Suggestions for battery conditoning? Cant charge at home now

[boo99]

Just got my 2015 yesterday and aware of the wonderful TMS in the car however im in AZ and concerned a bit about my car sitting in my apartment complex, not being plugged in at all. I know when I had my Volt and a home to plug it in, it was regularly cooling the battery cause it was plugged in.

Just now I went to the car and started it for like 20 mins and heard the pumps circulating to cool the battery, which Im sure at 102 deg. now, its doing.

Any other suggestions I can do till I get a home rental and a plug?

Is 20 mins enough to get the fluids circulated to the battery?

Of course I will be driving it today on and off but not significant distances/times today.


Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[CCIE]

Just got my 2015 yesterday and aware of the wonderful TMS in the car however im in AZ and concerned a bit about my car sitting in my apartment complex, not being plugged in at all. I know when I had my Volt and a home to plug it in, it was regularly cooling the battery cause it was plugged in.

Just now I went to the car and started it for like 20 mins and heard the pumps circulating to cool the battery, which Im sure at 102 deg. now, its doing.

Any other suggestions I can do till I get a home rental and a plug?

Is 20 mins enough to get the fluids circulated to the battery?

Of course I will be driving it today on and off but not significant distances/times today.


Thanks for any suggestions!

The car will do what is needed to protect the battery. If it's at a high SOC and temperature get high, it will run cooling, even when unplugged. But, that's very rate given the high thermal mass and insulation of the battery.

More likely those pumps and fans you heard were for the cabin AC.

 

[boo99]

Just got my 2015 yesterday and aware of the wonderful TMS in the car however im in AZ and concerned a bit about my car sitting in my apartment complex, not being plugged in at all. I know when I had my Volt and a home to plug it in, it was regularly cooling the battery cause it was plugged in.

Just now I went to the car and started it for like 20 mins and heard the pumps circulating to cool the battery, which Im sure at 102 deg. now, its doing.

Any other suggestions I can do till I get a home rental and a plug?

Is 20 mins enough to get the fluids circulated to the battery?

Of course I will be driving it today on and off but not significant distances/times today.


Thanks for any suggestions!

The car will do what is needed to protect the battery. If it's at a high SOC and temperature get high, it will run cooling, even when unplugged. But, that's very rate given the high thermal mass and insulation of the battery.

More likely those pumps and fans you heard were for the cabin AC.

Oh was unaware about the TMS working while NOT plugged in, thats great to hear.

The cabin AC however was not on when I was in the car. Not even the fan. I turned it on (the Car) and went about doing some things around the area within sight of the car.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[TheLondonBroiler]

Just now I went to the car and started it for like 20 mins and heard the pumps circulating to cool the battery, which Im sure at 102 deg. now, its doing.

Mine does the same thing if it's pretty hot, especially if you turn the ac on. Lots of whirring and other noises that are a bit unbecoming of an EV.

Any other suggestions I can do till I get a home rental and a plug?

Man, I hate to take a page from the 2018 Nissan LEAF owner's manual, but perhaps try keeping your vehicle out of direct sunlight whenever possible

 

[boo99]

Just now I went to the car and started it for like 20 mins and heard the pumps circulating to cool the battery, which Im sure at 102 deg. now, its doing.

Mine does the same thing if it's pretty hot, especially if you turn the ac on. Lots of whirring and other noises that are a bit unbecoming of an EV.

Any other suggestions I can do till I get a home rental and a plug?

Man, I hate to take a page from the 2018 Nissan LEAF owner's manual, but perhaps try keeping your vehicle out of direct sunlight whenever possible

I'm super overprotective of the battery after my Leaf adventures but what you wrote makes sense. Since I've had a long history of EVs and hybrids, I try not to park in the sun or face the rear of the car to the north or just some shady area.

Today I sat in it twice and didn't go anywhere just to get the battery cooler.

Used the cars charger today to plug into an outlet outside my gym but it was actually losing miles on the GOM. Dunno why, I did have the ac on then and I saw it saying 2kw to the right but not on the regen side of things, was on the upper part of the gauge which I interpreted as using current. When I was charging yesterday at the DCFC, I saw the kw way high on the lower part of the gauge, the regen area.

