Winter is demanding on every car, but an electric one asks a little more of its driver. Cold slows the chemistry inside the battery, so the same pack that cheerfully delivers 250 miles in July may offer noticeably less in January. None of this needs to be a problem. A handful of sensible habits will keep you warm, safe and charged right through to spring.

Pre-conditioning: warm the car, not the weather

If you take one habit from this article, make it this: whenever the car is plugged in at home, use the climate timer or pre-conditioning to warm the cabin and, where your model supports it, the battery itself. The cabin then draws power from the mains rather than the pack, so you set off with a full charge and a clear windscreen. Twenty to thirty minutes is usually ample, and many cars will clear a proper frost in ten.

Once you are moving, heat the people rather than the whole interior. Heated seats, a heated steering wheel and the heated front screen use far less energy than pushing the cabin up to 24°C. If your car has a heat pump, it is worth relying on for longer runs. On short journeys in particular, resist the urge to blast the heater on maximum from the first minute — you will spend the opening miles paying for warmth you barely notice.

Get more miles out of every charge

Expect to lose somewhere between 10 and 30 per cent of your usual range in genuinely cold weather, and more on very short trips where the car never warms through. You can claw back a good deal of it with a few adjustments.

• Keep the car plugged in overnight where you can. A battery that has just finished charging is warmer and holds its energy better, and many cars can be set to finish shortly before you leave.
• Park under cover, or on the sheltered side of a building, if the option exists. Even a garage a few degrees warmer than the street makes a measurable difference.
• Use eco mode and steady speeds. High motorway speeds and brisk acceleration cost you far more range in winter than in summer.
• Avoid leaving the car sitting at a very low state of charge for days on end in the cold. Most packs are happiest parked somewhere between roughly 20 and 80 per cent.
• Check the app before you set off. If the predicted range looks tight, charge now rather than hoping to find something on the way.

Cold starts, tyres and stopping safely

An electric car pulls away from cold far more easily than a petrol one — no cranking, no choke, instant torque. That instant torque is precisely what to watch. On cold, greasy tarmac the front wheels can spin before you have noticed, especially pulling out of junctions and onto roundabouts. Be gentle with the right pedal for the first few miles.

Check tyre pressures once a fortnight through the winter. Pressures fall as temperatures drop, which costs you grip and range at the same time, and the difference can be surprising after a hard frost. Aim for at least 3mm of tread for winter running rather than the 1.6mm legal minimum, and consider winter or all-season tyres if you regularly use untreated roads or live somewhere hilly.

Brake lightly for the first few miles to clear surface rust from the discs. Remember too that regenerative braking is reduced when the pack is cold, so the car may roll further than you expect before the friction brakes take hold. On snow, a lower regeneration setting gives you gentler, more predictable deceleration.

Plan charging around the weather

Cold batteries accept charge more slowly, particularly at rapid chargers, which is why a 30-minute top-up can stretch to 45 in January. If your car can pre-heat the battery, switch that on 20 to 30 minutes before you reach a rapid charger — it is the single most effective way to get a quick charge in winter.

Check that the chargers on your route are working before you depend on them, and keep a realistic plan B within range. Carry your own Type 2 cable for destination chargers, which are often untethered, and allow extra time so a charge stop feels like part of the journey rather than a delay. In severe weather, charge earlier and more often than you think you need to.

Small checks that save big headaches

• Top up washer fluid with a mix rated to at least -15°C. Plain water freezes on the screen and can crack the pump.
• Treat door and charge-port seals with silicone spray so they do not freeze shut. A flap welded shut by ice is a miserable thing to discover at a service station.
• Never pour hot water over a frozen windscreen or charge port. Use de-icer, or tepid water on a cloth, and let the pre-conditioning do the hard work.
• Have the 12V battery checked if it is more than four or five years old. Cold is brutal on it, and it is the usual culprit behind an electric car that will not start.
• Keep a winter kit in the boot: blanket, torch, warm layers, a phone power bank, a small shovel, and grit or snow socks for the driven wheels.
• Wipe the charge port dry before plugging in, and never force a frozen connector.

Treat winter as a change of routine rather than a limitation. Plug in when you park, warm the car while it is still tethered, drive smoothly and plan your charging with a little more margin. Do that, and the coldest months become quietly comfortable — which is exactly what a good electric car should feel like.