Battery temperature gauge in red after fast charging (or a long day of driving)?

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Yes I am discovering this after further "research". I sometimes have to drive 2+ hours to regional cities and want to do it in one day. Basically hard to do with fast chargers and lower level chargers take too long. Next try is limiting fast charging to 15-20 minutes and watch the temp. And is there anything that would cool it off faster than 2 to 3 hours? I've got the range but can't use it without burning out the batteries.

As weather gets warmer, your LEAF becomes more hobbled. Such is the car.
People have talked for years about ways to increase battery pack cooling but it has gone no where. Dead end, that

I think the only practical thing you can do is to reduce heat production, and this is done by driving slower. You might have to drive slower the entire trip before DC fast charging, or you might find that you can do the slow driving in the hour or so before you charge. Get an OBD2 adapter so you have more pack temperature information than the car tells you, and with experience you will learn to adapt. I promise you will find it annoying, but it is better than the alternative if you continue to own the LEAF.
 
Yes I am discovering this after further "research". I sometimes have to drive 2+ hours to regional cities and want to do it in one day. Basically hard to do with fast chargers and lower level chargers take too long. Next try is limiting fast charging to 15-20 minutes and watch the temp. And is there anything that would cool it off faster than 2 to 3 hours? I've got the range but can't use it without burning out the batteries.
Perhaps your research has led you to the fact that the Leaf is a great town car but a rather poor long distance car. If you keep trying to use it for long distances in the summer with high heat levels, you'll likely damage the battery which is a huge expense. Having discovered these issues, perhaps it's time to trade up to a Tesla or other vehicle with active battery cooling that would better meet your needs?
 
Wow! That fast charging really get the batteries hot.

The last couple days we have been around 113F here in Phoenix. Car sits out side all day and even then around 4pm the battery temperature gauge is still probably less than 2/3 of the way to the first red dot.
That’s…horrifying… global warming could eat electrics…
 
That’s…horrifying… global warming could eat electrics…
And eat ICE. :LOL: (that makes a pun too, I.C.E., global warming, haha) There is a portion of the Appalachian Mountains where the road ways up have many "pull over" spots for over-heating vehicles that climb the mountain. The first time I was driving through (in cool fall weather), I thought it seemed silly to have so many, like every 1/10th of a mile seemed to have one all the way up the mountains. I made the same trip through the next summer when temperatures were +95F and sure enough. The entire road was a mess of over-heating vehicles. Cars, trucks, RVs, basically if anything was towing a trailer, it was over-heating and parked on the side to cool down. 😄 During that same time, I was towing a trailer with close to 800 lbs of metal tower structural pieces and never had a single issue with the Leaf, even with the AC going because it was sooo hot that day. I did manage to bring the battery temperature up 1 bar past the "middle" point on the trip, but that was about it. ;)
 
You can allways "hang" behind a truck trailer and set your speed at 60mph , thats what i do. I Qc till 80-85% then i stop charging on the charging pole and disconnect the cable. I found out that my estimated range is only correct when i drive around 50 mph on the highway, which is not so hard to do behind a heavy loaded truck ;=) As a bonus the battery stays way more cool too.
 
Perhaps your research has led you to the fact that the Leaf is a great town car but a rather poor long distance car. If you keep trying to use it for long distances in the summer with high heat levels, you'll likely damage the battery which is a huge expense.
Indeed. If you use the LEAF for what it is best suited, high battery temperatures will be much less of a threat - and the vehicle will serve you well for more years and miles.
 
Indeed. If you use the LEAF for what it is best suited, high battery temperatures will be much less of a threat - and the vehicle will serve you well for more years and miles.
Yes, I get it, and that's what I originally bought it for. But circumstances have changed so I may just need to find another option. I actually have an old Subaru which I normally use for longer trips, but was hoping this could cover it at least some of the time. Middle of the summer in the south is probably not helping. I've actually been trying to hold out for an EV with the cargo space of the Outback, not seeing one yet.
 
You can allways "hang" behind a truck trailer and set your speed at 60mph , thats what i do. I Qc till 80-85% then i stop charging on the charging pole and disconnect the cable. I found out that my estimated range is only correct when i drive around 50 mph on the highway, which is not so hard to do behind a heavy loaded truck ;=) As a bonus the battery stays way more cool too.
Drafting. Dangerous ‘cause you have to get so close you can’t brake. Truckers hate it. “Excuse me, I’d like to threaten your life for ¢50”. If they’re dead heading they stop faster than just about anything. Airbrakes and 18 wheels 4.x times the patch your wheels have. If they’re deadheading they don’t weigh 4 times what you do. A truck with no trailer on the back has performance not that different in some ways from an F1 car. Fully loaded trailer not so much. They race em when trucking gets awful. Thats part of what CB radios were/are for. Finding out how heavy a rig is can tell you how fast it can stop. They do it but the guy behind is lighter than the guy in front. Use to be 5 or 6 of em doing it at a time. All organized by weight. Haven’t seen that in a long time. If you do it you need to have a CB radio in your car and know what your 60-0 is for safety.

