Does Hot Garage damage Rav4EV Battery? Remedy?

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Rav4EVoom

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Oct 1, 2014
Messages
93
I live in San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, It gets pretty hot most of the summer time. A few weeks back, temperature soar above 110F during day time and the lowest temperature at around 5am stayed above 82F for many days. I can imagine for the next few summer, it's likely going to get "hotter".

I heard with Lithium battery, high temperature can "permanently damage" the battery? Will the battery for Rav4EV sustain damage when the temperature in the garage gets high? How high is too high? I understand when operating or charging the vehicle, the "cooling system" cools the battery. But what about the time when vehicle just sit in the garage without being charged, would the cooling system still be on to protect the battery? Did I worry for nothing?

Also since there's no air condition in the garage, for those of you who also live in a "hot zone", do you do something to reduce the temperature of the garage to protect your Rav4EV? I thought about adding heavy curtain to block out sunlight in the garage window and also adding "air vents" at top of garage so hot air can flow up into attic, anyone think this is a bad idea? Other suggestions?
 
Yes, heat will degrade lithium faster than "room temperature". Damage won't likely happen until over 120-130F degrees (the cells are rated by Panasonic to 60C). Obviously, anything you can do to keep the battery cool is best for longest life.

Rav4 EV TMS

The battery Temperature Management System (TMS) will heat or cool the battery under the following circumstances:

1) whenever the car is in READY (on)

2) whenever the battery is actively being charged (not just plugged in)

3) when either the onboard timer or telematics (ENTUNES) is used to activate cabin climate control. With a preselected timer, it will begin conditioning both the cabin and battery 20 minutes before the time programmed. It can also be turned on impromptu with ENTUNES.

The TMS, unlike the Tesla Model S, is not "active", and will not come on when the car is outside the above parameters.

Therefore, it is not necessary to leave the car plugged in when stored.
 
TonyWilliams said:
Yes, heat will degrade lithium faster than "room temperature". Damage won't likely happen until over 120-130F degrees (the cells are rated by Panasonic to 60C). Obviously, anything you can do to keep the battery cool is best for longest life.

Thanks so much for advise. With the windows and lack of air circulation in the garage, the garage is like a green house and I would not be surprised when temperature soar above the 120-130F degrees on a hot day. I'll look for shade for the window and look into adding air vents to relief hot air and enable air circulation.

TonyWilliams said:
Rav4 EV TMS

The battery Temperature Management System (TMS) will heat or cool the battery under the following circumstances:

1) whenever the car is in READY (on)

2) whenever the battery is actively being charged (not just plugged in)

3) when either the onboard timer or telematics (ENTUNES) is used to activate cabin climate control. With a preselected timer, it will begin conditioning both the cabin and battery 20 minutes before the time programmed. It can also be turned on impromptu with ENTUNES.

The TMS, unlike the Tesla Model S, is not "active", and will not come on when the car is outside the above parameters.

Therefore, it is not necessary to leave the car plugged in when stored.

Thanks for explaining how the TMS works. I am probably just over thinking this, but does this mean parking the car (car is off) under the sun on a hot day might be dangerous to the battery since the TMS would be off and temperature can build up pretty quick. Not sure if it'll exceed 120-130F degree threshold or not...

You also mentioned about TMS "conditioning" the battery 20 minutes before the time programed. When you mean programmed time, does the programmed time mean the intended time to drive the car? Does this also mean that the battery should be conditioned before you drive, so that "jump in and go" without programming is actually bad for the car since it doesn't allow for battery conditioning? Should I always "turn on" the car and wait for it to "warm up" before I drive it if I didn't preprogram the time?

I am worried because this is my first Electric Vehicle and my iphone5 also with lithium battery degraded so much in two years that it held less than 50% capacity, so trying to learn the proper way to preserve the battery to keep the car running top condition longer.
 
DO NOT PUT VENTS FROM YOUR GARAGE TO THE ATTIC if your garage is attached to your house. That would cause a fire in the garage to rapidly spread to the house.

To keep your garage cooler:
Insulate outside walls, ceiling/roof, and the garage door.
Shade the window from the outside. Costco dot com has motor and manual operated exterior shades and they periodically put them on sale. Or put reflective film on the window.
Ventilate at night and keep closed during the day.
 
rickrides said:
DO NOT PUT VENTS FROM YOUR GARAGE TO THE ATTIC if your garage is attached to your house. That would cause a fire in the garage to rapidly spread to the house.

To keep your garage cooler:
Insulate outside walls, ceiling/roof, and the garage door.
Shade the window from the outside. Costco dot com has motor and manual operated exterior shades and they periodically put them on sale. Or put reflective film on the window.
Ventilate at night and keep closed during the day.

Thank you for your great advise. Feeling foolish about the vent..

Will look into reflective film. Can I get it at home depot or Lowes?
 
Programming means the time that you chose from the center navigation display. It will begin to cool / heat the battery 20 minutes before that time.

One trick some have done is trickle charge the car or otherwise charge slow enough that the TMS will always operate while charging.

Another trick is to just leave the car READY-ON and lock the door when hot.
 
TonyWilliams said:
Programming means the time that you chose from the center navigation display. It will begin to cool / heat the battery 20 minutes before that time.

One trick some have done is trickle charge the car or otherwise charge slow enough that the TMS will always operate while charging.

Another trick is to just leave the car READY-ON and lock the door when hot.

Thanks for the wise suggestion. A great solution for an extra hot day. :D
 
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