2018 Leaf battery overheating

[bnewkirk]

I just got back from a 300+ mile round trip from Centralia to Ellensburg in our 2018 SV. Much of the day the temperature was in the 90s. Did a quick charge in North Bend, but a 30 minute session only netted about 40%. Apparently the heat limited the charging. Due to traffic, we were getting pressed on time (not enough time to get another charge), so we drafted a semi into Ellensburg. Had to use AC (set at 72 with 3 fan bars) and the battery registered in the red for temp. After the car sitting in a sunny parking lot at 95 degrees for a couple hours, we went over to the QC and it took 80 minutes to bring it up from 10% to 80%, again in the red zone. This time the warning come on saying the battery is hot and we should drive conservatively. Set the cruise for 55, but as we began to go up the pass, the warning said power would be reduced and put us in 2018 turtle mode. I was in the slow lane with the semis doing 40 mph. Made it to North Bend with 20% and went to the QC and parked in the shade w/ water poured under the car for evaporation cooling. 30 minutes only netted 20%, so we went another session to get up to 60%. Then we set the cruise at 55, turned off the AC and opened the windows as we went downhill to minimize battery usage. Needless to say, it was a bit of an antsy situation. Bad traffic in Tacoma helped keep battery usage down and the turtle mode warning finally went off. South of Tacoma we drafted a semi home at 65 mph with 5% left in the battery. This was my first long trip with the car and I'm not favorably impressed. I will not take it beyond its normal charge range in hot weather again.

[Evoforce]

Sorry for your troubles. Thank you for posting your experience. This may help others gauge whether the 2018 Leaf will meet their driving needs.

[cwerdna]

I just got back from a 300+ mile round trip from Centralia to Ellensburg in our 2018 SV. Much of the day the temperature was in the 90s. Did a quick charge in North Bend, but a 30 minute session only netted about 40%. Apparently the heat limited the charging.
...
Made it to North Bend with 20% and went to the QC and parked in the shade w/ water poured under the car for evaporation cooling.
...
This was my first long trip with the car and I'm not favorably impressed. I will not take it beyond its normal charge range in hot weather again.

Bummer. The temp in the 90's didn't help.

The bolded part probably had little to no effect. You're going to need Leaf Spy to sensor the pack temperatures. For me, on my 24 kWh Leaf, I find that the pack has a lot of thermal mass and it takes awhile (MANY hours) to cool down to cooler ambient temps. You DC FCing when it's already 90 F out I'm sure pushed the temps up quite a bit. My wild guess is that once you got the temp warning, the pack temp was past 120 F.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170717073 ... hp?t=22134 really heated up his pack.

[hyperionmark]

I just got back from a 300+ mile round trip from Centralia to Ellensburg in our 2018 SV. Much of the day the temperature was in the 90s. Did a quick charge in North Bend, but a 30 minute session only netted about 40%. Apparently the heat limited the charging. Due to traffic, we were getting pressed on time (not enough time to get another charge), so we drafted a semi into Ellensburg. Had to use AC (set at 72 with 3 fan bars) and the battery registered in the red for temp. After the car sitting in a sunny parking lot at 95 degrees for a couple hours, we went over to the QC and it took 80 minutes to bring it up from 10% to 80%, again in the red zone. This time the warning come on saying the battery is hot and we should drive conservatively. Set the cruise for 55, but as we began to go up the pass, the warning said power would be reduced and put us in 2018 turtle mode. I was in the slow lane with the semis doing 40 mph. Made it to North Bend with 20% and went to the QC and parked in the shade w/ water poured under the car for evaporation cooling. 30 minutes only netted 20%, so we went another session to get up to 60%. Then we set the cruise at 55, turned off the AC and opened the windows as we went downhill to minimize battery usage. Needless to say, it was a bit of an antsy situation. Bad traffic in Tacoma helped keep battery usage down and the turtle mode warning finally went off. South of Tacoma we drafted a semi home at 65 mph with 5% left in the battery. This was my first long trip with the car and I'm not favorably impressed. I will not take it beyond its normal charge range in hot weather again.

Where was the temperature bar at before you started your trip? And what speed were you traveling before your first quick charge? Based on that very first QC being throttled already I'm guessing you were going 70+. Limiting your speed will really help with the temps and won't hurt you near as much time as what people think.

I've done several 200+ round trips (near 90 degrees) and kept the temp bar at halfway until the very last portion of the trips. I find trickle charging as much as possible before the trip, avoiding my L2 if possible, really keeps the temps down on start up. I don't think L2 raises temps by much, if any, but it definitely doesn't seem to let it cool down to ambient either. Trickle charging will let the battery cool down to at or near ambient temps.

