Cold Weather Battery Issues

The cluster centers on lithium-ion battery performance problems in cold temperatures, including charging difficulties, reduced capacity, degradation risks, and the need for heating systems, particularly in electric vehicles like Teslas and solar-powered devices.

📉 Falling 0.4x Hardware
1,534
Comments
18
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#3626
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2009
3
2010
4
2011
9
2012
15
2013
95
2014
41
2015
51
2016
60
2017
77
2018
68
2019
130
2020
76
2021
172
2022
222
2023
216
2024
139
2025
151
2026
5

Keywords

LEAF BMS BMW HOT youtu.be TOUXlWM.jpg FCC rubycon.co JBD EV batteries battery cold heat temperatures cooling hot tesla energy charge

Sample Comments

ajuc Nov 15, 2014 View on HN

Battery can't be charged in low temperatures. It has to be heated to 0 C to be charged, and there may be not enough energy to do that in the short period that the sun reaches solar cells.

hammyhavoc Jan 14, 2024 View on HN

Wouldn't batteries have poor performance in these conditions anyway?

ajford Mar 18, 2022 View on HN

Cold air impacting heath & capacity on the Li batteries, perhaps? Lithium batts tend to be finicky about their temperatures. Even my PHEV chevy volt de-rates the capacity if the ambient air temps hit less than 36*F.

toomuchtodo Feb 3, 2020 View on HN

No, batteries do not like to be too hot, nor too cold. There is an operating range. This is why Teslas keep their packs cool in the heat, but will also restrict charge rate from regeneration or charging (yellow dotted line on energy consumption graph) until the pack has been brought up to operating temp.Hot climates killed Nissan LEAF packs faster because of poor (air cooling) thermal management. Tesla packs use liquid cooling, and aggressively manage the battery pack to ensure longevity.

CraftThatBlock May 26, 2019 View on HN

Very cold and very hot is bad for batteries, and can help them degrade faster. So cold winter would degrade them too

u02sgb Feb 4, 2019 View on HN

Charging a li-ion battery when very cold is not good for it

userbinator Feb 4, 2023 View on HN

Batteries aren't designed for such low temperatures.

moffkalast May 9, 2022 View on HN

Batteries definitely have temp control.

anticensor May 26, 2023 View on HN

Batteries do need temperature control.

msrpotus Feb 14, 2013 View on HN

Anyone know if that's typical for batteries in cold weather or is Tesla's exceptionally bad?