Battery Health Best Practices Phoenix area owners

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hpoulter

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2017
Messages
16
All,

I live in the Phoenix metro area. purchased a 2014 Nissan Leaf S last Thursday. I am loving the car so far and have done lots of testing of the battery with Leaf Spy Pro and its quite healthy for the mileage of the car(Car was bought from Orange county, CA). What are some tips for summer driving/charging and garage storage of the car here that will keep the battery healthy. I know in the past there were issues in the Phoenix area and I was wondering what some best practices for this car are for the heat. My biggest concern is trickle charging at work during the summer. The area that is set aside for this at my employer is not shaded or covered in any way. I am worried about the effect this may have on the battery. I will be garaging the car at home and I am also concerned about summer garage temps. My garage door is south facing and I am planning to insulate the door, it is a ventilated garage and I thought about placing a box fan blowing out at one of the vents to circulate air. Are there other things that I could do to keep the temps down to minimize the heat effect on the battery?
 
I drive 90 miles a day round trip, only have a trickle charger available at work so I absolutely have to charge it all day while I am at work. It may not be an option to not charge it when its 110 degrees here.
 
The good news is that L-1 charging adds very little heat - just enough to keep the pack a little warmer in frigid weather. If you get a breeze on a hot day, try to face the car either into or away from it - unless it seems that it will just blow hotter pavement-heated air into the pack.
 
Just drive it... Park it in the shade when it is convenient. No, the batteries are not more heat tolerant. Drive and use it as close to normal as possible, including its great A/C, and quick charge if you need it and have it. To baby it will not gain you that much over the long run. Parking in a hot garage as you know is not great. An evaporative cooler would be better than a box fan at least until monsoon season. Many people in other states have babied their cars, only to barely miss out on their warranties, and then of course regretted it. I am personally not sure what the battery warranty is on the 2014. Everyone in Arizona that I know, with older Leafs, qualified for free replacement batteries. A couple of them more than once on the same cars. Additionally, both of my cars received new batteries under warranty. We love our cars but not the fact that Nissan did not provide thermal management for the traction battery.
 
I have a 2014 not a 2016. I have no plans to baby it. I drive 450-500 miles a week in it. I didn't say the battery was more heat tolerant and I didn't see anyone else say that either so I am confused by the this comment.
 
A lot of people read these posts, so just getting the word out to others as well. Lizard batteries are not doing any better in AZ and you may have a lizard battery in your car depending on the manufacturing date of your 2014. And yes, I corrected my work in progress on my typo. If you are mechanically inclined you can P.M. me for some other ideas. There are also other posted ideas throughout this forum dealing with the exact question you have posted from many of us who live in hot regions of the country.
 
My car will not be subjected to anywhere near the heat stresses Phoenix provides but I want the car to last a long time so I have given some thought to summer behaviour:

1. I installed L2 charging that I will use in the early morning hours when the ambient temps are lowest, and will charge outside the garage to take advantage of any breezes.

2. Park in shaded area at home during the day, and off hot black asphalt to the extent possible. I suspect that paying attention to ground temperatures is more important than ambient, and doubly so when charging. Black asphalt in Phoenix reaches 150F !
Look at this link: http://www.pavements4life.com/qds/environment_1heatisland.asp

OP's workplace may not be willing to set up a canopy where he parks, but painting the asphalt could be a big difference.
 
I drive 90 miles a day round trip. I absolutely have to charge my car at work. We have about 2 dozen spots for charging EV's ( trickle charge) . There is shade from trees but it isn't all day.

The car is garage kept except when being driven. But Phoenix garages can get crazy hot.

The spots are already painted green (to mark EV charging parking) I hope that and the shade keeps the temp down. I can check with an IR thermometer that I have sometime.

They definitely won't be adding any kind of covered parking.

Yes I am most concerned with ground temps. I've measured them at almost 160 degrees at the street in front of my house mid summer. But I won't ever be parking there.

I charge my car from 10 pm to 4 am but summer time it can still be 90+ degrees outside no idea the temp in my garage but its probably quite hot.
 
If your employer will allow it, a popup canopy like this one would provide an 8' x 8' shady area to park under:

77fb09df-988e-4437-8e7b-68a8897a5522_1000.jpg


Found this on Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Caravan-Canopy-Evo-Shade-8-ft-x-8-ft-Blue-Instant-Canopy-EVO08021/301433678
 
Funny enough I thought about that very thing but I am 100% certain they would not allow it. Especially once monsoon season rolls around. It would just fly away and damage my car and the cars of others.
 
Bummer! Chat up your boss to talk him into a Tesla, then have him install one of these, LOL:

http://www.envisionsolar.com/ev-arc/

Yeah, right!
 
I work for a very large organization 50k+ employees. My input would mean very little. I petitioned them for 220 outlets I am more hopeful that will get approved than covered parking.
 
Have you mentioned what color your car is, including the interior? White or silver, with light interior, will stand the best chance of minimal heating, while black would do worst, obviously. I was going to suggest a thin, white car cover that goes on and off easily, but that might actually trap heat rising from the pavement. A solar window ventilator might help a bit.
 
The car is white with a black cloth interior and the windows are tinted. I picked white because it reflects the most heat. I'm buying a sunshade for the car as well. I had one in my last car and it definitely helped out.
 
hpoulter said:
The car is white with a black cloth interior and the windows are tinted. I picked white because it reflects the most heat. I'm buying a sunshade for the car as well. I had one in my last car and it definitely helped out.

That's good, anyway! You might want to consider the solar ventilator anyway - they're cheap.
 
Unlikely to buy anything that leaves a window open. We have severe monsoon season during the summer with dust storms and intense monsoon rains. I don't need my car full of sand or water.
 
Not to be too flippant, but you've got no chance in Phoenix of keeping the battery cool. Drive it and charge it. Hopefully you'll get a warranty replacement when the time comes.
 
Not to be flippant but I'm going to be anyway. Sigh... I think people that don't live here have a gross misunderstanding of the weather/climate in Arizona.

Let me reiterate that I am looking for advice from long term leaf owners in Phoenix on how they have worked to best care for their battery.
 
This product
emeraldcoolpavements.com
reflects about 40% of radiation

I sent an email to the company asking about pricing.

Duffy Charter School and the downtown Sheraton in Phoenix have examples to check out.
 
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