EV drive mode not working in winter cold

[jaapv]

Basically Li-Ion batteries will not sustain permanent damage by deep freezing - they simply stop working and will recover when warming up.
I kept a few camera batteries in my freezer for years and they were non the worse.

 

[maby]

Basically Li-Ion batteries will not sustain permanent damage by deep freezing - they simply stop working and will recover when warming up.
I kept a few camera batteries in my freezer for years and they were non the worse.

mmmmm, though I doubt your freezer is at -40 degrees! I doubt many domestic food freezers get below -10...

 

[Grigou]

Basically Li-Ion batteries will not sustain permanent damage by deep freezing - they simply stop working and will recover when warming up.
I kept a few camera batteries in my freezer for years and they were non the worse.

mmmmm, though I doubt your freezer is at -40 degrees! I doubt many domestic food freezers get below -10...

A freezer must be able to keep -18 °C permanently.

And I remember that in February 2012 my Diesel Honda CR-V couldn't start after one night between -25 and - 20 °C. And it was not the only Diesel car in that situation. There was some water in the fuel filter

 

[jaapv]

Actually, it does go down to -35 - - 40 , ( I keep a thermometer at the bottom.)

 

[greendwarf]

However, there must be some way round the problem even if you have to use the technology deployed in deep space probes, which are powered down for months or years at a time at almost absolute zero.

PS. I've seen film of Russian truck drivers lighting fires under their vehicles to get moving each morning.

 

[maby]

However, there must be some way round the problem even if you have to use the technology deployed in deep space probes, which are powered down for months or years at a time at almost absolute zero.

PS. I've seen film of Russian truck drivers lighting fires under their vehicles to get moving each morning.

Surely the space probes are all solar powered - apart from the really deep space stuff which is running on nuclear batteries?

 

[jaapv]

NASA specifies their batteries down to - 80 C. I doubt whether Mitsubishi's EV technology is in the same league :twisted:

 

[emm3t]

Hi all - my first post on this forum - I'm about to order an Outlander PHEV here in Spain, but I've been lurking on the forum for some time.

I couldn't resist jumping into this topic however since I work for the European Space Agency...

Regarding the batteries, we put heaters on our satellite batteries. If they don't get warmed up, then they can't hold a charge. When we get enough power from the solar panels (after hibernation for example) the first thing that is done is to start warming the batteries so we can start to accumulate some stored power. There are different batteries for different missions, but that's the general rule.

I don't think that the PHEV battery pack has a dedicated heater, only an air conditioning unit to cool the system. I also suspect that space-qualified batteries are a tad more expensive that the ones in the Outlander

Emmet

 

[greendwarf]

Hi all - my first post on this forum - I'm about to order an Outlander PHEV here in Spain, but I've been lurking on the forum for some time.

I couldn't resist jumping into this topic however since I work for the European Space Agency...

Regarding the batteries, we put heaters on our satellite batteries. If they don't get warmed up, then they can't hold a charge. When we get enough power from the solar panels (after hibernation for example) the first thing that is done is to start warming the batteries so we can start to accumulate some stored power. There are different batteries for different missions, but that's the general rule.

I don't think that the PHEV battery pack has a dedicated heater, only an air conditioning unit to cool the system. I also suspect that space-qualified batteries are a tad more expensive that the ones in the Outlander

Emmet

Thanks, Emmet, for this explanation. I'll add it to my mental store, which makes me unbeatable at Trivial Pursuit

 

[jaapv]

One thing I would certainly do in such climates is connect a trickle charger to the 12 V battery. Should that drop under 10.5 Volts the car won't start up at all.

 

[Sparf]

I don't think that the PHEV battery pack has a dedicated heater, only an air conditioning unit to cool the system.

Emmet

Hi guys,

I have had som very cold weather here and some insight to the PHEV functions when it is very cold.

Those Outlanders equipped with electric heater starts heating the battery in extreme cold.
This function by-pass the charge timer (if activated) and preheating timer and starts preheating the battery to prevent it from damage due to cold temperatures.

The best way to cope with cold temperatures -15C or less is always plug in the charge cabel. That way you get the 12V battery charged and ready and the car also protects the drive battery by auto heating en extreme cold.

I have a thread with som tips for driving in cold weather pure EV and with climate control on in following thread if anyone is interested.
http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2177

 

[emm3t]

Thanks for clearing up my misunderstanding Sparf - yet another little hidden extra that the Outlander has.

The more I read, the better it gets!