Q: In recent snowy weather, I discovered the limits of rear-wheel drive in attempting to ascend a snowy driveway to the house. Do all EVs only have rear wheel drive? If so, it’s rather off-putting. – J Gaffney, Co Cork
A: The debate over rear-wheel drive versus front-wheel drive during snowy conditions is an age-old one, and it’s not quite the slam-dunk victory for front-wheel drive that you might think.
Recalling the great snow storms of the winter of 2010-2011, radio personalities chided people for buying expensive, rear-wheel drive luxury cars which became becalmed at the bottom of snowy slopes, while more humble front-wheel drive models romped up.
There is a touch of truth to that – front-wheel drive cars have the weight of their engine and gearbox on top of or slightly ahead of (therefore acting with some leverage) the front wheels, which grants a traction advantage. If you start to slide, a front-wheel drive car will generally pull itself straight under the application of power.
However, all is not lost for rear-wheel drive cars, and a bit of judicious traction control usage and some reasonable levels of driver skill will keep a rear-wheel drive car mobile in the foulest conditions.
Don’t believe me? Well then, remember that it took almost 60 years for Volvo – the Swedish brand well-accustomed to snow and which puts so much store on safety – to make its first front-wheel drive car.
This is very generalised front-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive talk, and it applies equally to combustion and hybrid-engined cars as it does EVs.
Also applying equally to all three categories is the importance of tyres. In Ireland, we generally have one set of tyres for our cars at any one time, and those are basic, bog-standard tyres, generically known as summer tyres.
Our European neighbours, being generally more enlightened and also having rather more in the way of properly snowy winters than us, regularly use winter tyres – indeed, from October onwards such tyres are often legally required in certain jurisdictions.
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Winter tyres are not just for snow. Their softer, grippier rubber compound also resists hardening in lower temperatures of below about 7 degrees (and how often in Ireland is the ambient temperature below that figure?) which means that even without any snow, they have better grip, traction, and braking performance than a conventional tyre. When the snow and ice does arrive, you would be astonished at the extra grip and traction you can find by wearing a set of winter tyres.
Of course there’s an expense involved in buying that extra set, and there’s also an extra expense in buying a second set of wheels on which to fit them. Then there is storage during the warmer months.
However, the pay-offs are the twin benefits of (a) being safer in the winter and (b) spreading your annual tyre wear and tear out over two sets of tyres.
As for all EVs being rear-wheel drive, no they’re not. Increasingly more and more models are arriving with rear-wheel drive simply because that’s a more energy-efficient way to drive a car along (a front-wheel drive car’s efficiency is more in its packaging than in its driving).
The most common rear-drive EVs at the moment, aside from basic Tesla models, are any of the cars using Volkswagen Group’s MEB electric car platform, so that’s the VW ID3, 4, 5, 7, and Buzz line-ups, the Skoda Enyaq and Elroq, the Audi Q4 e-Tron, and the Cupra Born and Tavascan.
All of those cars do have optional four-wheel drive models, of course, but there’s an oddity in that not only is the Audi Q4 e-tron rear-wheel drive when Audis had hitherto been front-or-four-wheel drive, so too are the single-motor versions of the new Q6 e-Tron SUV, the A6 e-Tron saloon and Avant estate (with the option of four-wheel drive quattro power of course).
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Porsche’s Taycan and Macan Electric come in basic rear-drive forms, as do the Mercedes EQE and EQS line-ups (but not the EQA or EQB, which are front-drive, although confusingly the incoming new electric CLA moves to rear-wheel drive).
Toyota’s bz4X and Lexus’ closely related RZ are both front-drive in basic forms but with optional four-wheel drive versions, while BMW’s electric line-up is split – the i4, i5, iX, and i7 are all rear-wheel drive (with optional four-wheel drive) while the iX1 and iX2 are front-wheel drive (with optional four-wheel drive). The iX3 is currently only available with rear-wheel drive.
All of the Stellantis Group electric cars from Peugeot, Citroen, Alfa Romeo, Opel, Jeep, and Fiat are front-wheel drive (some with optional four-wheel drive) and so too are all of Renault’s electric models, ditto for Nissan. Dacia’s Spring is front-wheel drive, while BYD’s line-up, like BMW’s, is split with front-drive for the Atto 2, Atto3, and Dolphin and rear-drive for the Seal saloon and Sealion 07 SUV.
Ford’s Explorer and Capri are rear-drive thanks to sharing their chassis with Volkswagen, but the Mustang Mach-E, which has a unique platform, is rear-drive in basic form.
Hyundai’s Ioniq range and Kia’s EV range are rear-wheel drive (with optional four-wheel drive) but the electric versions of the Kona and the Niro are front-drive as is the new Hyundai Inster.
MG has rear-drive for the MG 4 hatch and the Cyberster sports car (again with optional four-wheel drive) but front-drive for the old electric ZS and the MG 5 estate. All of the electric Minis are front-wheel drive (of course) but that may change with the next generation models.
Pole Star and Volvo are slightly odd. The Pole Star 3 and 4, and the Volvo EX30 and EX90 are all natively rear-wheel drive (with optional 4WD of course) but the Pole Star 2, and the Volvo EX40 and EC40 (previously the XC40 and C40) started out as front-wheel drive models, but were switched in the past two years to rear-wheel drive, because of its greater efficiencies. We think that’s the first time a big car maker has swapped which wheels of a major model are driven since Triumph did it in the 1970s with the 1300/1500 line-up.
As for driving an EV on ice and snow, the same basic rules apply as for any car. Slow down, leave extra stopping room, use gentle control inputs, and if it’s really bad, just don’t venture out at all.
