Problems fast charging

Problems with fast charging are a common topic in "Terjesbiler.no" for topics related to charging stations along the road. It is not always easy to charge - and there can be many reasons.

To Europe with an electric car in 2023

Posted 25/08/2023 by Terje Bjørnstad

I have great respect for the electric car pioneers who went down to Europe ten years ago. It must have been exciting to arrive at the town's only charging station and find that it was out of order. That makes good stories. Many of the stories are still out there online and can scare people away. A lot has happened in the last year alone. Everyone can travel with an electric car in Europe, although not entirely without challenges. It may be a good idea to prepare in advance.

Convenient with large charging stations

We are a husband and wife with a dog who recently went by electric car to our little house not far from Perpignan in France. Although we drive a Tesla, the post is not only about Tesla. Large parts of Tesla's charging network can now also serve other car brands. If you have the opportunity, you should register your car in the Tesla app. Not because it is necessary, but because it is convenient to know that you can arrive at charging stations with over 20 terminals. You rarely have to wait - and if so, hardly more than 5-10 minutes. Other players, such as IONITY, have a good spread, but there are fewer terminals at each location.

Preparations

Apps are an important part of the preparations. It is not as easy to arrange such things when you are standing in front of a charging terminal in a foreign country. If you have the "right" charging chip, you can get through the whole of Europe with one chip or one app. The Electric Vehicle Association and NAF have such chips. I have a chip from Recharge (Fortum Charge & Go) which also covers IONITY and many - to me - completely unknown charging operators in Germany, France and Spain. Not only are the main roads covered, but I can charge locally in our little town too. But just to be safe, you should have multiple options in case the payment solution for one app is down. IONITY and E.ON are good alternatives for the whole of Europe.

If you depend on a well-developed charging network, it is also important to have mapped the travel routes – not just one route, but also be prepared for alternative routes. Our main route went through Hamburg, Hannover and Frankfurt. If we had chosen to drive via Luxembourg to France, the distance between the charging stations would have been greater. No problem for today's electric cars, but I fear that large distances between charging stations create charging queues during the holiday season. By checking the charging map for various operators, you can quickly find the driving routes with the best coverage.

Ferry or Sweden?

Part of the planning is finding out which ferry to take, or whether to drive through Sweden. With the Kielfergen, you start in Germany and can drive across the country in one day, provided you have the time and money to spend almost a day on the boat. DFDS from Oslo arrives in Fredrikshavn around midnight and then you either have to take in an accommodation or bet that the driver has had enough sleep during the voyage. The Larvik-Fredrikshavn ferry departs at 08.00 and 12.00 and arrives after approx. 4 hours. The advantage of ferries is that you don't have to spend as many hours in the car.

Sweden

We chose to drive through Sweden. Do you live in Oslo and start at 8, you can arrive in Southern Denmark at approximately the same time as you would have arrived with the boat that leaves Larvik at 12. Our reason for driving was that we would feel bound by having a "mammadalt" dog on the boat. Also, it feels liberating not to be bound by departure times either. The trip through Sweden went well. We loaded up in Kungälv, but took the lunch break in Falkenberg. Our next stop was Löddeköpinge in Scania. It was very busy at the Tesla station there and you could only charge up to 80%. To make sure we got to the last stop of the day, we chose to top up at E.On right next door while eating ice cream.

Sweden has good charging networks near service centers with easy access from the E6. The charging terminals were clearly visible.

Denmark

Did you know that AutoPass tags also work on the Øresund Bridge and the Storebælt Bridge? We have a toll subscription without a tag, but on the occasion of the trip over the Danish bridges we had found an old AutoPass tag. I optimistically held it up to the windscreen in front of the barrier in the "Biz field" to the Øresund Bridge - but the barrier would not budge. A nice guard came to our rescue and scanned the code on the chip - and found that it was blocked. Fortunately, we were able to pay on the spot and didn't have to back up to choose another hatch - which the cars behind us probably appreciated.

