Will a Chevy Volt battery in a white car last longer than in a black car ? ( Texas heat ) - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Cd · 03-27-2021, 03:03 PM

Just as the title asks, will the battery in a white car last longer than in a black car ?
We all know that a black cars' cabin heats up more than one in white, but is the battery shielded from the cabin heat ? ( on a gen 1 Chevy Volt )

- Thanks

rmay635703 · 03-27-2021, 03:56 PM

All EVs that sit last longer if the interior is cooler

I would say sun reflectors and even a little solar fan would help

Since your volt won’t charge much the battery conditioning circuits won’t run very often

cRiPpLe_rOoStEr · 03-27-2021, 08:06 PM

Even if the battery gets shielded from the excessive cabin heat somehow, it may not be 100% effective once such excessive heat builds up at a higher rate.

Cd · 03-27-2021, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Even if the battery gets shielded from the excessive cabin heat somehow, it may not be 100% effective once such excessive heat builds up at a higher rate.

From the looks of it, there is a tunnel under the cabin.
It pokes up into the floorboard, but to me, looks as though it is shielded from the cabin heat.

I think it might be a bit too OCD to worry about it.

I guess the real question I should consider, is if an added bellpan would trap heat from the battery.

cRiPpLe_rOoStEr · 03-27-2021, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cd

I guess the real question I should consider, is if an added bellpan would trap heat from the battery.

Most likely it would, unless you could provide some venting and resorted to a material with a better thermal conductibility.

jjackstone · 03-30-2021, 01:02 AM

Are you talking about the total battery life or the distance it's good for on an individual hot day? Are you talking about if the vehicle is left sitting in the sun or while driving? Chevy Volt batteries have a coolant system. I don't know if the coolant is ever circulated when the vehicle is not running.
JJ

Cd · 03-30-2021, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjackstone

Are you talking about the total battery life or the distance it's good for on an individual hot day? Are you talking about if the vehicle is left sitting in the sun or while driving? Chevy Volt batteries have a coolant system. I don't know if the coolant is ever circulated when the vehicle is not running.
JJ

Total battery life / sitting in the sun.

Piotrsko · 03-30-2021, 11:07 AM

Coolant is stagnant in a non operational vehicle, but it still will trap lots of excess heat. The volt battery prefers 80-100 degrees for operation, so most times you are warming it up. I've stopped the coolant in mine, didn't affect anything so far and it's up int the truck bed not underneath.

cowmeat · 03-30-2021, 01:04 PM

The battery sits at the very bottom so it may not even be a big issue, but for what it's worth my Volt runs the coolant through the battery even when it's parked and passes some heat threshold in the battery
It may need to be plugged in to do this (mine's almost always plugged in at work), but mine definitely kicks on the coolant fan and I assume the pump when it's hot outside at work

People tell me all the time my car's running in the parking lot, the first couple of times I went out and checked but now I just say thanks

oil pan 4 · 03-30-2021, 04:24 PM

I thought the volt had liquid battery cooling?
The coolant fan kicks on in my leaf when it's about 100F outside. But I started opening the hood while charging and as far as I know the fan hasn't had to kick on.
That's just charging losses heat, as the leaf has no battery cooling.