Since the air has to be heated electrically I suspect that there's a setting to switch on the heating whilst the car is charging at a set time. Or from your phone app.

My 1969 VW Type 4 had a separate hot air heater running on petrol to do the same job.

Nick, there won't be enough sheep skins for that when we all have to go to a plant based diet

Not the whole story as far as I gather. Regenerative braking puts energy back into the battery but if the battery is full then brking energy either is dissapated in conventional friction brakes of resistive loads whch do then generate heat that can be used for cabin heating.

regards Martin

Even an electric vehicle generates from the motor and from the battery, sufficient to need liquid cooling, so cabin heating on a long journey should not be a problem.

Peter

Many (better) models are fitted with heat pump devices. All batteries produce heat when either charging or discharging, so some heat is available, soon after starting on a journey. At other times I would guess the heat pump might take heat fro the air? Add to that a heated steering wheel and seat options, will provide quite a lot of personal comfort for the driver at much reduced power draw.

On top of that, halving the range with just cabin heating is a ridiculous claim, unless the battery is already a small one (so a ‘city’ car rather than a long distance model.

Most certainly the range is reduced during cold weather, but also for ICE cars as well (although not to such an extent).

Personally, I don’t see the initial claim to be relevant for (most) current models.

Too many ‘negative’ postings turn up re BEVs. They are improving all the time – and becoming cheaper.

Nick s clobber is suitable for the old crocks run. Does this mean all turned full circle? Ha,ha, no offence intended, Nick.

I bet we've got loads of early motoring stories between us.

I remember my dad's first car had holes in the floor, and being wrapped in blankets: this was in Northern Ireland. Mum says the car (an early Ford Prefect) had to be rolled downhill to start it on frosty mornings, it needed oil every month, the clutch slipped, and it jumped out of gear. Later, he took us to Malta, where we cooked in a brand-new Ford Anglia, plastic seats. This was reliable, but vibrated badly above 65mph. Dad had to crawl underneath twice a year with a grease gun. My uncle flipped a Morris Minor taking a roundabout legally at 30mph. 'Oh yes', said a sympathetic policeman, 'they do that'. Corrosion was an endless problem: can anyone explain why the British Car Industry took so long to apply underseal as standard on cars sold in a country were we salt the roads? All the external welds on my mate's mini rusted through. Exhausts had to be replaced, sills welded, and loads of other stuff like rubber gaiters and universal joints failed regularly. The electrics often misbehaved. Car maintenance was almost a second career – weekends were spent discussing car problems with the neighbours and fiddling with points and spark plugs. I could go on…

Howard , Trico used to do something like that they were fixed to the screen with suckers (pun)

EV’s are proving very, very popular in Norway (it gets much colder there) so I suspect it’s a non issue. Added to that is that I understand EV batteries need cooling so I suppose the excess heat can be directed to the passenger space in winter as required?
Of course we often get this range myth pop up. All the cars I’ve ever had could in theory go over 400 miles. I personally have never in the past 45 years ever driven more than about 100 miles without stopping. Average UK mileage is dropping year on year and is currently equal to just 142 miles a week. Charging once every three weeks or once every two would hardly be an issue for me.

Mileage calculators feature on many of the manufacturers websites where you can adjust for: weather, speed, temperature plus other factors and come up with potential distance figures.

I have looked at a few comparing cars and it can be amusing.