107 degrees today!

[adric22]

Wow! We hit 107 degrees today but it was only forecast to be 102. Anyway, I noticed the battery gauge in my Leaf on my way home was as high as I've ever seen it. I realize others have posted images with it closer to the red zone. But this is the highest I think I've ever seen. I guess I still have 2 more bars before it gets into the red.

Just FYI - I just went out to take this image and believe it or not it has lost one bar. It had one extra when I left work today. The irony is that it has been on the charger (120V) ever since it got home and has managed to cool off one bar in about 2 hours. I think the pavement at work probably heats the car up a bit more, vs. sitting in the shade of my garage.

 

[Cheezmo]

My son plays tennis and they measured the temperature of the court in Plano, TX to day at 136, 118 at waist level. I imagine the parking lots are about the same. Notice how the Texas Leaf's are starting to show up on the early capacity loss list right after Phoenix. Going to be another fun summer.

I charged level 2 for a couple of hours at noon today at Half Price Books and was at 7 bars easy at the end of that.

 

[EdmondLeaf]

7TB yesterday in OKC it was 106F battery temp 108F

 

[leafwing]

It went up to 7 bars today. I thought: should I take the car to the pool or give it a shower :lol:

 

[Herm]

The irony is that it has been on the charger (120V) ever since it got home and has managed to cool off one bar in about 2 hours.

The charging process is endothermic, so its possible your slow charge actually cooled the batteries, a faster charge may heat them up.

If fresh water is not too scarce, you could rig up a swamp cooler with a small fan and a water mister.. blowing under the Leaf onto the battery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[mark13]

In Phx AZ you see 7 battery temp. bars for the entire summer..I think it was 112 today..

 

[caffeinekid]

Wow! We hit 107 degrees today but it was only forecast to be 102. Anyway, I noticed the battery gauge in my Leaf on my way home was as high as I've ever seen it. I realize others have posted images with it closer to the red zone. But this is the highest I think I've ever seen. I guess I still have 2 more bars before it gets into the red.

Same thing here in Houston. We rated at 102 degrees, but the Leafs both showed 106. I drove most of the day with 7 bars, but after a QC hit 8 in mine, which is actually a good thing the way I see it- no complaints if only one bar penalty.

I also like to carry around my laser heat thermometer and take readings of different things.....parking lot surfaces, motors, cabin temps, waitresses...you name it, I'm silly like that. I am bringing it with me tomorrow to measure relevant deltas during different parts of the day.

 

[Stoaty]

I also like to carry around my laser heat thermometer and take readings of different things.....parking lot surfaces, motors, cabin temps, waitresses...you name it, I'm silly like that.

Out of curiosity, what's the hottest waitress you have ever taken a reading on? Did you take a reading on yourself after that? Were you 8 bars or more? :lol:

 

[Stanton]

Obviously I see the same 7TB as everyone else (on the way home from work) here in Dallas. However, I DON'T do any "opportunity charging" when it's at that level. In fact, I know it's back down to 6TB at night (in my garage) before my charging timer kicks in early in the morning.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Recommendation; paint designated EV charging spots with white paint over the asphalt instead of green

 

[ksnogas2112]

Not far behind you here in KC. Only one day since purchase (Saturday) not at 100*+. At least it's cooling off into the 70's at night. Battery temp at 6 bars everyday....so far.

 

[eclecticflower]

Have had my LEAF 3 weeks and haven't yet seen the battery temp budge from 6 bars...

 

[EdmondLeaf]

you may see temp bar 7 tomorrow and later during summer, I am not to trill about it, and in fact Leaf is in the garage when more than 100F, because road temp is 130F. Remember 120F for 24h void battery warranty

 

[surfingslovak]

The irony is that it has been on the charger (120V) ever since it got home and has managed to cool off one bar in about 2 hours.

The charging process is endothermic, so its possible your slow charge actually cooled the batteries, a faster charge may heat them up.

If fresh water is not too scarce, you could rig up a swamp cooler with a small fan and a water mister.. blowing under the Leaf onto the battery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can virtually guarantee you that charging the Leaf is not an endothermic process. I realize that a number of interesting reports and studies has been been posted on the forum recently. However, the battery definitely develops some waste heat while charging. Additionally, I believe that its thermal behavior is better during vehicle operation, and less heat is developed then. This is supported by simple observation of pack temperature. Once we have better instrumentation out there, hopefully more owners will see this.

 

[bamamarc77]

Over 100 degrees in birmingham as well. '03 insight pinch hits for my leaf. Wish it was electric but 60mpg aint bad.

 

[ksnogas2112]

OK after I posted yesterday went out to the car and burned myself touching the body. That's what I get for getting a fire red car...anyway, the battery temp was at 7 bars and outside temp was 102* F. Today I was lucky and the parking lot was full. I got ICE'd out of the 'green ride' parking by a Denali SUV. Anyway, the overflow parking lot is at an abandoned bank. Hmmm...over head shelter, lower air temp, let's do what we're not supposed to do and park in the drive through lane and stay in shade all day. So except for lunch break was in shade all day. Air temp at max was 105*F. When I got to the car, the body was not hot but when I checked the battery temp on way home (8 mile drive), I was at 7 bars battery temp.

Something tells me that 100* air temp is going to cause the asphalt to be hot enough even when driving the battery temp bar will rise to 7+ bars. I don't know if that applies here but thought it was good data for the science guys on the forum.

PS. Science guys...thank you so much for doing what I can't do. There's a reason I was a history major in college =)

just my 2 cents and here's your complimentary pick axe to poke holes.

 

[kubel]

103F here, which is quite unusual for Michigan. LEAF baked in the sun all day. :/

First time I saw the AC guzzle 3kW before, seemed rather high. Usually it's at or below 1.5kW.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

103F here, which is quite unusual for Michigan. LEAF baked in the sun all day. :/

First time I saw the AC guzzle 3kW before, seemed rather high. Usually it's at or below 1.5kW.

Interesting. How did it stay at that level?

 

[Herm]

I can virtually guarantee you that charging the Leaf is not an endothermic process.

Its what I read here.. perhaps a weak endothermic reaction that is easily overwhelmed by IR losses for faster L2 charging currents.

Nicads are strongly endothermic, they often bead up with moisture when recharging in humid Florida, nimh are not.

 

[surfingslovak]

Its what I read here.. perhaps a weak endothermic reaction that is easily overwhelmed by IR losses for faster L2 charging currents.

Nicads are strongly endothermic, they often bead up with moisture when recharging in humid Florida, nimh are not.

Yes, I've read that too. Interesting to hear about NiCads, I didn't realize that. It could very well be ohmic losses from IR or the balancing resistors in the Leaf. Whatever it is, significant waste heat is developed during charging as a result.

Ambient temps are often around 68 F here. I can easily register heat losses in the battery whenever the sixth temp bar comes on. This only happened on a few rare occasions when driving. Going fast on the freeway or pushing beyond the very low battery warning would sometimes do the trick. I can see the sixth temp bar almost without fail when charging however, and it does not seem to matter if it's level 1 or level 2.