.com
"...GM’s Cold Weather Development Centre, also known as the Kapuskasing Proving Ground, is the automaker’s only cold weather durability testing site in Canada and the largest facility in Ontario. It’s tasked with testing all GM vehicles destined for the North American market. And as GM transitions to an all-electric future with aims of launching 30 new EVs by 2025 globally, the facility becomes more significant in helping the automaker to assuage people’s worries about range and slow charging....
...On the day we were there in early March, it was minus 20 and we were driving a 2023 Cadillac Lyriq rear-wheel drive to see what an EV undergoes in cold weather tests. First stop is a cold cell block. Used to study the vehicle in a consistent temperature during the thermal cycle, the 30 giant freezer-like units can fit two Bolt EVs inside and replicate temperatures of minus 45. Vehicles undergo a cold soak where they are parked in a cold cell overnight with fans blasting air at minus 30, followed by a warm-up cycle and additional tests within a 24-hour period to ensure everything from the battery to the heated seats operate well.
The Lyriq rides on GM’s new Ultium battery architecture. It’s less expensive to produce, more powerful and uses less cobalt than the batteries found in the Chevrolet Bolt. All GM EVs will have the Ultium battery moving forward.
“The essence of what Ultium is and the way it manages its thermal system is markedly improved over the BEV system [in the Bolt]. We definitely see range [in the Lyriq] that is truer to [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency range] ratings than what we did with the Bolt,” Walton said. And while most EVs lose range in frigid temperatures, “the new Ultium battery pack stays pretty much on par because it self-conditions as you go along. That energy is always present, whether it’s in the battery or it’s coming out in your defroster, that power is always there. We just recycle it and keep the pack warm and ambient,” Walton said.
We see what Walton means during a drive after we speak. The Lyriq’s electric range didn’t drop much in the frigid cold and remained fairly accurate to the distance travelled."
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Makes you wonder why GM went through the trouble to design and install the heat pump given that it apparently does little to nothing to help heat and precondition the battery... /s 
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