*note* this is ancient data left over from when I was a child in the 70’s and trucking was Uber cool. Things may have changed… well did but in ways unknown to me. Physics is still physics.

TLDNR: in which I do what doddering old men do.

In the 70’s there were semi-truck fanbois and I was one such. I had a third grade teacher who used to bribe me to sit down and shut-up with drawings of semi-trucks. It worked rather opposite of intended. I got more pictures that way. I really liked those pictures. A non-zero factor in me eventually going to art school. I even remember the guy’s name: Bill. Mr. Bill. Another anachronistic thing.
 
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Out in the Big Horn's of Wyoming, I was running my semi loaded to the max, 45 min wide open @25 MPH or less, really tests the cooling system. I don't think there were many truck on the road that could handle that.
What was your 60-0 length at the time out of curiosity?
 
Yes, I get it, and that's what I originally bought it for. But circumstances have changed so I may just need to find another option. I actually have an old Subaru which I normally use for longer trips, but was hoping this could cover it at least some of the time. Middle of the summer in the south is probably not helping.

I'm continuing from my earlier post ...
My information is a bit stale but I *think* still useful

The LEAF decides on the maximum DC charge rate based on the pack temperature when you plug in. You start out at a certain pack temp, and in a manner of speaking, you have a temperature 'budget' to spend before you charge. As you drive your route in different ambient temperatures at different speeds, you will learn how to stay within your budget.

I've forgotten what the max pack Temp is before the charge rate is reduced. If someone does not chime in with the number, it is not difficult to figure out: head out to a DC charger, and start from say 100F. Disconnect every 10F degrees increase and then reconnect. Eventually the charge rate will drop. Start from a low SoC so that variable does not interfere. You absolutely need OBD2 info to play this game.

Good luck!
 
Perhaps your research has led you to the fact that the Leaf is a great town car but a rather poor long distance car. If you keep trying to use it for long distances in the summer with high heat levels, you'll likely damage the battery which is a huge expense. Having discovered these issues, perhaps it's time to trade up to a Tesla or other vehicle with active battery cooling that would better meet your needs?
I frequently take 150 mile trips, driving mostly 65 mph on the Maine Turnpike (I-95) with a quick dc charge along the way. Summer temps lately around 80°. My temp gauge has never gone above halfway. I never gave it another thought until I read these posts. I guess I'm just lucky.
 
I don't understand what you are asking? I was about 60' overall, 48' trailer, Single bunk cabover tractor.
Maybe they don’t pay attention to that any more now that convoys aren’t so much of a thing. My memory was that total weight affected stopping distance. You were at max load so it would have been your max stopping distance. Basically my inner 12 year old fanboied for a second. My inner 12 year old lives in 1979 though.
 
Maybe they don’t pay attention to that any more now that convoys aren’t so much of a thing. My memory was that total weight affected stopping distance. You were at max load so it would have been your max stopping distance. Basically my inner 12 year old fanboied for a second. My inner 12 year old lives in 1979 though.
At 25 MPH and over 400hp working to drag it, I'd be more worried about rolling backwards before I could get off the throttle and on the brake.
 
@Stephanie Hoeflin ,

Maybe you have seen/used ABRP (A Better Route Planner) https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ .

It shows chargers, and route elevations for planning trips. I used it for a trip from Detroit to Charlotte, so I could plan where best to charge relative to the mountains.

In the attached images, disregard the info related to my vehicle (has the 62kWh). More relevant are the differences in elevations depending on the selected route. (I put Cleveland, TN in just as a random-ish start location, based on your description. )

I also use PlugShare.com... both planners have mobile apps, but the ABRP has the nice elevation widget.
 

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@Stephanie Hoeflin ,

Maybe you have seen/used ABRP (A Better Route Planner) https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ .

It shows chargers, and route elevations for planning trips. I used it for a trip from Detroit to Charlotte, so I could plan where best to charge relative to the mountains.

In the attached images, disregard the info related to my vehicle (has the 62kWh). More relevant are the differences in elevations depending on the selected route. (I put Cleveland, TN in just as a random-ish start location, based on your description. )

I also use PlugShare.com... both planners have mobile apps, but the ABRP has the nice elevation widget.
Thanks, will check it out. I was just wondering, how much elevation changes (lots of climbing) had to do with temperature during Asheville trip. Also, a later trip probably complicated with high freeway speeds and high temps. Annoyingly difficult to avoid highways with 70mph limits with some of this, at least typical navigation isnt much help.
 
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