I'll check out another plug.

And yes for an EV car they get noisy cooling that battery. I remember my Volt did the same thing and in fact it sounded very similar on the Spark. There's some similarities between the two vehicles for sure.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Just now I went to the car and started it for like 20 mins and heard the pumps circulating to cool the battery, which Im sure at 102 deg. now, its doing.

Mine does the same thing if it's pretty hot, especially if you turn the ac on. Lots of whirring and other noises that are a bit unbecoming of an EV.

Any other suggestions I can do till I get a home rental and a plug?

Man, I hate to take a page from the 2018 Nissan LEAF owner's manual, but perhaps try keeping your vehicle out of direct sunlight whenever possible

I'm super overprotective of the battery after my Leaf adventures but what you wrote makes sense. Since I've had a long history of EVs and hybrids, I try not to park in the sun or face the rear of the car to the north or just some shady area.

Today I sat in it twice and didn't go anywhere just to get the battery cooler.

Used the cars charger today to plug into an outlet outside my gym but it was actually losing miles on the GOM. Dunno why, I did have the ac on then and I saw it saying 2kw to the right but not on the regen side of things, was on the upper part of the gauge which I interpreted as using current. When I was charging yesterday at the DCFC, I saw the kw way high on the lower part of the gauge, the regen area.

I'll check out another plug.

And yes for an EV car they get noisy cooling that battery. I remember my Volt did the same thing and in fact it sounded very similar on the Spark. There's some similarities between the two vehicles for sure.

Be aware that the L1 EVSE that came with the car, which plugs into a 120 VAC outlet, will add about 3/4 kWh per hour at 8 amps and 1 kWh per hour at 12 amps. The AC can use more than 1 kWh so you should expect the GOM to drop if the AC is running.

 

[boo99]

Good to know this, thanks for explaining.

I wanted to rule out if there was anything wrong with that OEM charger and such but your reply explains why I saw what I saw.

I guess in future if I'm going to be sitting in the car, AC on, I'll just use L2.

I just figured I'd test the OEM charger since I found a free plug to use (I don't have one, living in apartment now) out to make sure it's ok. I'd rather not find that out when I really would need it sometimes in an emergency need to charge situation.

I also wanted to condition the battery as it was like 103 outside in the Eve when I found this plug.

Thanks again for the reply.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Good to know this, thanks for explaining.

I wanted to rule out if there was anything wrong with that OEM charger and such but your reply explains why I saw what I saw.

I guess in future if I'm going to be sitting in the car, AC on, I'll just use L2.

I just figured I'd test the OEM charger since I found a free plug to use (I don't have one, living in apartment now) out to make sure it's ok. I'd rather not find that out when I really would need it sometimes in an emergency need to charge situation.

I also wanted to condition the battery as it was like 103 outside in the Eve when I found this plug.

Thanks again for the reply.

L2 is a better option. You will add about 5.6 kWh per hour to the battery. (6.6 kWh x 85% charging efficiency = 5.61 kWh)

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Good to know this, thanks for explaining.

I wanted to rule out if there was anything wrong with that OEM charger and such but your reply explains why I saw what I saw.

I guess in future if I'm going to be sitting in the car, AC on, I'll just use L2.

I just figured I'd test the OEM charger since I found a free plug to use (I don't have one, living in apartment now) out to make sure it's ok. I'd rather not find that out when I really would need it sometimes in an emergency need to charge situation.

I also wanted to condition the battery as it was like 103 outside in the Eve when I found this plug.

Thanks again for the reply.

L2 is a better option. You will add about 5.6 kWh per hour to the battery. (6.6 kWh x 85% charging efficiency = 5.61 kWh)

Note: If you really want to know what is going on and you are comfortable with Android tablets, there is a post on this forum that, using an Android tablet, an OBDLink MX adapter and the TorquePro Android APP, you can actually monitor your battery's temperature along with a number of other interesting pieces of information. It took a bit of work for me to get this set up but now I can see what the HV battery in my 2016 Spark EV is doing. Even though this was made available for the Chevy Bolt, it also works for the 2015 and 2016 Spark EVs.

