Charging in Extreme Cold

[Doug]

I love my Canyon Red R1T. I live in MN, and bought it knowing it would sit in my balmy 50 to 60 degree garage during the winter. I of course charge mostly at home. This last week I had to travel to Brookings SD for work. It was about -45 windchill and below zero temps for several days and I had a 110 outlet to charge where I was staying. Once the battery drops in temp I get an error message and it stops charging. The battery was 8 decrees going to work and I had some error messages and did not seem to have full power. Is that normal in extreme cold? I was saved in that I could pull it in at work and after several hours to warm up it would charge without an error. My wife took it to the one "fast" charger in town one day which was horrible as it did not want to start and once it did after several attempts charged at 25 kw an hour. Brookings charging availability sucks!! I knew with the cold taking the Rivian would be an adventure but was hoping it would build confidence in it, but this experience did not. As everyone knows there needs to be a lot more reliable chargers. In our area EA and ChargePoint, Schell chargers are what I have the most confidence in. Also, a Question for those smarter than me about EV's.....Will it charge without an error at a real fast charger if the battery temp is really low? Thanks.

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[Donald Stanfield]

Unfortunately the issues you're experiencing are pretty common for all BEVs in that sort of climate.

 

[R.I.P.]

I love my Canyon Red R1T. I live in MN, and bought it knowing it would sit in my balmy 50 to 60 degree garage during the winter. I of course charge mostly at home. This last week I had to travel to Brookings SD for work. It was about -45 windchill and below zero temps for several days and I had a 110 outlet to charge where I was staying. Once the battery drops in temp I get an error message and it stops charging. The battery was 8 decrees going to work and I had some error messages and did not seem to have full power. Is that normal in extreme cold? I was saved in that I could pull it in at work and after several hours to warm up it would charge without an error. My wife took it to the one "fast" charger in town one day which was horrible as it did not want to start and once it did after several attempts charged at 25 kw an hour. Brookings charging availability sucks!! I knew with the cold taking the Rivian would be an adventure but was hoping it would build confidence in it, but this experience did not. As everyone knows there needs to be a lot more reliable chargers. In our area EA and ChargePoint, Schell chargers are what I have the most confidence in. Also, a Question for those smarter than me about EV's.....Will it charge without an error at a real fast charger if the battery temp is really low? Thanks.

No, if the battery's too cold it will not charge, even at a fast charger. However, at a DCFC or level 2, it should use current from the grid to warm the battery to the point where it will accept the charge.

Bottom line, when it's that cold. Definitely try to leave it plugged in as much as possible, as it will be better than nothing.

 

[emoore]

Just a data point. My truck sat at home for a few days over the cold weekend. Went to charge it last night on my L2 charger and the battery was at 4F. Took about 20 min of being plugged in before charging. I assume that’s because it needed to warm the battery up first.

 

[R.I.P.]

Just a data point. My truck sat at home for a few days over the cold weekend. Went to charge it last night on my L2 charger and the battery was at 4F. Took about 20 min of being plugged in before charging. I assume that’s because it needed to warm the battery up first.

Yep.

Had you left it plugged in, it probably would not have gotten so cold, which is better for the vehicle long-term.
?

 

[emoore]

Yep.

Had you left it plugged in, it probably would not have gotten so cold, which is better for the vehicle long-term.
?

Not sure it’s bad to keep a battery that cold. We frequently freeze batteries for long storage to maintain thier capacity.

 

[Rivian312]

Clearly not just a Rivian issue https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/dead-teslas-oak-brook.amp

 

[Doug]

On a level one charger it seems to error out before it can heat the battery enough to charge when the battery is below 10ish. Is that what is happening? Once it warms up some then it charges even with a level.

 

[R.I.P.]

Not sure it’s bad to keep a battery that cold. We frequently freeze batteries for long storage to maintain thier capacity.

Extreme temperature swings are hard on electronic equipment, including batteries.

Are the temperatures that we are talking about extreme enough to matter? Maybe, maybe not. I just choose to try to give the vehicle every possible advantage and let it have grid power any chance I get.
?

 

[Redline]

On a level one charger it seems to error out before it can heat the battery enough to charge when the battery is below 10ish. Is that what is happening? Once it warms up some then it charges even with a level.

Doug, I too am in Minnesota. This weekend we took the R1S to the cabin in the Brainerd lakes area. I charged to 100% in our heated garage here in Edina, then headed out. We arrived in town with about 25% charge, and with a couple runs to dinner, and trivia, and lunch, we left Crosslake with about 28% charge on the way to the fastest charger in that range, a 50kWh ZEF in Crosby.

What I noticed was keeping it in the detached, non-heated garage at the cabin, gave us about 1.5 miles of range per hour. That wasn’t great because ever drive to lunch or dinner, even just 3 or 4 miles, sucked a ton of range out of the car, however, it was key to preconditioning the battery on our way home. It was a lifesaver, even at 50 kWh, we were able to get all 50 kWh nearly immediately because we preconditioned.

 

[opnwide]

Now that I’m in my mid 50’s, I took my friend @Donald Stanfield ’s advice during this record breaking cold snap in my town, to “Plug-In every night, charge it hard, apply a weighted blanket, and wear socks to bed”.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Now that I’m in my mid 50’s, I took my friend @Donald Stanfield ’s advice during this record breaking cold snap in my town, to “Plug-In every night, charge it hard, apply a weighted blanket, and wear socks to bed”.

Doesn't sound like me, but glad I could help. My advice to deal with cold weather is usually to move someplace that doesn't suck in Winter time.

 

[crashmtb]

Not sure it’s bad to keep a battery that cold. We frequently freeze batteries for long storage to maintain thier capacity.

you freeze lithium ion batteries to maintain their capacity?

 

[R.I.P.]

you freeze lithium ion batteries to maintain their capacity?

yeah... that was my reaction... but I am learning to just let things go lol.

 

[emoore]

you freeze lithium ion batteries to maintain their capacity?

We do for long term storage in satellite lithium ion batteries. Granted that’s with no load on the batteries so not exactly the same as a cold EV battery but close.

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