Unfinished Garage hot in the summer

So I have an unfinished garage that gets pretty darn hot in the summer (I live in Oregon so it's not too hot, but probably hotter than is good for an electric car). I'm wondering what steps I would need to take to keep it a reasonable temperature for a Leaf. Is installing a ventilation fan enough? Do I need to put up some insulation and sheet rock?

Thanks!

Is it ventilated now? If not, simply add passive vents. Place them both low and high to encourage convection.

davewill said:

Is it ventilated now? If not, simply add passive vents. Place them both low and high to encourage convection.

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It's not vented at all now. If that works that would be great.

gsleaf said:

So I have an unfinished garage that gets pretty darn hot in the summer (I live in Oregon so it's not too hot, but probably hotter than is good for an electric car). I'm wondering what steps I would need to take to keep it a reasonable temperature for a Leaf. Is installing a ventilation fan enough? Do I need to put up some insulation and sheet rock?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

I doubt that it gets as hot as ours here in AZ. I wouldn't worry about it. I drove mine all through the hot summer last year (garage as high as 109F) and despite what some uninformed people try to tell you, I still had high performance (6.8m/kW h). The worst thing I found is the cooler temps in the fall/winter. The higher density air and lots of wind really reduces your m/kW h.

gsleaf said:

So I have an unfinished garage that gets pretty darn hot in the summer (I live in Oregon so it's not too hot, but probably hotter than is good for an electric car). I'm wondering what steps I would need to take to keep it a reasonable temperature for a Leaf. Is installing a ventilation fan enough? Do I need to put up some insulation and sheet rock?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I measured over 120 F up near the roof in my garage here in the SF area. Simply putting a solar powered exhaust fan dropped that down to barely above ambient all last summer. The solar ones usually have a thermo switch that you can bypass if you want. In damp climates you generally want it to turn whenever there's sun , rather than waiting for the temp to rise.

Even just a passive vent is better than none, but the solar fan will bring the temps down more than the passive one.

LEAFfan said:

I doubt that it gets as hot as ours here in AZ. I wouldn't worry about it. I drove mine all through the hot summer last year (garage as high as 109F) and despite what some uninformed people try to tell you, I still had high performance (6.8m/kW h). The worst thing I found is the cooler temps in the fall/winter. The higher density air and lots of wind really reduces your m/kW h.

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I'm mostly concerned about the high temperatures damaging the battery over the long term.

I live in arkansas, so last summer I bit the bullet and went all out with my garage. Full soffit vents, 1000cfm solar top vent, r13 in all walls, full drywall walls & ceiling, and blow-in r43 (if I remember correctly) in the ceiling. Already had an insulated door (which I always thought was strange, why would the previous owners pay for an insulated door on a completely unfinished garage?? glad they did tho) Before on a 110* day I'd be 120+ in the garage. After it was still in the upper 90's. Plus I put in a window A/C-Heat pump unit and it can successfully pull it down another 10 degrees - meaning I can get it in the 80's in a 110* day. Whole project was in the $1500 range, if I remember correctly, and well worth it since I spend a lot of time working on projects in the garage.

Plus I did it myself - extra bonus, that was right after I started losing weight - 18 pounds down over the course of that two weeks (just passed 70 altogether since, less than 10 left to my overall goal! woo!)

((for reference, I don't even park the leaf in the garage; it gets the attached carport because it's the car we use most of the time. The wife's car and the project car live in the garage))

gsleaf said:

davewill said:

Is it ventilated now? If not, simply add passive vents. Place them both low and high to encourage convection.

Click to expand...

It's not vented at all now. If that works that would be great.

Click to expand...

I'd definitely try that first. If it doesn't work as well as you'd like, you can always add the fan.

davewill said:

I'd definitely try that first. If it doesn't work as well as you'd like, you can always add the fan.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I think that's a very good starting point. Thanks all for your help!

Your garage won't be getting quite as hot as before -- Parking a hot ICE car inside has got to add about a bazillion BTUs as it throws its heat plume into that enclosed space.

Nubo said:

Your garage won't be getting quite as hot as before -- Parking a hot ICE car inside has got to add about a bazillion BTUs as it throws its heat plume into that enclosed space.

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I don't currently park my car in the garage.

You're correct to question how heat affects longevity of the battery. But, I don't think your area gets into the "real heat" like Las Vegas and Arizona, and even then, clearly the car was designed with those temps in mind.

The only case we know of the battery getting hot didn't happen in high ambient heat; it happened after multiple DC quick charges over a short period of time in relatively cool weather.

I don't recommend doing that on a +100 plus day.