My cold weather riding experience

[FreepZ]

Check out what I went through.

http://freepz.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/i-hate-cold-weather-and-so-does-the-empulse/

[kingcharles]

Insulating the batteries in the winter might actually be a good idea. Maybe Brammo could develop a clip-on kit as an option?

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

Good write-up. During the 160 miles I've ridden during the last few days, none of it has been over 40F. My 33 mile trip to work and back today used 76% of my battery. Granted, today was my first day over 150 miles, and I was enjoying being able to to go faster than 62mph...It was 20F when I left this morning, and about 28F on the way back home. I was expecting my commute to only use ~45%.

[Shinysideup]

I'm too afraid to ride below freezing. I have this thing about ice.

The idea of some sort of insulative add-on seems really good. And it shouldn't be too difficult a change in plumbing design to have a temperature activated valve that would automatically shunt varying portions of the water (more for colder air temps) coming out of the motor into a coil that would run among the batteries so the motor heat would raise the battery temperatures, in behind their cozy cover. Maybe the valving could increasingly bypass the whole radiator, according to motor temp and air temp inputs.

[FreepZ]

I tried adding some insulation this morning, and it worked out okay. Check it out.

http://freepz.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/horse-blanket/

[protomech]

Does the display expose battery cell temperature?

Can you tell how much side insulation helps?

[FreepZ]

The dash has "Motor" temperature and "Air" temperature, but the sensor must be under the seat or something because it goes up significantly when charging. I might be able to see what the battery temperature is by looking at the logs.

I cannot quantify the effectiveness of the insulation, but I do think it helped. Without it, the "Cold Batt." warning showed until the air temp went above about 50 F, while with it, the temp was at 42 F with no warning.

[kingcharles]

I tried adding some insulation this morning, and it worked out okay. Check it out.

http://freepz.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/horse-blanket/

Well done! I am very interested to hear further results!
And please, at least paint them black 

[implovator]

That was a nail biter. I'm getting pretty excited for things to warm up. I've been riding in the 30's and 40's non stop since I picked mine up. At to that a 20 mph headwind today, and I had a little range anxiety. This Summer's going to be awesome!