Parking outside the garage, winter and charging

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tvwe

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Joined
Aug 9, 2022
Messages
21
Hi, I was wondering what is your experience with parking eGolf and charging strategy in winter?
Even that I have a garage, I park in a covered carport all year. In the summer the car is in the shade, in the winter covered from the snow by roof.

Of course, i know that Winter and deep temperatures are not good.... Especially low temperature has an effect on the usable energy of the batteries. From the point of view of discharging, there is no problem, except the reduced range. In principle, the low temperature reduces the calendar ageing - one small positive point of low temperature.

However, in the cold, and below 0 °C, there can be a problem with the electroplating of lithium, which is really not good for cells. However, I personally think/hope that this problem Samsung has solved by the chemical composition of the electrolyte.

To prevent electroplating, I have chosen a strategy to charge the egolf immediately after arriving (the battery is hottest within day) and at the low power, but at the level which has a slight warming effect on the battery even in cold weather. Most often it is 5A - 2,5 Kw, sometimes 10A 4,5 KW.

So far, even in frosts of -15 to -20 °C I always charge with batteries above 0 °C, but there can even colder winters...

Does anyone have a similar parking situation, i.e. outside the garage? Even though I know that the battery is insulated, I was wondering if in very severe frosts I shouldn't preheat the cabin at midnight then also the standard morning before departure to raise the temperature slightly for the batteries. I can think of other solutions, but of course that's not standard solution...

Does anyone have any plans, drawing of how the cells are stored and insulated in the egolf? Even better with some numbering of the cells, so I can map it with the temperatures I read from OBD11? I wonder which placement is the coldest in winter, the hottest in summer...
 
I understand you want to keep the pack warm when it is 0C outside, but I wonder if charging at 2.5 or even 4.5 kW will do much to warm the pack - though you can monitor pack temperature to see what effect charging has overnight. My car does not experience snow, so I can't offer any first hand results.

Are you sure the battery is insulated? I don't think there is any insulation around the pack as insulation would retain heat, which is much more detrimental than cold on battery longevity. I just drove my car 232 miles with two DCFC stops in the central valley in California, and the pack hit 44.5 C by the end of the second DCFC session at 153 miles from start (at a reduced amperage due to the 41 C pack temp at arrival). When I got to my destination at ~5000 ft elevation, the pack was at 47 C at 19:00 ! By 08:00 the next morning the pack was at 33 C (lowest ambient overnight temp was about 15 C). I don't think it would have cooled so much if the pack were insulated.
 
The last winter i have not instaled wallbox, but i think, that even at subzero temperatures, 2,5 Kwh was able to ensure, that temerature not go down. So i will observe it next winter, to be sure.

It seems that havent anything...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFCKKzUCRRs
 
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