Electric car batteries also suffer from high temperatures, so precautions should be taken to avoid losing too much range.

It is common knowledge that electric car batteries do not cope well with cold weather, which has to do with their composition and how it reacts to low temperatures. However, it is not so well known that zero-emission vehicles also struggle with high temperatures. Here are some tips on how to prevent your electric car from losing range in the summer heat.

Why heat affects the battery

As with cold weather, the ambient temperature affects the electrochemical reaction that takes place inside the lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars. Batteries have an ideal temperature range in which they perform optimally, allowing the car to achieve its maximum range. This range could be set between 64 and 86 °F.

This is a temperature range typical of spring or fall, precisely the two seasons that are becoming shorter and shorter in Spain, so it is more common for a zero-emission model to operate either well below or well above these margins. In the middle of a heat wave, anywhere on the peninsula can easily exceed 95°F or even 104°F.

What science says and what manufacturers recommend

The scientific explanation for all this is that, at a chemical level, heat causes lithium ion reactions to accelerate, which means that extreme temperatures reduce the efficiency of the battery’s energy conversion.

There are several reports that quantify how heat affects the performance of electric cars. According to this one from Recurrent Auto, at an ambient temperature of 32 degrees, the vehicle’s range is barely reduced, as it loses 5%, a margin that can be considered acceptable and that, on any trip, can be lost, for example, if the accelerator is pressed more than necessary. However, things change significantly when the thermometer reads 37 degrees, as the loss is 17 or 18%, which is a significant amount, and if it reaches 41 degrees, the reduction is 31%.

But why is this? The main reason is that the car’s system is constantly using energy to cool the battery, as if it reaches too high a temperature it can even be dangerous. In this way, even when the car is stationary, the available electricity is constantly drained to maintain cooling, something that increases even more while driving.

 

The battery suffers in the heat.

Practical tips for preserving range

The key to preserving range lies in regulating temperature in the broadest sense of the word. The most important thing is to prevent the car from overheating, which is easier said than done. Ideally, you should park your car in an underground garage, which tends to be cooler, but the most important thing is to keep the vehicle out of direct sunlight, so simply park it in a shaded spot.

This has two positive consequences. First, let’s look at the lesser-known one: as we have mentioned, this will raise the battery temperature less, so less energy will be needed to cool it and the range will be less affected. On the other hand, the interior of the vehicle will not reach such extreme temperatures, so it will cost less to cool it using the air conditioning system.

In this regard, you need to be efficient in lowering the temperature of the car. Don’t turn on the air conditioning/climate control as soon as you get in. The ideal thing to do is to first remove the heat from the passenger compartment, which can be achieved by opening and closing the door while the other side is open, or by starting the car with the windows open so that the breeze removes the heat. Once the temperature has dropped a few degrees, you can turn on the climate control, which will have to work less hard and thus use less battery power.

Contact.

• José Miguel Fernández Gómez.
• Email: info@advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com
• Mobile phone: +34 678254874 Spain.

Course Features.

• The course is aimed at: managers, middle managers, fleet managers, any professional related to electric vehicles, and any company, organization, public administration that wants to switch to electric vehicles.
• Schedule: at your own pace, you set the schedule.
• Duration: 25 hours.
• Completion time: Once you have started the course you have 6 months to finish it.
• Materials: english slides and syllabus for each class in PDF.
• If you pass the course you get a certificate.
• Each class has a quiz to take.
• English language, subtitles and syllabus.
• Other subtitles and video syllabus available: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese.

• Start date: The course can be started whenever you want. Once payment is made, you have access to the course.

Price.

• 250 euros.

• You can pay by bank transfer, credit card, or PayPal.

Goals.

• Know the most important aspects to take into account when electrifying a fleet of vehicles.
• Learn about electric vehicle technology.
• Know the polluting emissions that occur when a fleet of vehicles is electrified.
• Know what technologies are viable to electrify a fleet of vehicles.
• Learn about real cases of vehicle fleet electrification.
• Know the history of the electric vehicle.

Syllabus.

1. History of electric vehicle.
2. Battery electric vehicle.
3. History of the lithium ion battery.
4. Types of electric vehicle batteries.
5. New electric vehicle battery materials.
6. Other storage technologies of electric vehicle batteries.
7. Battery components.
8. Battery Management System-BMS.
9. Fundamentals of the electric motor.
10. Battery degradation loss of autonomy.
11. What is covered and not covered by the electric vehicle battery warranty.
12. Battery passport.
13. Battery fire of the electric vehicle.
14. Causes, stages and  risks of battery fire.
15. Real cases of electric vehicle fire.
16. Electric vehicle battery fire extinguishment.
17. Measures to prevent, extinguish and control electric vehicle fires.
18. Fire safety regulations for electric vehicle batteries.
19. Impact of ambient temperature on battery performance.
20. Which emmits more Co2, an electric car or a car with an internal combustion engine.
21. The use of rare earth earths in the electric vehicle.
22. Plug-in electric hybrids, a solution or an obstacle  to electrify the vehicle fleet?.
23. Fleet electrification with hydrogen vehicles.
24. Cybersecurity of charging points.
25. The theft of copper in electric vehicle chargers.
26. Incidents at electric car charging points and their possible solutions.
27. Batery swapping.
28. The tires of electric vehicles.
29. Electric vehicle, artificial intelligence, and electricity demand.
30. The case of Hertz electrification.
31. The case of Huaneng: The world’s first electrified and autonomous mining fleet.
32. Consequences on the vehicle fleet of an electric vehicle brand going bankruptcy.
33. E-fuels and synthetic fuels are not an alternative to decarbonize the vehicle fleet.
34. How to avoid premature obsolescence of the fleet’s electric vehicles.
35. Polluting emissions from brakes.
36. Mileage manipulation to extinguish warranty early on electric vehicles.
37. The importance of the electricity tariff in reducing electric vehicle costs.
38. Electric vehicles cause more motion sickness than gasoline vehicles.

Training teacher.