Extreme Heat and EVs

[RedStallion]

Oh no doubts there. I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect some sort of (successful) grid-based attack in the near future. Just have to find ways to insulate as much as possible (i.e.: non-grid tied solar w/ battery for example) and hope we can ride out the storm before things become unrecoverable.

Even more sinister than that. The government will get full control of who drives where and when. That's why China is so eager to put everybody in electric cars.?

Sponsored

 

[ERIC8585]

Just an FYI. 90F at 90% has a heat stress of 117F (what it feels like). This is a typical summer day in the Ohio/Indiana/Kentucky/Illinois/Missouri areas. A not unusual summer day in Phoenix is 115F at 6%, which has a heat stress of 117F, the same as 90/90.

Humidity is the worst

 

[BMT1071]

I reduced my home charge rate to 24A@240V. With this, I can hear some quiet humming and feel some mild vibration if I put my hand on the hood while it's charging overnight.

This is the minimum bar I was hoping for while the car is sweating it outside in the giant sun baked parking lot at work. But instead, I hear/feel nothing happening.

How much time have you spent monitoring it? I seem to recall @SnBGC posting about his fans coming on several minutes after parking at work, though he was plugged in. Maybe there is a delay programmed in before the cooling strategy is enabled??? I'm just throwing out a SWAG here. It will be at least another month before I have mine to test.

 

[Maric]

I just got back from a 500 mile road trip. I drove 80 mph in 100 degree weather and no issues. A/C going 100% of the time. Now 114 might be different. But in the low 100s, zero issues with heat affecting the vehicle.

 

[EELinneman]

Here is an interesting article about fast charging and temperatures, the degradation can be very quick: https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2020/03/11/fast-charging-damages-electric-car-batteries

Something in this report does not seem right. As they stated 25 charges can degrade the individual batteries to the point where they are not usable. If this were happening, there would be all sorts of stories about dead BEV's, especially amongst the Teslas crowd. I did a pretty basic google search and am only seeing a few stories about battery failures. It makes me think that somebody is selling an algorithm or some type of charging management software.

 

[RedStallion]

Something in this report does not seem right. As they stated 25 charges can degrade the individual batteries to the point where they are not usable. If this were happening, there would be all sorts of stories about dead BEV's, especially amongst the Teslas crowd. I did a pretty basic google search and am only seeing a few stories about battery failures. It makes me think that somebody is selling an algorithm or some type of charging management software.

You need to look at the original pdf file referenced in the article for details.
They didn't implement any cooling for the batteries, you can see the temperature rising to 60C while charging. They also disassembled the batteries for postmortem examination to see the impact, it's not obvious, not every battery cracks or explodes. You may have hundreds of bad batteries in your pack and not know.
Ford doesn't publish any numbers on battery degradation. In fact, they designed MME with some 10% reserve that can go bad and still preserve the original capacity. So when Ford warrants batteries, they specify 70% of the stated capacity, which is about 60% of the capacity of the cells. That is far below 80% which is a typical threshold for bad battery.

P.S. I wouldn't take anything Tesla fanboys post seriously.

 

[macchiaz-o]

How much time have you spent monitoring it? I seem to recall @SnBGC posting about his fans coming on several minutes after parking at work, though he was plugged in. Maybe there is a delay programmed in before the cooling strategy is enabled??? I'm just throwing out a SWAG here. It will be at least another month before I have mine to test.

I've monitored it a bunch of times while it's parked and plugged in at home but not charging (due to being outside preferred charge times). It's never made a peep other than the relay/contactor clicks and clacks of modules freaking out and reacting to motion, movement, or my phone.

And while I work, unplugged, I've never observed the fans or pumps running when I walk over to the car for lunch or end of day... Even on the days where drive modes are disabled due to excessive heat conditions.

So while I can't confirm that cooling never happens outside of the Run or Active Charge states, I have never observed it happening, after many dozens (hundreds?) of observation attempts.

 

[timunger0222]

What happens when you put a Mach-E in the PNW Pressure Cooker during a heatwave?

It demands AC!

