Cold Weather Range

[MrDRMorgan]

Recently, I left my 2014 Spark EV parked outside overnight in 33 deg. F weather. The next day I saw 3% battery conditioning on the energy info screen. 3% represents about .5 kWh which isn't much. However, I do not know how effective the L1 EVSE [120 volt] is in trying to keep the battery warm in -8 deg. F temperatures - especially outside and overnight.

First, the car does all the work, not the EVSE (which is just providing electricity from the wall instead of the battery).

Second, to be clear to all, "battery conditioning" on the energy info screen shows how much energy was pulled from the battery for conditioning - if the energy is pulled from the wall, it wouldn't show up on that screen.

Lastly, since the 120V EVSE provides about 1 kW @ 8A (default "low" setting) - let's say 800W after losses - the standard EVSE provides more energy in an hour than the conditioning in this case used all night. So, even if the car is "more aggressive" about keeping the battery warm, and uses 4x more energy, the 120V EVSE would handle it. It would, on the other hand, charge more slowly - so you'd probably want to charge at 12A if you needed a "big fill".

Said another way, the Level 1 EVSE ensures a safe connection to the vehicle and can provide up to 12 amps at 120 VAC. The driver, via the Energy Information screen, selects whether the car will charge at 8-amps or 12 amps and the car's electronics then control the duration and power flow to the HV battery.

Quote from above: "Second, to be clear to all, "battery conditioning" on the energy info screen shows how much energy was pulled from the battery for conditioning - if the energy is pulled from the wall, it wouldn't show up on that screen."

Energy coming from the wall must be converted to HVDC by the car's electronics before it goes into the traction battery. If the battery conditioning function is active, the car's Energy Information screen may show an increase in % Battery and kWh Used IF... the car is not plugged in or is plugged in and the battery conditioning function is drawing more power than the EVSE can provide. If the battery conditioning function is pulling less energy than the EVSE can provide, the Energy Information screen will only show 0.0% and 0.0 kWh Used - ie, a fully charged battery. You can see the same drop in % Battery and kWh Used by watching the Energy Information screen during long periods of regeneration such as you would experience going down a long grade while driving in L.

The cord on either my L1 EVSE or L2 EVSE is not long enough to reach an EV on my driveway. So, on very cold nights, I expect to see the battery conditioning function working and show up on my energy information screen. I'll check this over the next couple of days when the low temperatures are supposed to drop down to 29-31 deg. F.