How to maintain your EV Battery for longer life.

 

BY    AFZAL YOUSAF

Electric battery is the power source that drives EV  and like every other part battery also degrades over time and its performance drops. Apart from conventional batteries, lithium ion batteries used in EVs requires a different type of maintenance. As battery is the most vital part, EV owners can take several steps to prolong the life of battery pack.

In this article we enlist some important maintenance tips that can extend the life o your EV Battery pack.

Balance your battery and periodic full charge

Battery technology often has memory issues and lithium ion technology are designed to minimise this drawback. Large battery packs are complex and need proper balancing to extend its performance. Cell balancing is the process of equalizing the voltages and state of charge among the cells when they are at a full charge. There are always slight differences in the state of charge, self-discharge rate, capacity, impedance, and temperature characteristics.

Modern EV Battery packs have in-built balancing component. But with some steps, you can help your EV with the process. Periodic maximum charge helps the battery management system to perform better and after fully charging the battery pack, you should never keep vehicle idle. This affects the cell balancing negatively.

Don't leave battery sit idle at 100% state of charge

Leaving your battery pack idle for a long time after in 100% state of charge affects life of the pack. According to rule of thumb (a broadly accurate guide or principle, based on practice rather than theory), never let your battery sit idle at maximum charged state for more than 8 hours. Most of EVs have standard/maximum charge option, and only do maximum charge if you are planning a journey right after that.

Most EVs have charge timers to help in this scenario and  if your EV doesn’t have that, do an overnight standard charge and then charge the last 10-20% in morning before departure.  Daily charging to 100% is stressful to battery pack and li ion composition performs better in 30% to 90% state of charge.

Avoid Deep Discharging

In continuation  to what we said above, also leaving your battery pack discharged for a long time also affects the performance. Low state of charge affects the battery pack negatively and according to the rules, state of charge below 30% is considered as low state. Never let your EV sit idle in low state of charge for an extended time period.

Avoid Extreme Temperature conditions

Both hot and cold temperature at extreme will affect the performance of the battery.  Manufacturers with advanced battery technology consider this extreme situations and provide adequate cooling and heating to keep battery packs in tolerable level.

Lithium ion batteries according to general thumb rule, should kept between -7 to 30 degree Celsius. When it exposed to extreme high temperature, battery will degrade and  in extreme low temperature, discharging capacity of battery lowers.

Avoid regular use of fast chargers

Quick charging or fast charging degrades battery pack faster than slow or moderate type chargers. If you have an option of slow or moderate type charging other than fast charging in your EV, use fast charging when necessary. This will protect battery from faster degradation.

The rules above mentioned are general rules for any Electric vehicles based on my research and best of knowledge. Range(mileage) of EVs vary depend on model and as we are dealing with expensive components, always follow your EV Book and manufacture instructions.

Comment your ideas and queries to join the conversation. Keep Reading.