I felt the car tires lose grip on the surface of the frozen lake and my car start to spin out. I knew I'd pushed it too far. Despite the advice I'd been given, I entered the corner too fast and hit the brakes too late. I thought I had the driving talent to hold the slide I was now in, but physics had other ideas. Instead of my planned smooth drift across the ice, the car went into a full 360-degree spin that sent me off the track and into a deep snow ditch.
Thankfully, the powdery snow that cushioned my crash meant I was unhurt — as was the Volvo EX30 Cross Country I was testing. My location was a frozen lake about two hours outside of the northern Swedish city of Lulea. Volvo had invited me to put its new vehicle to the test in some of the most demanding weather conditions for any vehicle.
It sounded exciting and, of course, great fun, but it gave me an opportunity to prove to myself something fundamental about electric cars: The miles of frozen roads and icebound lakes I drove across showed that EVs aren't just usable in winter — they can thrive in harsh, cold conditions.
The days of EVs being a rare sight on our roads are long gone. It's estimated that in 2024, more than 1.2 million EVs were sold in the US, a significant increase from the 326,000 estimated to have been sold in 2019, and sales surged again in 2025, ahead of federal incentives being phased out. Electric cars have proven that they're not just a novelty driven by Ed Begley Jr. — they're fully fledged vehicles in their own right, offering enjoyable, reliable, zero-emission driving for millions of people in all conditions the world over.
But misconceptions remain around EV driving, especially in colder weather. A simple Google search on the topic will bring up a variety of US news reports on "stranded EV drivers in the snow," articles about EV drivers "wrestling with the cold," various YouTube videos, and Reddit and Quora threads — often featuring inaccurate or misleading information — all essentially telling potential EV owners that if they want to drive in colder months, they're better off buying a gas-powered car.
When I told a friend of mine I was going to the Arctic to drive EVs, their response was: "Do they even work in the cold?"
The answer, fundamentally, is yes. And while misconceptions around EVs aren't likely to ever go away completely, those in doubt about an EV's ability to handle lower temperatures need only look toward Norway. Despite the country's extreme winter temperatures, electric vehicles accounted for almost 90% of all new cars sold in Norway in 2024, and in November 2025 that number reached 97%.
"Electric vehicles are getting better all the time," Maria Cecilia Pinto de Moura, a scientist in the Clean Transportation program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, tells me, "with new battery technology bringing down the cost of a new EV and increasing their range."
The reality is that all cars struggle more in the winter, whether they're powered by electricity or gas. Colder temperatures make any vehicle less efficient, while icy roads reduce friction, increasing the possibility of accidents. It's especially problematic for people living in rural areas, who typically rely on their vehicles for longer routes, often across more difficult roads than urban users would face.
And while EV drivers can experience more challenges than those driving gas-powered vehicles — most notably, lesser availability of public charging stations — driving EVs in tough winter conditions is perfectly manageable.
... continue reading