Oslo in Norway had massive problems due to the cold affecting the amount of charge the buses would hold as well as the charge speed leaving them unable to recharge them fully over night.
Oslo can't have been surprised by the existence of cold weather. Did they not contemplate any countermeasures, like heaters at the charging location or better insulating the batteries so the heat from discharging them and then recharging through regenerative braking keeps them warmer?
Toyota isn't based in Oslo either but they know how to make a vehicle that runs there, and the companies that don't generally don't do a lot of business there.
Electric buses in Oslo Norway (of all places) is a dictate of politics, not practicality. The people implementing the politics were likely warning about such oversights, but were rebuffed. They will gladly see it all fail, so that they may say: We told you so.
The temperature does not affect to charge stored in the batteries, right? However, you have to use the battery to heat itself as well as heat the bus (unless you got diesel heater or something for the cabin).
It’ll impact the usable charge because the colder temps will decrease the ability of the battery to produce high currents. Effectively setting the floor for a “useful” charge level higher. Below that useful level, current supply is too low to power whatever it is you’re powering.
a spokesperson called the allegations “an extreme exaggeration… We cancelled, on average, between 50 and 100 departures, out of more than 4,000 daily departures, for a few days.”
The company did however admit 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."
Ruter [the bus operating company] claims the issues have since been fixed and the fleet of electric buses continues to run as usual.
