How We Drive Cars at -55 °C | -67 °F? Yakutia, Siberia

Have you ever wondered how cars work in one of the coldest places on earth? In Yakutia, where I live, the temperature often drops below minus 50 in winter and once it even reached a record low of minus 71 degrees celsius. So how do we manage to drive in such a harsh environment? And what challenges do we face on roads here? When winter comes, the entire city gets covered in thick fog, making driving extremely dangerous. Sometimes the fog is so dense that you can't see more than five meters ahead and you have to rely on your memory to drive. But the fog isn't the biggest threat. The real danger is the harsh cold, which can freeze your car if it's not properly prepared. Let me show you how we make sure that our car is ready for winter. We glue additional windows to keep the cold air out. Otherwise, they will be coated in frost. We cover the engine with a blanket to prevent it from freezing. The front of the car is covered with special windproof material to protect it from cold air that can freeze the engine while you're driving. We also put on studded snow tires to help the car grip icy roads and prevent slipping. These steps help keep the car safe and working well during the cold season. However, in Yakutia, even insulated cars can be left outside in winter. When we need to leave a car outside for a few hours, we use a special blanket that helps keep it warm longer. We also installed an automatic starter with a temperature sensor in our car. If the temperature inside of the automobile drops below minus 10 degrees Celsius, it will turn on by itself to warm up. Some people even use these blankets all winter. But using this cover all the time isn't secure. If the automatic starter breaks, the car could freeze up completely. Also, moisture from the car's exhaust freezes and blocks the pipe. This can stop the engine from working. And this happens more often than you might think. On top of that, if you leave your car under the blanket for all winter, it will burn a lot of fuel. And fuel is expensive. For example, in Yakutsk, it cost 0.8 dollars per liter of gasoline in January 2025. Before we continue, make sure to like this video, subscribe to my channel, share this video with your friends and leave a comment. Thank you! The ideal way to keep your car warm is by parking it in a heated garage. At night, we park our car in a multi-level garage with more than 200 spaces. It stays warm inside, so we don't have to worry about the car freezing. However, when it's very cold outside, by the time we reach our parking spot on the 6th floor, the windows of our car are covered in a thick layer of frost. This makes it hard to see and difficult to get to our parking space. This frost is really thick and we have to wait until it melts when we need to go outside. But what exactly happens to your car and why does it stop running when it gets so cold? The main problem is that engine oil can freeze in these temperatures. The oil keeps the engine parts moving smoothly, but when it freezes, the engine can't work properly and your car might fail to start. We ran an experiment where we left different engine oils outside in temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius. After just a few hours, all of them were completely frozen. This highlights how crucial it is to prepare your car for winter. Without preparation, the cold will make your car break down and that is really unsafe. Even though all drivers in Yakutia know cars need to be ready for winter, frozen cars are still common in our city. Some people try to start a frozen car, but that's the worst thing to do, because frozen engines can easily break. Instead, it's better to warm up the car first. Fortunately, there are special companies in Yakutsk that help to thaw frozen cars. This car stopped because the temperature sensor, which is supposed to start the car automatically at night, didn't work. As a result, the car froze even though it was well insulated and covered with a blanket. You can see that the oil froze, which stopped the engine from working. The temperature of the engine is at minus 46 degrees Celsius. To defrost this car first, they cover it to keep in more heat. Then they use a special tool called a heating gun. It burns fuel to create heat, which warms up the car from the inside. It takes about one hour to heat the car. The most important thing is to thaw the engine carefully, because if it gets too hot, it can be damaged. After an hour, they check the car. First, they take off the cover. Then they measure the engine's temperature to check if it's warmed up. They also make sure the engine oil is liquid. Once the car is ready, they use special equipment to start the engine. The car is good to go. Yakutia is a vast and sparsely populated region, where many villages and towns are located far apart, sometimes hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away. Most of the roads don't have mobile phone coverage. On these long trips, having a well-prepared car is absolutely essential for safety. But despite all the efforts and careful preparation, something unpredictable can always happen. In such moments, the only thing that can really help is the support of another person. My father, who worked as a driver all his life, told me that you always, always need to stop if you see someone in trouble, especially in winter. He said that only by supporting and helping each other we can survive in this world. And sometimes this help can literally save someone's life. These words became an important life lesson for me. Humanity and mutual assistance are what really matter.