My wife revealed that crossing the Øresund Bridge had been on her "bucket list" for a long time. The bridge is a fantastic piece of construction, but the main road through Zealand and Funen is, in return, terribly boring. The only thing we saw was the road. What the world looked like behind the bushes, we could only guess by studying the map on the screen.

Germany

After spending the night at Comwell Middelfart, we entered Germany. We hadn't booked a hotel in advance, but I had set my sights on a hotel in Herbolzheim just before Freiburg. When we arrived there in the evening, the hotel was unfortunately full. In the last week of the holiday season in Germany, many were out on the same errand. What were we supposed to do? Drive on, or try to find another hotel?

The main roads in Germany are well developed with rest areas and service points, where you can also charge from local - and unknown to me - charging stations, but the large Tesla charging stations are located in places without service facilities. This meant that we stopped more times than we strictly needed - once to charge and once to eat, drink and stretch our legs. If I had wanted, I could have charged at almost all the stations that were located at the service points with the code tag from Recharge, but I noticed that these chargers were widely used by other car brands, so I thought to myself that "you who have a Tesla, can well charge in a quieter place”. What's more, the electricity is cheapest at Tesla. Back home, we will probably make more use of local electricity companies.

Driving at night

With holiday time and full hotels in the border area between Switzerland, Germany and France, we found that we might as well drive on into nocturnal France. Driving at night has several advantages. There are fewer cars - and a greater proportion of steady drivers, so that you can drive efficiently on cruise control. Driving on French motorways costs money. The trip from Mulhouse to the exit just before the border with Spain cost us €80 (NOK 925) but is worth every penny. Not just offers Vinci Autoroutes the best roads, but also good night-time service offers where you can relax before driving on. At night, I think it is important to take breaks at least once an hour to feel the body whether it is safe to continue driving.

In France, as in Germany, you rarely find Tesla chargers at the 24-hour rest areas. In France, we experienced finding brand new chargers in rather secluded places. In the darkness of the night, they became even more secluded, because in many places the street lights are switched off after midnight. A couple of times we had to take detours, and soon found out that when maneuvering in tight urban areas, you have to drive at a snail's pace so that the navigation system has time to update itself. It's an advantage to have two - one to drive and one to scout for hidden charging stations. It's almost like a game - Find the charging station!

toilets

Toilets are important welfare when you are on the road. We were disappointed by the McDonalds along the main thoroughfare. Bad food and wretched sanitary conditions throughout Europe. When we chose a McDonalds restaurant a couple of km outside the motorway system, the quality increased considerably. We are also left with the impression that organized rest areas with joint service offers (Serways and Vinci) generally have good sanitary conditions.

Beware of heat wave

In Europe, there is now a heat wave. This can result in shorter ranges, although we didn't notice anything about that since we had the ventilation system on right from the start in Denmark - also for the dog when he had to be alone in the car. A negative experience was that the windscreen cracked a few hours after we arrived. Perhaps it was not very smart to park a car with a cooled compartment in the scorching sun when the thermometer approached 40 degrees.

A positive experience is that the charging chip from Recharge (Fortum Charge & Go) works at the local charging stations here.

Power Dot is available in Spain, France and Belgium, but can be used with a charging chip from Recharge

See

E.ON — Rechargeable roads with induction

nine norway — NIO changes batteries in 3 minutes

How many kWh does the Tesla 3 lose in the blast cold?

Posted 03/02/2021 by Terje Bjørnstad

preheating tesla 3 — Battery loss in the cold

Electric car owners in cold regions certainly have good access to electricity where they park. But what happens if you are visiting and have to leave the electric car overnight in the freezing cold without access to electricity?

Looking for the cold

It was reported -16 degrees, but already after Lillehammer I saw that the degrees crept down to -18. It looked promising for a cold test. In Gudbrandsdalen, temperatures can vary with local conditions. I was on my way to check the holiday home before the winter holidays. Thawing water pipes, turning on the heat, shoveling, putting up firewood, chasing away mice, as well as other necessary caretaker tasks. It takes time to fire up a house with an inside temperature of 4 degrees. The cold did not disappoint. During the evening and night, the outside temperature dropped to -24,9 degrees.