[DaveinOlyWA]

I just got back from a 300+ mile round trip from Centralia to Ellensburg in our 2018 SV. Much of the day the temperature was in the 90s. Did a quick charge in North Bend, but a 30 minute session only netted about 40%. Apparently the heat limited the charging. Due to traffic, we were getting pressed on time (not enough time to get another charge), so we drafted a semi into Ellensburg. Had to use AC (set at 72 with 3 fan bars) and the battery registered in the red for temp. After the car sitting in a sunny parking lot at 95 degrees for a couple hours, we went over to the QC and it took 80 minutes to bring it up from 10% to 80%, again in the red zone. This time the warning come on saying the battery is hot and we should drive conservatively. Set the cruise for 55, but as we began to go up the pass, the warning said power would be reduced and put us in 2018 turtle mode. I was in the slow lane with the semis doing 40 mph. Made it to North Bend with 20% and went to the QC and parked in the shade w/ water poured under the car for evaporation cooling. 30 minutes only netted 20%, so we went another session to get up to 60%. Then we set the cruise at 55, turned off the AC and opened the windows as we went downhill to minimize battery usage. Needless to say, it was a bit of an antsy situation. Bad traffic in Tacoma helped keep battery usage down and the turtle mode warning finally went off. South of Tacoma we drafted a semi home at 65 mph with 5% left in the battery. This was my first long trip with the car and I'm not favorably impressed. I will not take it beyond its normal charge range in hot weather again.

Thanks for the info. I will be doing trip to Yakima next week for DCFC opening there so will likely see similar temps. I am guessing you didn't have LEAF Spy? This will be first real challenge for heat issues for me. I did do Ellensburg right after their grand opening but temps only in mid 90's. Yakima is expected to be in the mid 100's so definitely a bit "warmer"

Next time you do trip, I would suggest Suncadia or something. Its a bit of a detour being 5 miles off I-90 but its a great walkabout along with a QC that does not have a timer and its generally cooler as well. Be warned, the wind there is "brisk"...

[DaveinOlyWA]

I just got back from a 300+ mile round trip from Centralia to Ellensburg in our 2018 SV. Much of the day the temperature was in the 90s. Did a quick charge in North Bend, but a 30 minute session only netted about 40%. Apparently the heat limited the charging.
...
Made it to North Bend with 20% and went to the QC and parked in the shade w/ water poured under the car for evaporation cooling.
...
This was my first long trip with the car and I'm not favorably impressed. I will not take it beyond its normal charge range in hot weather again.

Bummer. The temp in the 90's didn't help.

The bolded part probably had little to no effect. You're going to need Leaf Spy to sensor the pack temperatures. For me, on my 24 kWh Leaf, I find that the pack has a lot of thermal mass and it takes awhile (MANY hours) to cool down to cooler ambient temps. You DC FCing when it's already 90 F out I'm sure pushed the temps up quite a bit. My wild guess is that once you got the temp warning, the pack temp was past 120 F.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170717073 ... hp?t=22134 really heated up his pack.

I am putting together a chart that covers at what temps TBs come and go (since $50 is simply too much for some people to spend on LEAF Spy...) and 10 TBs run the range (turn on/off) between 119-122º

9 TBs run 112 -121º (full range)

Now 10 TBs are the low end as have not yet hit 11 TBs but guessing that will all change in 7 days.

[arnis]

Going below 30% state of charge will heat up battery at accelerated pace. Keep it higher during longer trips.

[SageBrush]

duplicate post

[SageBrush]

This was my first long trip with the car and I'm not favorably impressed. I will not take it beyond its normal charge range in hot weather again.

My wife would be demanding that I get rid of the car after a trip like this, and I don't think she would stop until the car was gone.

It would not be so bad if the car allowed 100 - 150 miles to a destination without charging, 6 - 20 kW charging at the destination, and then back without further charging but driving in reduced power mode on the way back is painful. Not to mention the thought of the battery cooking the entire day and beyond. So this ends up being a car with a ~ 65 mile radius on a hot day, about the same as my 5 year old 24 kWh model.

What a bummer.

[SageBrush]

I just got back from a 300+ mile round trip from Centralia to Ellensburg in our 2018 SV.

I decided to parse this trip in terms of miles per minute added during DCFC.
I used 287 Wh/mile for the consumption rate based on EPA
Presumed 38 kWh capacity so 1% = 380 Wh and 1.32 miles of travel
Google Maps says 170 miles each way and North Bend about half way, so 85 miles

Ambient: in the 90s F (over 32 C)
DCFC #1 at 85 miles: 1.65 miles/minute
DCFC #2 at 170 miles: 1.15 miles/minute
DCFC #3 at 255 miles: 0.88 miles/minute

Miles by charging at 1 mile/min results in a net travel speed of ~ 30 mph