Charging in cold temperatures

Does anyone on this forum anticipate that there might be issues with battery degradation if we routinely charge our LEAF in cold temperatures?

While we live in Southern California, our home is above 6000 feet elevation, and we do not have a garage. We would be charging our LEAF in our driveway, where ambient nighttime temperatures range between 15-40 F for a good part of the year.

I am not particularly concerned about the temporary range reduction associated with driving in the cold, as most of our winter, on-mountain driving is relatively short in distance. But if battery degradation is likely to be an issue, or if charging will not be possible in the cold, then I might need to hold out for an EV with active thermal management, such as a Ford Focus EV or Coda.

I understand that Nissan has a fair amount of experience with EV's in cold temperatures, but it seems possible that they were garaged during charging.

Thank you for any advice.

Cold should only give performance degradation, not battery degradation.

Heat destroys batteries. Charging makes batteries heat up. Starting charging cold is probably good for batteries, not bad.

Any good charger is temperature compensated so it should not be an issue. Although capacity of any EV battery will be diminished in the cold. I do not think it will actually hurt the battery. There is supposedly a cold weather package coming late next year that might be worth waiting for.

Not to worry.

I don't have exact details for the Leaf's LiMn pack, but these generic lithium numbers should provide a 'close enough' view.

Normal operating temperature range: -45°C to 85°C (-49°F to 185°F) Roughly translated, if the driver 'works' the battery will as well.

For lithium iron phosphate cells, and if the pack is kept at -45°C/-49°F, performance will drop and range will drop to 80%. In the real world, very cold cells heat internally when being charged and discharged - so they tend to start cold and warm on their own as we drive or charge. Performance and range will improve as the car's driven.

I've run my lithium powered motorcycle with a 25°F pack on a 'warm' south Texas winter day. Performance is down for the first couple of miles, but it definitely 'wakes up' the more it's used.

Andy...tells us about you lithium powered motorcycle...did you make it or buy it? Been thinking about getting a Brammo...I like the looks and driving position of the Enertia, but would love it to have a bigger battery (3.1 kWh is small...if they make it 5 or more and increase the top speed from 60 to 75 I would buy one today).


Gavin

I wanted basic transportation, and something with a basic battery pack that I could use as my rolling test bed for battery management systems, so I got a Chinese scooter-style bike. (Current model bikes have pack management, so riders don't have to be geeks to get long pack lives any more. )

62mph top speed hot from the charger, ~4KW lithium iron phosphate pack, 5KW hub motor. Beating it to death I get about 45 miles on a charge. It'll run a bit over 60 miles if I keep it slow but that's not as much fun. I rolled past 1900 miles yesterday. The only maintenance issue has been a lose seat latch.

The bike's an XM-5000Li.
http://www.rechargeablelithiumpower.com/oscommerce2/catalog/xm5000li-p-44.html

It's an imported EFun-D
http://efun-ev.com/pro-d.html

Caution...geek alert.
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8675

Another option is Current Motor Company in Michigan. The owner's an ex-pat Brit with a wide honesty streak that just happens to make a good bike. http://www.currentmotor.com/

E-motorcycle research: http://visforvoltage.org/
Enjoy!

Andy

Thanks for the responses. It sounds like charging in the cold won't be an issue. Even if it does turn out to be a problem, I suppose we can charge during the day in winter, since our Leaf will not be a commuter vehicle, and our winter daytime temperatures are usually above freezing. (Here at elevation, night/day temperature swings are generally pronounced.) The cold weather package might be nice, but I suspect we'll be able to live without it just fine.

BTW, those e-cycles sound nice, though I personally am quite content sticking with the human-powered variety. More exercise that way.