New research from Idaho National Laboratory suggests that electric vehicle drivers could face longer charging times when temperatures drop. The reason: cold temperatures impact the electrochemical reactions within the cell, and onboard battery management systems limit the charging rate to avoid damage to the battery.
New research from Idaho National Laboratory suggests that electric vehicle drivers could face longer charging times when temperatures drop. The reason: cold temperatures impact the electrochemical reactions within the cell, and onboard battery management systems limit the charging rate to avoid damage to the battery.
The new study, which looked at data from a fleet of electric vehicle (EV) taxis in New York City, was posted last week by the journal Energy Policy.
“Battery researchers have known about the degradation of charging efficiency under cold temperatures for a long time,” said Yutaka Motoaki, an EV researcher with INL’s Advanced Vehicles research group.
But most of the current knowledge comes from experiments with smaller batteries in the lab, not data from large, electric vehicle batteries in real-world conditions. Further, EV manufacturers often provide consumers with only rough estimates of charging times, and they typically do not specify the range of conditions for which those estimates apply.
Read more at DOE/Idaho National Laboratory
Image: EV drivers may need to factor external temperatures into the time they'll need to charge batteries, according to new study in Energy Policy. (Credit: Idaho National Laboratory)
