Battery Overheating???

[TucsonDan]

Yesterday, I was up in Phoenix for the day and used my first RAN charger. I was trying to charge to 74%. at approximately 62%, charging seemed to stop (I did add 54kwh in less than 20 min). When I looked at my battery temperature, it was at 135°.

Some background information…it was 110° outside.

30 minutes later the battery temperature was 112° and I had no issues making the 2 hour drive back to Tucson.

I did notice a cooling fan, in addition to my AC (much louder) was running until my battery temperature dropped below 198°.

Is this normal given the outside temperature?

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[COdogman]

I've not seen that reading in mine, but then again we didn't have access to a battery temp monitor last summer during the hottest months here in CO. That came later, in Oct/ Nov 2023.

Your description does sound normal, however. Fast charging heats up the battery and if it's already that hot outside, you will really hear that fan trying to cool things down and charging will slow. As long as it comes back down after you unplug and there are no other errors I wouldn't be concerned.

 

[f1racer328]

Did your battery get a chance to precondition much beforehand?

I used the Quartzsite and Sedona RAN's this past week and didn't come close to those temps at all. At the end of charging my battery was 115 degrees. Before it preconditioned down to about 90. This was on a large pack.

What battery do you have?

 

[TucsonDan]

This was the response I received from Rivian:


Hi Daniel,

Thank you for reaching out and sorry to hear about your charging troubles! To be transparent, sometimes if the temperature is too high, it will end the charging session. This does not happen often, but is more frequent in warmer climates such as Phoenix. When experiencing extreme temperatures, you can decrease the charging amperage to try and prevent overheating. We apologize for the inconvenience and our teams are working hard to to further improve thermal management through OTA updates. If you experience this issue in the future, please contact our service support team. They are available 24/7 at 855-RIVIAN-5 or by starting a chat session in the Rivian app. They will be able to provide additional information and potential resolution options. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to assist!

Your fellow adventurer,
Nick

 

[mikehmb]

I do not recall a way to reduce charger amperage for DCFC, unless they have implemented something new.

As CODogman said - did you set it as a destination in the Nav? That will prep the battery for preconditioning and get it close to 80ish degrees F. Recommend doing this every time during the summer, since you guys live in a place that would turn me to dust in an hour.

 

[djsider2]

How does one decrease amperage at a RAN charger?

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

Did your battery get a chance to precondition much beforehand?

I used the Quartzsite and Sedona RAN's this past week and didn't come close to those temps at all. At the end of charging my battery was 115 degrees. Before it preconditioned down to about 90. This was on a large pack.

What battery do you have?

This is the question I have as well. If your battery was pre-conditioned, this would most likely not have happened.

 

[TucsonDan]

I only preconditioned for 10 minutes. Tomorrow, I am going to try again. This time, I will precondition for longer.

 

[SarahsDad]

Restarting this old thread because this just happened to me even with the updated software 2025.18 with supposedly improved battery thermal management.

I was on a long roadtrip and had been driving all day, the battery was preconditioning prior to arrival but it was 100º and in full sun while charging. Also pet mode was on to keep my yellow lab cool inside at 70º. Charging dropped suddenly all the way down to 7.5KW at only 66% SOC (this was at a Tesla supercharger). Checked the battery temp screen - was 132º. I just aborted at that point and continued on the trip without any further issues. Guess their thermal management improvements can only do so much.

 

[RomanN]

Happened to me driving from Austin, TX to Jackson, WY.
Once at my last Texas stop, and again in New Mexico. I think it was 98-100 degrees outside.
My charging stops were in navigation, so the vehicle had time to precondition the battery.

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