The cold steals kilowatt-hours

I parked the Tesla with 80% on the batteries after charging on Øyer. The remaining battery capacity decreased in line with the falling outside temperature, but stabilized at 73% when the thermometer stopped at -24 degrees. During the night, 7% of the batteries had evaporated in the cold - of Tesla's 75 kwh, this amounts to 5,25 kwh.

Lightning-fast heating of the compartment

Ready to leave, I started heating the cabin by preheating the batteries at the same time as scraping the windows. Scraping wasn't really necessary. The car warmed up long before I expected - much faster than in modern petrol cars. After I had turned off the water in the laundry cellar, loaded the luggage into the car and locked the house, the car was wonderfully warm and ice-free. Almost 15 minutes had passed.

Just driving?

The heating had taken another 2% of the batteries. They were now down to 71%. In total, the night had cost 9% of the battery capacity (6,75 kwh). But I was a little too quick on my feet to get off. The app that heats up the car shows a battery symbol with an ice rose when it preheats the batteries. It switches off when the temperature in the batteries is 19 degrees. I preheated for 15 minutes. Ideally, I should have continued preheating until the battery symbol went out. Preheating the batteries is not only for comfort, but to make the best use of the remaining battery capacity. If the batteries are too cold, they will not accept charging from regenerative energy. It therefore pays to preheat the batteries even if the car is not plugged in. I could have preheated for maybe 30-60 minutes. All monners leave. 15-20 minutes drains maybe 2 percent of the batteries, but makes the batteries give more range when you start driving.

Preheating the batteries

The pre-heating in the Tesla 3 uses the electric motors to produce the heat. The heating of the batteries is water-based – coolant that passes through all the cells. The pre-heating does not drain more power from the batteries than quiet driving, so you can start the pre-heating in good time. When you come from petrol and diesel cars, you are set on getting off as soon as the routes are ice-free. But preheating electric cars does not generate any toxic gases or noise. You can optionally start pre-heating without the air conditioning - or low temperature in the passenger compartment and gradually turn up the heat to save the batteries.

preheating tesla — Tesla Supercharger on Øyer. -16 and wind made it colder than it looks.

Slow charging in the cold

Although the batteries had not reached ideal temperature, they worked fine from the first kilometer. Consumption was the same as the day before. After 1 mile of driving, I set my destination to a charging station to buy coffee and sausage - and test charging. Tesla preheats the batteries before arrival, which in my case was calculated for 10 minutes. The batteries thus received additional preheating to cope with the cold. But the batteries were probably not quite ready to receive electricity. It took a few minutes before charging started, and then with low power. Although I was the only customer at Tesla's Supercharger facility, the maximum charging power did not reach more than 27 Kw during my little lunch break. The day before, the batteries received 87 Kw. But I didn't really need much power, so when the break was over, I moved on.

No big increase in consumption

The experts warn against higher electricity consumption in the cold - up to 41% higher than in summer. My winter consumption on the section Oslo - Øyer this trip was 25% higher than the lowest record measurement from September last year - and about the same level as other measurements made in warmer temperatures under alternating driving and driving conditions. Nor did the trip up offer any surprises in terms of range. I don't know if it is of great importance, but I drive with a thick sweater and an indoor temperature between 19-20 degrees. It is possible T-shirt and 25 degrees could have given other experiences.

Don't forget to preheat the batteries in the cold!

thaw thirteen — Water vapor looks dramatic in the cold. From here **The Tine plant at Tretten**.

Tesla Owners Club Norway: Battery heating

See

Temperature control of electric car batteries — Active battery cooling?

Active cooling of the batteries?

Posted 13/02/2020 by Terje Bjørnstad

battery cooling — Cars dissected in the interest of consumers.

