EV batteries degrade faster in hot weather: What owners can do

According to battery-wellness analysis company Recurrent, warm weather can cause EV batteries to degrade more quickly, but there are several simple things householders can take to enable safeguard their vehicles.

Recurrent distributes battery health reports for used EVs, but it also uses data from the vehicles to study how cold and warm temperatures effect battery healthiness and selection. According to a recent analysis of Tesla vehicles, vehicles dependent on hot climates often lose more diversity as they age than vehicles relying on cold climates.

This is because higher environmental heat stages increase the amount of electricity needed for the electrochemical reactions that enable a battery to function. This “can accelerate undesirable chemical reactions that age the battery prematurely,” claims Recurrent. Although the organisation has discovered that cold weather causes array loss, it notes that long-lasting damage is not anticipated to result. According to Recurrent, the “commonly acknowledged” threshold for increased battery breakdown is close to 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

That would sound dreadful considering how frequently that figure is easily reached in many places of the U.S. during the summer. Extremely hot temperatures don’t always have the same negative effects on range or battery life, just as cold weather affects EV range and batteries differently.

Having said that, there are steps owners can take to increase the likelihood of that.

When it’s hot outside, parking a car in a garage or in the shade can make a great impact, as Environmentally Friendly Car Reviews has emphasised. Nissan even worked to upgrade the Leaf’s battery chemistry at the very beginning, soon after earlier iterations of the car showed a strong propensity for battery degradation in warm climates—and particularly, hot parking lots.

In hot weather, leaving the battery half charged can help prevent it from degrading because it is more stable at this charge level than it would be fully charged.

Recurrent recommends vehicles with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry since it has the propensity to handle high temperatures more effectively for purchasers in very hot locations selecting a new EV and concerned about parking outdoors. LFP batteries are now used in specific Tesla models made in the US as well as specific Ford Mustang Mach-E models.

Recurrent also advises leaving the car plugged in with the charge limit set in vehicles with active heat management of the battery pack. According to Recurrent, battery cooling begins for some EVs at a lower temperature while plugged in than when unplugged.

Battery deterioration happens regularly and, regardless of the cause, isn’t likely to render your EV unusable. Furthermore, Recurrent has demonstrated that some models do substantially better in this area, so regular fast-charging is unlikely to cause considerable battery degradation.