[ausev] Cold Weather and lead acid batteries/plugging in at work

[Ian Ward]

Not all of the trucks came with heaters for the batteries. Even for the ones
that did, they only warm the batteries up to 41 degrees F prior to charging,
and then maintain them at 68 degrees while charging, if necessary. Once
charging is complete, the charger comes on periodically to keep them above
14 degrees F, while on the plug. This is still plenty cold to affect range
and performance. These heaters, if installed, are only supposed to function
on plug, so any improvement in performance during the drive cycle is due to
the heat generated by discharge.

The documentation does not say that the preheat button, which warms the
passenger area while on plug, also fires up the battery heaters. I don't
think it does, but it would be nice if it did. It does heat up the cabin to
avoid using the battery to do so while driving. It is limited to 30 minutes
of operation.

The case is insulated by the fiberglass over foam tray, but it doesn't
prevent the batteries from cooling off significantly overnight. Within a
couple of days, the inside temperature will equalize with the ambient temps.

Even though I parked my Ranger in the garage at home and at work, lower
temps severly affected my range and I was only able to make it back home
during the winter by charging at work.

- ian

On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 12:06 PM, Mark Farver <mfarver at mindbent.org> wrote:

> Its interesting that Claire is having issues, since the factory Ford
> Ranger EV's have internal heaters and insulation around the pack.
> That should at least somewhat help with the range.
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 2:43 PM, Roy Holder <roy at holder3.com> wrote:
> > My batteries are 2 1/2 years old, and starting their third winter.
> > My normal daily commute is 44 AH.  When the nite temp drops below 50, it
> > seems to me that I get very low voltage under acceleration when I get to
> > about 386-40 AH, that is when I switch to 1 way charging.
> >
> > when the temp dips below freezing and I get low voltage under
> acceleration
> > aroung 20 AH
> > I noticed the cold weather effect more on the second winter than the
> first.
> > we shall see how the third winter effects them..
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