So needless to say it is getting cold here in Ohio. How cold? 24 the other night when I drove home. I have a difficult situation for a EV. First of all I need 32 miles a day to get from home to work and back. That is more than some cars will go. Then I work 2nd shift so my trip home is in the dark. Sometimes with wipers on and it is always colder. I built the most efficient car I could find so that I would have extra left over. So when it got cold I could use heater and lights. Well after coming home the other day and feeling the voltage sag I decided to research it a bit more into the Effects of cold. I called my crown distributer and he looked up the data sheet for me. The data sheet said @80deg F they are 100%... @32deg F they are 80% rated capacity... and at 0deg F they are 30 % rated capacity. These numbers are way bigger than I ever thought they would be. So the options are....
1) Call it a 3 season car and deal with it.
2) heat and insulate the battery pack.
Well I did not design my battery pack very well for insulation. I have individual battery off buy themselves. So I think It is gonna have to be a fair weather EV.
I hope someone reads ths and understands how cold effects a lead acid battery. These were things that I never found before I built my car. I guess I was also fooled buy the fact I have seen frezer trucks in the forklift buisiness. I asked the Battery guy how they work and they Raise the acid level on the batteries. Making them Cold storage only.
Just the Cold Hard Facts :(
Larry
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