 

[boo99]

Good to know this, thanks for explaining.

I wanted to rule out if there was anything wrong with that OEM charger and such but your reply explains why I saw what I saw.

I guess in future if I'm going to be sitting in the car, AC on, I'll just use L2.

I just figured I'd test the OEM charger since I found a free plug to use (I don't have one, living in apartment now) out to make sure it's ok. I'd rather not find that out when I really would need it sometimes in an emergency need to charge situation.

I also wanted to condition the battery as it was like 103 outside in the Eve when I found this plug.

Thanks again for the reply.

L2 is a better option. You will add about 5.6 kWh per hour to the battery. (6.6 kWh x 85% charging efficiency = 5.61 kWh)

Is the 6.6 from the charger cause I thought it was only 3.3kWh?

Maybe thats a different figure there so Im sorry if I got confused.


When I did my first DCFC the other day, I was blown away at that speed!! SOOOOO fast and I guess thats why they call it fast charge. lol.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Good to know this, thanks for explaining.

I wanted to rule out if there was anything wrong with that OEM charger and such but your reply explains why I saw what I saw.

I guess in future if I'm going to be sitting in the car, AC on, I'll just use L2.

I just figured I'd test the OEM charger since I found a free plug to use (I don't have one, living in apartment now) out to make sure it's ok. I'd rather not find that out when I really would need it sometimes in an emergency need to charge situation.

I also wanted to condition the battery as it was like 103 outside in the Eve when I found this plug.

Thanks again for the reply.

L2 is a better option. You will add about 5.6 kWh per hour to the battery. (6.6 kWh x 85% charging efficiency = 5.61 kWh)

Is the 6.6 from the charger cause I thought it was only 3.3kWh?

Maybe thats a different figure there so Im sorry if I got confused.


When I did my first DCFC the other day, I was blown away at that speed!! SOOOOO fast and I guess thats why they call it fast charge. lol.

OOPS! Good catch! I was thinking of a Chevy Bolt. The Spark EV L2 240 VAC charging will put about 2.8 kWh per hour into the battery. It starts to taper off at 80% of full SOC. I do not know what the power consumption of the Spark EV's AC system is.

DCFC IS FAST! Typically I charge from 35% to 90% SOC in 15 minutes.

 

[boo99]

OOPS! Good catch! I was thinking of a Chevy Bolt. The Spark EV L2 240 VAC charging will put about 2.8 kWh per hour into the battery. It starts to taper off at 80% of full SOC. I do not know what the power consumption of the Spark EV's AC system is.

DCFC IS FAST! Typically I charge from 35% to 90% SOC in 15 minutes.

Its the one flaw of the Spark I dont like---- the 3.3 kWh OBC. I could not imagine this car with that OBC and NO DCFC....that would be a nightmare in terms of charging time.

Yes that DCFC is sooooo fast, it was my 1st time using it the other eve, was shocked how fast the GOM was increasing!

 

[MrDRMorgan]

OOPS! Good catch! I was thinking of a Chevy Bolt. The Spark EV L2 240 VAC charging will put about 2.8 kWh per hour into the battery. It starts to taper off at 80% of full SOC. I do not know what the power consumption of the Spark EV's AC system is.

DCFC IS FAST! Typically I charge from 35% to 90% SOC in 15 minutes.

Its the one flaw of the Spark I dont like---- the 3.3 kWh OBC. I could not imagine this car with that OBC and NO DCFC....that would be a nightmare in terms of charging time.

Yes that DCFC is sooooo fast, it was my 1st time using it the other eve, was shocked how fast the GOM was increasing!

