In other words, you may lose winter range with an EV, but you could be amazed at how well it maintains grip in bad conditions.
I discovered this myself recently when my test of Honda Prologue coincided with a snow dump in my corner of upstate New York. Around Thanksgiving, we got January- and February levels of snow, something I definitely didn’t count on with my holiday errands—complicated by the fact that the Prologue came on Bridgestone Alenza all-season tires.
Photo by: InsideEVs
Honda Prologue Winter Driving
In my experience, all-season tires—which come equipped on the vast majority of passenger cars—are not very useful when there’s a lot of snow on the ground. Even all-wheel-drive can do so much when your tires can’t get a grip on the asphalt. It’s why I’ve swapped dedicated winter tires onto my gas-powered Mazda ever since I moved to this part of the country. Snowstorms can come out of nowhere and I don’t like taking chances with my family’s safety.
So I didn’t expect much when I took the Prologue on an emergency Home Depot run to fix a busted kitchen sink and ran into an unexpected mini-blizzard. But I was amazed at how well the electric SUV performed as the snow piled up on the roadways.
The dual-motor Prologue stayed remarkably stable even as gas-powered cars had to park on the side of the highway with their hazard lights on. I drove slowly and stayed steady on the throttle, but every time the wheels slipped a bit—which happened a few times—the EV’s traction control stepped in with lightning speed. The Prologue immediately, almost seamlessly, stepped in to provide the right amount of power and traction on each wheel, sorting out the slips far faster than any gas-powered car I’ve ever driven before. I could barely even feel it happen and when it did, it was almost too quick to notice.
How EV Traction Control Works (And Why It Matters)
I used to own a Subaru WRX. I know a lot about all-wheel-drive performance. And I’d take the Honda Prologue over that car in bad weather any day of the week.
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Honda Prologue Winter Driving
What An Engineer Says
Photo by: InsideEVs
“When you’ve got an internal combustion engine, it’s usually in the front” of the vehicle, Koons said. That means a big chunk of the car’s weight is up front, “and not as low as it could be, either,” he said. This means the car is weighted almost like a scale tipping in one direction—not ideal when you’re trying to remain stable in the turns on icy and snowy days.
“On an internal combustion vehicle, usually when you let up off the accelerator pedal, you’re opening up a torque converter and you’ve got to wait for a downshift—all that type of stuff,” Koons said.
Interestingly, because the cars are tuned differently and have some different software features, the Prologue does not have a dedicated “Snow Mode” or “Ice Mode,” while the Chevrolet Equinox EV and Blazer EV do. That mode further slows acceleration and torque response to keep the wheels from slipping in bad conditions, but I think the Honda did just fine without it.
When To Get Snow Tires
There are a few caveats to my experience. First, it’s worth remembering that this Prologue was a dual-motor AWD version (and most EVs for sale in the Northeast tend to go this route.) If the Prologue was a single-motor, front-wheel-drive car—or if it was another EV that was rear-wheel-drive—it would likely have the same traction advantages but at a reduced level since the other wheels would be unavailable to put power down. So if you live in a place with tough winters, going dual-motor may be your best bet unless you can’t live with the reduced range.
Even so, many of the attributes unique to EVs mitigate the traditional drawbacks to RWD in winter conditions, as we’ve seen lately with cars like the Volvo EX30.
Photo by: InsideEVs
Honda Prologue Winter Driving
But, as with even the best gas-powered cars, AWD is no substitute for the right tires. This was confirmed to me by Jake Fisher, the Senior Director of Consumer Reports‘ Auto Test Center. He confirmed that many EVs that the publication tests tend to have impressive snow performance due to dual-motor AWD, better weight distribution and so on, but said owners need to be cognizant of what tires came with their cars.
“Many of them are performance-oriented tires,” Fisher said, like if someone got a Tesla Model 3 Performance—a dual-motor EV, but one whose Pirelli P-Zero 4 performance tires are meant for fast driving, not conquering the elements.
“Snow tires also give you an advantage in cold weather,” including the kind without snow, Fisher said. ” if you have a car that has performance-oriented tires, those aren’t going to be very effective at lower temperatures. That compound may be designed for going around a race track, but they’re not even heating up right at those temperatures.” Fisher added that CR tests tires extensively, so owners should look up what came standard on their cars or look to their research when shopping for new ones.
Still, he said that some of CR’s EVs tested, like the Mercedes EQS, performed admirably in bad weather even with a set of not-so-great all-season tires. If you frequently deal with deep snow, consider getting the right rubber for the job and don’t just count on dual-motor power to save the day.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
Credit : insideevs.com