Came across this yesterday. Interesting, the details are a bit vague, or maybe I didn't listen closely enough. But the comments from the 'fans' are interesting.
What I got from it though is, this guy is talking about 17F as being 'bitterly cold' in New York? OK, that's probably cold for Thanksgiving, but in another month or 2, I'd think you could expect some minus 17 days in New York some years, or even worse on occasion. And if you need to drive somewhere, then park for several hours w/o a chance to plug in, sounds like range is going to be hit really hard.
So the 'fans' are grousing - (paraphrasing)
"it's not fair! You aren't really measuring the 'range', because you stopped for hours without it plugged in, so that degraded the battery level. It's not the miles, it's the stopping You should have plugged it in while stopped. And... you had the heat on?!!!! That draws a lot of power!!!!".
Now I'm not sure if the battery has to be heated while stopped, or if it just has to heat it before it can draw much. But anyhow, in my view, that is a very realistic scenario. It's cold out, you have to drive somewhere and stop there for hours. And he did have it plugged in and 'conditioned' before he left home. You can't count on having a plug available at your destination. So wow, if this guy saw that kind of range drop at 17F, what would it be at -17F?
And yes, it's COLD out (and that car has a big glass roof?), you are going to have the heat on. Yes, the heated seats should be more efficient than warming the air, but the driver should be able to do whatever they want for comfort. You should decide, not the car. I guess I'd get better mpg in my car in summer if I roll up the windows and keep the A/C off. But I'm not gonna do that. And I like to BLAST the heat in the winter.
So imagine, it's -17F out, you visit a friend, there's no plug available, you decide to stay overnight. What kind of range are you going to have in the morning? What if you preheat the car before you leave (like some people do with remote start on their ICE)?
-ERD50