Depending on how a Spark EV is used, not having the DCFC option may not be a problem. I also have a 2014 Spark EV without DCFC. 85-90% of my driving and my wife's driving is around town and within the range of our 2014 Spark EV. After 3 years of use, it still has not been a problem for us. If we have to venture outside the comfortable range of the 2014, we take the 2016 which does have the DCFC option. For very long distance trips, we just rent an ICE car. Works great! Fact is, there are many out-of-town destinations which do not have any DCFC chargers along the route and this makes it almost impossible for an EV to reach those destinations in a timely manner if at all.

I set up both of my Spark EVs for delayed charging so each car charges overnight and is fully charged by the time I plan to leave in the morning.

NOTE: My garage is set up with one each L1 and L2 EVSEs.

 

[boo99]

Depending on how a Spark EV is used, not having the DCFC option may not be a problem. I also have a 2014 Spark EV without DCFC. 85-90% of my driving and my wife's driving is around town and within the range of our 2014 Spark EV. After 3 years of use, it still has not been a problem for us. If we have to venture outside the comfortable range of the 2014, we take the 2016 which does have the DCFC option. For very long distance trips, we just rent an ICE car. Works great! Fact is, there are many out-of-town destinations which do not have any DCFC chargers along the route and this makes it almost impossible for an EV to reach those destinations in a timely manner if at all.

I set up both of my Spark EVs for delayed charging so each car charges overnight and is fully charged by the time I plan to leave in the morning.

NOTE: My garage is set up with one each L1 and L2 EVSEs.

That makes sense for sure. Wow two Sparks huh? Awesome.

I think I feel that way cause currently I'm living in an apartment and have no where to charge but public chargers.

So without that DCFC it would be not the best time wise for me to charge.

Looking to rent a home soon.

When I had my Volts, I owned a home and charged there with my L2.

Mentioning the Volts here, there's alot of similarities I see in the screens etc on the Spark that reminds me of my Volt.

I'd like to get one (a Spark) with less miles than I have now. But ultimately I wish I could own a Bolt. I suppose in years from now they'll be more affordable when they age like the Volts were.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Depending on how a Spark EV is used, not having the DCFC option may not be a problem. I also have a 2014 Spark EV without DCFC. 85-90% of my driving and my wife's driving is around town and within the range of our 2014 Spark EV. After 3 years of use, it still has not been a problem for us. If we have to venture outside the comfortable range of the 2014, we take the 2016 which does have the DCFC option. For very long distance trips, we just rent an ICE car. Works great! Fact is, there are many out-of-town destinations which do not have any DCFC chargers along the route and this makes it almost impossible for an EV to reach those destinations in a timely manner if at all.

I set up both of my Spark EVs for delayed charging so each car charges overnight and is fully charged by the time I plan to leave in the morning.

NOTE: My garage is set up with one each L1 and L2 EVSEs.

That makes sense for sure. Wow two Sparks huh? Awesome.

I think I feel that way cause currently I'm living in an apartment and have no where to charge but public chargers.

So without that DCFC it would be not the best time wise for me to charge.

Looking to rent a home soon.

When I had my Volts, I owned a home and charged there with my L2.

Mentioning the Volts here, there's alot of similarities I see in the screens etc on the Spark that reminds me of my Volt.

I'd like to get one (a Spark) with less miles than I have now. But ultimately I wish I could own a Bolt. I suppose in years from now they'll be more affordable when they age like the Volts were.

If you have not already done so, log onto http://www.plugshare.com. You can use this app to locate all of the L1, L2 and DCFC chargers available in your immediate area and beyond. I study this site almost every day - especially if I am planning a trip beyond my comfortable round-trip distance. My wife and I have taken a couple of 300 mile round trips without any problems. One of those trips was a drive up Hwy 50 to South Lake Tahoe and back.

 

[boo99]

If you have not already done so, log onto http://www.plugshare.com. You can use this app to locate all of the L1, L2 and DCFC chargers available in your immediate area and beyond. I study this site almost every day - especially if I am planning a trip beyond my comfortable round-trip distance. My wife and I have taken a couple of 300 mile round trips without any problems. One of those trips was a drive up Hwy 50 to South Lake Tahoe and back.

