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Hot Florida garage…should I be concerned?

hekhl00

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Like most Floridians, my garage is not air conditioned and gets very hot in the summer. Is this an issue for my Rivian’s batteries? My understanding is that excessive heat can shorten battery life. Appreciate any advice.
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Like most Floridians, my garage is not air conditioned and gets very hot in the summer. Is this an issue for my Rivian’s batteries? My understanding is that excessive heat can shorten battery life. Appreciate any advice.
It won't make that much of a diff. At most it will reach ambient temps outside (unless your garage is greenhouse with lots of windows, or the garage door faces south), so mid 90's in the day, mid 80s at night. Humidify is non factor with a sealed battery.

I have no windows in my garage, but garage door faces east. I get all that morning sun hitting the door, so I plan to add some insulation.
 
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hekhl00

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It won't make that much of a diff. At most it will reach ambient temps outside (unless your garage is greenhouse with lots of windows, or the garage door faces south), so mid 90's in the day, mid 80s at night. Humidify is non factor with a sealed battery.
Upper 90’s in the garage is not at all unusual in the summer.
 

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I would be mildly concerned, EVs need to be able to shed heat for battery management and if the ambient temperature in the garage is hot and cannot shed the heat then the R1T’s cooling system will not safely and adequately cool the battery. You might look into a temperature-activated cooling/exhaust fan that can move a lot of outside air through the garage if temps start to climb.
 

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Found this 2013 article...
Protecting the Battery pack of your EV in Hot Weather - PluginIndia Electric Vehicles


"Lithium-Ion Batteries And Heat
Lithium-Ion chemistry is extremely sensitive to high temperatures. Heat causes lithium-ion battery packs to degrade much faster than they normally would. Battery performance begins to suffer as soon as the temperature climbs above 35°C. A temperature above 35°C affects the battery pack performance instantly and even permanently if it lasts many months."

>35C = >95F

Cutting it pretty close with mid-90's. Then again, it sure beats really cold temps.
 

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hekhl00

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Found this 2013 article...
Protecting the Battery pack of your EV in Hot Weather - PluginIndia Electric Vehicles


"Lithium-Ion Batteries And Heat
Lithium-Ion chemistry is extremely sensitive to high temperatures. Heat causes lithium-ion battery packs to degrade much faster than they normally would. Battery performance begins to suffer as soon as the temperature climbs above 35°C. A temperature above 35°C affects the battery pack performance instantly and even permanently if it lasts many months."

>35C = >95F

Cutting it pretty close with mid-90's. Then again, it sure beats really cold temps.
Based on that article, I’m concerned. It’s 84 in my garage right now and it’s just March. Friend just suggested insulating the garage doors as a first step and see if that keeps it out of the danger zone.
 

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Don’t park in your garage. Everyone knows garages are meant for the all the shit you should throw away but won’t, not for parking vehicles.
 

Rivianation

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Based on that article, I’m concerned. It’s 84 in my garage right now and it’s just March. Friend just suggested insulating the garage doors as a first step and see if that keeps it out of the danger zone.
What is the outside temp right now?

I plan to add insulation as well but that will only cure some of the radiant heat where sun shines on garage door directly. Ambient temps can only be solved by A/C, unfortunately.
 
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hekhl00

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What is the outside temp right now?

I plan to add insulation as well but that will only cure some of the radiant heat where sun shines on garage door directly. Ambient temps can only be solved by A/C, unfortunately.
83 in Tampa.
 

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hekhl00

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So your garage is one degree over. Not bad. Your worst case scenario is 95 in august.
There has never been an officially record temp of 100 in Tampa but we’ve come close. Not so sure I’m out of the woods. I’ve definitely seen the temp in my garage in the upper 90s.
 

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This isn’t an issue at all. The cells get much hotter when charging and I find it unlikely that the internal battery cell temps would exceed air temps. Even so, everything is controlled by the vehicle so cooling could run if they got too hot.
 

emoore

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This isn’t an issue at all. The cells get much hotter when charging and I find it unlikely that the internal battery cell temps would exceed air temps. Even so, everything is controlled by the vehicle so cooling could run if they got too hot.
Exactly. Rivian seems to throttle charging when battery gems are 50 to 55C. That’s 120 to 130F. Don’t worry about a 95F garage.
 

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It's easy. You can place a thermostatically controlled (2 stage) fan in the garage. You could also easily link it to a smart thermostat and an Alexa routine.
For example, the Mustang exhaust is rather rich when it first starts up, so I have an Alexa routine that triggers the fan when the garage door opens on that side, and kicks it on high.

Similarly, I have A CO detector in the garage with a relay that kicks the fan on high immediately if the alarm goes off.

it would be easy to set the same thing up with an a/c system or bigger fans, or even kick a fan on, when you are say charging inside the garage in the summer.
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