Long term battery life - any concerns?

[Sonic]

Hello all,

 

I'm new to the forum and seriously considering the Energi as my next car. Like I'm sure all the happy owners know, this is the time when you try and absorb every bit of information you can to help make your decision.

 

Now despite going through the owner's manual for the Hybrid/Energi, I didn't find any advice about how to take care of the car's high voltage battery. From my understanding (based on reading other websites about the Li-Ion batteries), they are quite sensitive to temperature.

 

Well yesterday I stumbled upon the following link:

http://www.lacarguy.com/green/article/eight-tips-to-extend-battery-life-of-your-electric-car

 

It talks about several considerations, like not to constantly charge full, long term storage is best at 60%, limit time at full charge...

 

I'm sure Energi has some built in features to account at least for some of these, but it would be nice to know how and which ones. Like for example can the car cool its battery independently on a hot day (105 in the shade and car left on a parking lot in direct sunlight)? Or does it just rely on the air pulled from cabin once you get back and "start" the car?

 

I'm just a bit at unease that Ford didn't include any kind of insight on how to take care of the battery, it is one of its most expensive parts (if not the most expensive).

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

[murphy]

The hybrid unique components have an 8 year 100,000 mile warranty.

How likely are you to keep the car for more than 8 years or to drive more than 100,000 miles.

 

The car electronics know how to take care of the battery.  Otherwise it wouldn't have an 8 year warranty.

If the battery approaches the upper temperature limit the car will switch to ICE drive and let the battery cool down.

 

The only recommendation I have seen for long term storage (greater than 30 days) is to disconnect the 12 volt battery.

[Sonic]

Yes, but I'm not really concerned for the battery to fail (warranty), as much as it's natural tendency to lose capacity over time (not covered under warranty).

 

I plan to keep the car for 5+ years. And such, I'd like to have as much EV capacity/distance left after those 5 years as possible. So if there's anything I can reasonably do to prolong it's capacity, that's what I am after.

[Russael]

Well, since they're Lithium Ion batteries, there actually isn't much out there on the 'care' for them aside from keeping them away from high temperatures.  They're usually happy to be partially charged/discharged, and if you're going to long term store them, don't charge them to full capacity (charge them to about 60% and leave it).

 

Did a real quick search on Google and found this:  http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-tips-for-extending-lithium-ion-battery-life/289

 

Someone else mentioned their extremely brief trips and asked about battery life and I mentioned running them down monthly and charging them back up (oddly enough that article kind of agrees... says 30 cycles, so if you charge once a day, that matches).

[howardbc]

I have 1900+ miles on my 2013 Fusion Energi. I charge my car every night after depleting the battery completely to where the system goes into the hybrid mode.

 

I'm in the Phoenix area and we have had brutal heat this Summer. The car's thermometer registered 119 degrees the other day, but so far the car and battery are doing great. I have sometimes seen a message on the main display that the engine is running due to the battery's temp (or words to that effect). Otherwise I have not run into anything that might cause me to worry.

 

I too plan to keep the car around 5 years. Hopefully long-range batteries and charging stations will be improved by then. But for now I am very glad I bought a plug-in hybrid. 

 

 

[larryh]

According to the following article, after five years, the battery should retain between 85% to 92% of its capacity depending upon where you live, i.e. the average temperature.  This is for air cooling the battery.  Liquid cooling will achieve slightly better results.

 

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1077329_how-long-will-your-electric-car-battery-last-it-depends-where-you-live

Edited July 12, 2013 at 08:09 PM by larryh

[Energized]

Check out the following video at 4:05,  topping off the battery doesn't hurt it. 

 

 

http://social.ford.com/our-articles/cuvs/c-max/ford-social-answers-your-questions-about-hybrid-vehicles/

 

As for high temperatures, the Energi automatically protects the battery by locking it out and instead will run the ICE until it can adequately cool the battery.   This will prevent the problem the Nissan owners are experiencing with battery problems in the Leaf.    That's one advantage of having a parallel hybrid system, you still have the ICE to propel the vehicle. 

 

The Nissan Leaf doesn't have the option of locking out the battery at high temps, the car won't go anywhere without the battery.  The Focus Electric gets around the problem the Leaf has by including a liquid cooled battery pack so the Focus Electric will run in high temps without damage to the battery.