Great to hear about a 300 mile trip! I cannot wait to take those soon enough.

Thank you for the Plugshare tip; that app has been invaluable for me and really grateful we have that. I like how we, the EV drivers, basically build that site based on our pics and tips! Just yesterday I updated that plug on PS that I mentioned earlier where I used my 120v charger for the 1st time.

They had an old pic of 4 outlets, but currently only has one to use, so I took a pic and uploaded it and edited the location.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

If you have not already done so, log onto http://www.plugshare.com. You can use this app to locate all of the L1, L2 and DCFC chargers available in your immediate area and beyond. I study this site almost every day - especially if I am planning a trip beyond my comfortable round-trip distance. My wife and I have taken a couple of 300 mile round trips without any problems. One of those trips was a drive up Hwy 50 to South Lake Tahoe and back.

Great to hear about a 300 mile trip! I cannot wait to take those soon enough.

Thank you for the Plugshare tip; that app has been invaluable for me and really grateful we have that. I like how we, the EV drivers, basically build that site based on our pics and tips! Just yesterday I updated that plug on PS that I mentioned earlier where I used my 120v charger for the 1st time.

They had an old pic of 4 outlets, but currently only has one to use, so I took a pic and uploaded it and edited the location.

You are starting out on a great adventure and I can't begin to tell you how much fun you will have as you learn more and more about the Spark EV. I have had many new cars over my driving life and the Spark EV has been the most fun - even more than the fun I had with my brand new 1966 VW Bug!

 

[boo99]

You are starting out on a great adventure and I can't begin to tell you how much fun you will have as you learn more and more about the Spark EV. I have had many new cars over my driving life and the Spark EV has been the most fun - even more than the fun I had with my brand new 1966 VW Bug!

Yes I cannot wait for those adventures. I never really had a BEV before. Had Prius, C Max, Volts, Prius C, Honda Hybrid, etc but only the last few mos been trying out the BEV life.

As I wrote the Fiat no one can repair here.

The Leaf. Well heat and the Leaf= no, no, not a good outcome.

Someday I will have a Bolt though, just have to wait for the price to drop. Nothing against the Spark but that range in the Bolt is really amazing but we can do that with the Spark as well; just need to stop more to charge, which can turn into some great adventures right there by exploring places where one would never stop at !

 

[MrDRMorgan]

You are starting out on a great adventure and I can't begin to tell you how much fun you will have as you learn more and more about the Spark EV. I have had many new cars over my driving life and the Spark EV has been the most fun - even more than the fun I had with my brand new 1966 VW Bug!

Yes I cannot wait for those adventures. I never really had a BEV before. Had Prius, C Max, Volts, Prius C, Honda Hybrid, etc but only the last few mos been trying out the BEV life.

As I wrote the Fiat no one can repair here.

The Leaf. Well heat and the Leaf= no, no, not a good outcome.

Someday I will have a Bolt though, just have to wait for the price to drop. Nothing against the Spark but that range in the Bolt is really amazing but we can do that with the Spark as well; just need to stop more to charge, which can turn into some great adventures right there by exploring places where one would never stop at !

I try to make it a point to stop at DCFC charging locations that have as a minimum a minimart which has restrooms and where I can get a soft drink and/or something to eat. I actually enjoy a short break from driving. Unfortunately, there are some DCFC locations where all you can do while charging is watch the ants!

 

[boo99]

I try to make it a point to stop at DCFC charging locations that have as a minimum a minimart which has restrooms and where I can get a soft drink and/or something to eat. I actually enjoy a short break from driving. Unfortunately, there are some DCFC locations where all you can do while charging is watch the ants!

Yes some facilities would be nice!

I only used one so far which is 4 miles from my apartment just to test it out and mainly to see if the DCFC would work ok since I have a week on Carvana to exchange it.

Lol @ the ants. I think I might see more than those here in the Arizona desert, maybe some scorpions and snakes. Yikes.

At the very least if no facilities, I guess a short nap with the ac on would work.

We certainly don't have to worry about CO creeping into the car that's on as we charge!