I'm in Portland too. My car gave me the same message yesterday, but I am a A.B.C. advocate anyway (always be charging). But on a different note? Is the background blue? I want blue, but my only choices appear to be black or white. Any suggestions?
I don

 

[macchiaz-o]

But on a different note? Is the background blue? I want blue, but my only choices appear to be black or white. Any suggestions?

This is the one called Dark Mode.

 

[TruWrecks]

My car is indeed outside humming while it cools itself in the heat. No loud, but it is audible.

 

[TruWrecks]

This is the one called Dark Mode.

Correct. I like dark mode. The white background is hard on my eyes.

 

[macchiaz-o]

My car is indeed outside humming while it cools itself in the heat. No loud, but it is audible.

While charging?

What about when unplugged and Off, or while plugged in but outside of your charge schedule?

 

[macchiaz-o]

While charging?

What about when unplugged and Off, or while plugged in but outside of your charge schedule?

Decided to try an experiment... I arrived home an hour ago. Car parked in garage, plugged in, not scheduled to recharge for several more hours.

Silent for that hour.

Then I used FordPass to modify the charge settings so it would have no reason to charge but would be allowed to. (I reduced target percent and added a lot more hours to the allowable times.)

As soon as the car got its allowance upgrade, it whirred to life. Radiator fan, pump(s), the works. It was loud.

I let it run this way for four minutes and then changed my settings back to normal and it went back to sleep. According to the Insights page for Ford Connected Charge Station, 200 watt hours were consumed for those four minutes of heat management.

That's 3 kWh if stretched to a full hour... Pretty significant!

Makes me wonder some things:

1. How badly are the batteries being damaged from not receiving any heat management while the car is parked outside on a hot day?

2. Am I causing further damage to the vehicle by driving it beyond its ability to cool down, like this afternoon when I lost access to Drive Modes again while I was passing other traffic on the freeway? Do I need to baby the vehicle for 6 months each year?

By the way, running this experiment allowed me to see this status message for the first time ever:

 

[zhackwyatt]

Decided to try an experiment... I arrived home an hour ago. Car parked in garage, plugged in, not scheduled to recharge for several more hours.

Silent for that hour.

Then I used FordPass to modify the charge settings so it would have no reason to charge but would be allowed to. (I reduced target percent and added a lot more hours to the allowable times.)

As soon as the car got its allowance upgrade, it whirred to life. Radiator fan, pump(s), the works. It was loud.

I let it run this way for four minutes and then changed my settings back to normal and it went back to sleep. According to the Insights page for Ford Connected Charge Station, 200 watt hours were consumed for those four minutes of heat management.

That's 3 kWh if stretched to a full hour... Pretty significant!

Makes me wonder some things:

1. How badly are the batteries being damaged from not receiving any heat management while the car is parked outside on a hot day?

2. Am I causing further damage to the vehicle by driving it beyond its ability to cool down, like this afternoon when I lost access to Drive Modes again while I was passing other traffic on the freeway? Do I need to baby the vehicle for 6 months each year?

By the way, running this experiment allowed me to see this status message for the first time ever:

Losing drive modes doesn't seem right. I don't see how losing drive modes protects the battery or is due to a limit of the battery.

 

[BMT1071]

Decided to try an experiment... I arrived home an hour ago. Car parked in garage, plugged in, not scheduled to recharge for several more hours.

Silent for that hour.

Then I used FordPass to modify the charge settings so it would have no reason to charge but would be allowed to. (I reduced target percent and added a lot more hours to the allowable times.)

As soon as the car got its allowance upgrade, it whirred to life. Radiator fan, pump(s), the works. It was loud.

I let it run this way for four minutes and then changed my settings back to normal and it went back to sleep. According to the Insights page for Ford Connected Charge Station, 200 watt hours were consumed for those four minutes of heat management.

That's 3 kWh if stretched to a full hour... Pretty significant!

Makes me wonder some things:

1. How badly are the batteries being damaged from not receiving any heat management while the car is parked outside on a hot day?

2. Am I causing further damage to the vehicle by driving it beyond its ability to cool down, like this afternoon when I lost access to Drive Modes again while I was passing other traffic on the freeway? Do I need to baby the vehicle for 6 months each year?

By the way, running this experiment allowed me to see this status message for the first time ever:

Just to be clear, does the FCCS supply power to the vehicle outside of the charging schedule?