Assault on our Batteries

Most of the “we don’t need air conditioning” regions in the United States – like the coastal Pacific Northwest – now absolutely do. 100-degree temperatures did not happen “up there,” but now there are days when these temperatures rage even in the windswept islands in Puget Sound. More AC requires more electricity but the heat often lowers the water levels that drive massive hydroelectric power generation. It’s a big story all over the United States as we experience the hottest periods in recorded meteorological history… and probably well after the Ice Age. Alternative energy – from wind to solar – is making a big difference.

Yet one of the most important developments in containing greenhouse emissions – ending automotive exhaust fumes by switching gas/diesel engines to electric motors – is facing its own new major issue as heat levels rise across the land. While the motors themselves are largely unaffected, the same cannot be held true for the batteries that power them. Extreme heat not only renders the batteries dramatically less efficient, sustained excessive heat can destroy the battery itself.

Heat has long been a challenge to implement the super-fast levels of car chargers (600-900 volts). The heat generated by these “can charge your car to 80% in minutes” facilities is so intense that you cannot touch the “hose” that carries the charge into your EV. Even the “hose” requires its own cooling system. Read: Top Level 3 chargers are very expensive. Heat is a big problem. Add our record-breaking temperatures this summer, and Houston, we have a very big problem.

Writing for Bloomberg/LA Times (July 14th), Kyle Stock explains: “An EV in a hot climate has to work harder to keep its battery and its passengers cool, but the car will function just fine. On a chemical level, though, extreme heat is akin to heart disease for EV batteries, or a slow-moving form of cancer… That’s because when temperatures climb, the ions in a car battery speed up. Once that happens, they often have trouble attaching to the anode or cathode. The pressure and speed can also create small cracks, which slow chemical reactions and make for less usable battery life…

“[On] extremely hot days, the ions in an EV battery whiz around even when the car isn’t driving or plugged in, and that can curtail range irreversibly… ‘The worst case really is a car that sits in an unconditioned garage in Phoenix all summer without being plugged in,’ said Scott Case, co-founder and chief executive of Recurrent, a startup that generates battery health reports for EV customers and dealers. ‘That will cook the battery really quickly.’ If the car is plugged in, it can use charging power to keep its battery cool.

“Cold weather also affects EV batteries. The colder it is, the slower the chemical reactions and the less charge a battery holds. But those losses are short-term; come spring, a battery in snowy Michigan or chilly Maine will recover its full function, whereas heat can bring down maximum range in perpetuity… ‘You can coach people, but you can’t say ‘Don’t live in Phoenix,’ ’ Case said. ‘That one feels a little bit unfair.’… ‘Manufacturers are competing on three axes: overall range, charging speed and cost,’ Case said. ‘They’ll be held accountable for a fourth axis and that’s ‘How long will these things last?’ ’

“Regulators in California are already weighing a proposal that would require a measure of battery health on each EV for sale… To date, some of Recurrent’s best customers are dealerships in hot climates, where the difference can be stark between actual range and the official, “certified” range as outlined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency… ‘EPA range certifications are wrong on day one, because they don’t account for temperature variations,’ Scott said. ‘This is a huge transition that everybody needs to see.’” Reality.

While EV cars are required to have an average battery life of at least ten years, that life expectancy might not make it in this new hostile environment. With the cost of replacing all the batteries in an EV running well over $10,000 (often double), the EV aftermarket value looks bleak. Battey engineers, who are making serious headway in increasing range by increasing battery efficiency, have a new challenge that I suspect few anticipated. As so many of us swelter. So do our cars.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it still amazes me that an entire mainstream political party continues to hack away to stop government expenditures to contain and reverse the obvious ravages of climate change.