Proper Climate

Oh, wouldn't be nice if we could all live in a place where the sun shone daily and it was temperate every day?  Unfortunately, most of the United States is not too close to the tropics where the weather is always nice, but at least a few cities and states have temperate weather.  Alas, why does this matter other than to make us comfortable?  Well, electric car batteries appreciate this climate too.

I live South of San Francisco in the heart of Silicon Valley and although it is quite possible for the temperature to get below freezing and above 100 F, it rarely happens.  We do not see snow or sleet, except once every 30 years and the summers rarely see temperatures above 90.  So it would seem that Silicon Valley would be an ideal place to own an electric car.

A Problem Arises

What is the actual effect that temperature has on batteries?  If you didn't catch the news back in the summer of 2012, shortly after the Nissan Leaf debuted, then allow me to enlighten you.  Many people in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona who purchased the earlier models of the Nissan Leaf had a great deal of trouble with the Leaf.  In the extreme heat of the Arizona desert, the batteries were overheating and failing this reduce the range of the vehicles.

The Physics

The action of drawing electrons from a chemical battery, such as Lithium Ion, creates heat.  Although the amount of heat may not be excessive, if that heat is not dissipated, then it will tend to compound until something gets too hot and fails.  The battery casing is only designed to take a limited amount of heat, that is expected during normal operation,  If the casing fails, so does the structure and integrity of the battery.

A similar problem can be found in the reverse, or rather when the temperature is very cold.  Although some manufacturers have recognized that the cold is a serious problem and have gone out of their way to insulate the battery from the cold.  You may know how the battery feels, that when you are very cold, you have trouble getting work done.  Physically however, the more cold an object gets, the slower the electrons move within it, and thus the battery's performance decreases.

Current Technology

I won't argue with anyone that our current battery technology, although decent by comparison to prior technologies, needs some work.  It would be awesome if the efficiency of our current battery technology was priced and as functional as petroleum products.  Of course electric has it's disadvantages, but it also has advantages, and we will some day find the perfect material for transportation.

But for now, our current technology for power storage is keen to include devices that work best in temperate climates.  Yes, you can still drive in Northern Wisconsin and New York during a polar vortex.  Or in the Arizona desert during the blazing hot summer, just be that the electric vehicle you have, has protection for the battery.