I saw this thread from a couple years ago which is helpful. http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Cold-Lithium-Cell-Question-tp3984152.html
But with a couple polar vortex events over much of the Eastern US this winter - and probably a few more lithium installations since 2011, I'm curious to hear how people have been managing the charging and discharging in ultra-low temperatures. In my case I have no battery warming, but did put a good 1/2" insulation on bottom/sides of my boxes. But with open tops and temps around -15C, my temp. sensor on the BMS give me a low temp warning. Discharging is ok, but charging is disallowed. So far I've been able to keep it just warm enough in the garage (at about 0C) and charge at 10-15amps (I have 130ah CALBs), so I keep going. But it's kind of brutal. I guess the electrolyte is actually warmer than the top of the cell and I might be ok charging ... but I'm not going to risk it if I don't absolutely have to. I can't imagine what an EV in Minnesota or Chicago must endure with temperatures like -25C this past week! I guess you absolutely must put in battery warming if you expect to drive the vehicle during the winter. ----- Dan Gallagher http://www.evalbum.com/3854 -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Cold-Charging-Lithium-Experiences-tp4667675.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
