Can it get too HOT for EV's

[ChangoMutney]

Not yet received mine, but I'm curious about this. In the colder months of the year, a loss of range is to be expected. On Monday with a temperature in the UK expected to hit about 40 degrees C, are we expecting EV owners to experience issues. AC on max will likely impact range a little, but is there battery cooling? Are owners worried about battery safety?

[metalmadhammer]

Tons of Teslas and Others in Florida, Texas, California ETC and I haven't heard of any issues at all so no worries from me.

[RichR]

Don’t worry - 40°C is not considered hot for cars. They’re tested and sold in countries where 40°C and above is very common (eg Saudi, Morocco, southern USA, Malaysia, Australia etc).

I did find it interesting that in a lot of these areas cars don’t have heaters. Had a hire car in Malaysia where the temperature slider just went from blue to darker blue

[Goaty]

/\ same with cars I’ve hired in the UAE before. I usually hire the cheapest things possible like Nissan Sunny’s (still a current model over there) and they often don’t have heating. However the A/C is incredible! Far stronger / colder than what we typically have in Northern Europe (which I like )

40°C and beyond is fine for EV batteries; I think thermal runaway isn’t triggered until well over 150°C and your EV batteries are protected from direct sunlight anyway, tucked safely underneath the car

[RichR]

Contrast that with most cars prior to the 1990s where the petrol would evaporate from the carb in hot weather and be really hard to start. And then you’d need the heating and fans on full with the windows open to stop the engine overheating. Or was that just my Renaults?

[ChangoMutney]

Is better to run the aircon or open the windows/sunroof in terms of range assuming you can create a comfortable temperature with windows and sunroof.

[Apocryph]

A quick google shows that actually, EV batteries can lose charge in hot weather. Tests have shown that temperatures over 30C can cause batteries to lose charge just as weather under 10C can too.

Apparently optimal temperatures are between 18C-26C. But if your car has a heat pump it should be fine.

[RichR]

Is better to run the aircon or open the windows/sunroof in terms of range assuming you can create a comfortable temperature with windows and sunroof.

I’ve seen some comparisons (not on Enyaq though) which suggest that the extra couple of kW the aircon used to maintain a set temperature (a sensible one, say 5-8°C below ambient) is much less than the extra the motor has to use to overcome the drag from open windows.

Personal choice of course, but remember aircon dehumidifies as well as cools, which is much more pleasant if it’s hot and sticky outside.

[orrery]

There were some issues in the early days with the Leaf in places like Arizona, and batteries had to be replaced, but the leaf has no active cooling in the battery. I wouldn't expect any issues today, but i do expect to see a good few ICE vehicles at the side of the road overheating.