Re:Charging electric vehicles 5x faster in subfreezing temps
by lazide on Monday April 07, 2025 @10:03AM
(#43611657)
Actually, it does and will in the right conditions. Look at page 11 of that link.
I did some research, and the plating issue happens when charge currents exceed the ability for the battery to absorb them, which dramatically decreases below freezing.
That is why those battery charts show dramatically reduced charge currents (nearly zero) when around freezing.
That data sheet also doesn’t cover cell life in these conditions conditions.
They have very high normal C ratings (hundreds of amps) which is why it is measurable and not actually zero, but reducing it to a couple amps before failure isn’t much different.
If batteries aren’t failing in these conditions, it’s because of some other protective circuit, not because the battery itself is special. It isn’t.
At least not in a way that people complain about battery failures or degradation. On the other hand, the battery has to reach that temperature in the first place, which may take a couple days of constant exposure to that temperature.