Did you know that the Nissan Leaf and Volkswagen e-Golf lack active cooling of the batteries? Nissan has put restrictions on fast charging. Volkswagen dampens engine power if you drive too hard. It does not matter which solution is chosen to control the temperature. Read why!

The quality that is rarely mentioned

Modern electric cars should have systems that control the temperature in the battery cells. It is important for performance, for the batteries to take a fast charge, for range and for the life of the batteries. The factory numbers only apply when the batteries are at the correct temperature. The batteries prefer the same room temperature as us humans. Not all electric car models have satisfactory solutions. We have tried to find out which solutions are used in the most popular models. It's no easy task, even for car geeks.

Reverse Engineering

Car manufacturers prefer to present the battery packs as black boxes. They are generally reticent to provide detailed information. Even simple questions such as "Who produced the battery cells?", can be deeply embedded. It will then be much more difficult to find out how excess heat is conducted from the batteries under load, or how efficiently heat can be supplied on cold days. Fortunately, there are actors who make a living by picking things apart to document how they do it really is constructed, – the unvarnished truth. Cars such as Tesla 3, BMW i3, Opel Ampera (Chevrolet Bolt) and Renault Zoe have already been dissected.

Passive or active cooling?

Passive cooling cannot control the temperature in the batteries, but can capture and dissipate a good deal of heat through the metal in the battery case and surrounding air. Active air cooling can consist of something as banal as a thermostatically controlled fan. One liquid cooled system is far better, where the glycol mixture (coolant) is led in channels around the batteries. It is ideal if the temperature changes in the batteries can contribute to heating the passenger compartment via a heat exchanger. In the future, perhaps the battery cells will be mounted in thermally insulated boxes.

Flat or round cells?

Worldwide, there are only a handful of manufacturers who supply the entire world with battery cells. The best known are LG Chem, SK Innovation and Samsung SDI in South Korea, BYD and CATL in China and Panasonic, originally Japan. The battery manufacturers only deliver celler and allows car manufacturers to build their own battery packs. The following types of battery cells are used:

Pouch cells

Almost all new battery packs today are based on flat cells wrapped in plastic - so-called pouch cells (also referred to as pocket cells or pouch cells). These can be stacked close together (but not for close) – and usually vertically.

Prismatic cells

Here, the cells are wrapped in more solid material, such as aluminium, which absorbs more heat than the plastic in the bag cells. The BMW i3 and Volkswagen e-Golf use this.

Round cells

Round cells are reminiscent of flashlight batteries. Used by Tesla, but Toyota uses/will use round cells as well. These can also absorb more heat than the bag cells.

Liquid cooling

Tesla 3

Upright round/sleeve-shaped cells from Panasonic. Between the cell rows, coolant is led through channels in flat cooling belts at full height. The cooling tape is attached to each cell with a type of adhesive that conducts heat. Each cell is surrounded by cooling from two sides. The system consists of several loops to dissipate heat. In cool conditions, the system is used to heat the batteries.

Opel Ampera/Chevrolet Bolt

Vertical bag cells from LG Chem. Separate cooling frame under the batteries with coolant channels controls temperature. For reasons of space, the battery cells are stacked with two layers at the back - as an extra elevation. It is uncertain whether the topmost cells get as good cooling as the cells closest to the cooling frame.

Audi e-tron

e-tron battery cooling — Battery cooling (audi.com)

Vertical bag cells from LG Chem. A network of coolant channels under the batteries ensures that heat is transported away - or added heat if required. When cooling, the liquid passes through a cooling element. The car's radiator is used for heating. The system is connected to a heat pump. Audi claims that their cooling should be more efficient than Tesla's solution.

Jaguar I-Pace

Vertical bag cells from LG Chem. Liquid-cooled temperature control. Unknown how the channels run, but it is assumed that they are located under the battery pack and consist of several loops. Jaguar is reticent to publish detailed information.

Hyundai Kona

Bag cells from LG Chem. Active thermal management with liquid-cooled channels in a cooling plate under the batteries that transports away heat when needed. The system has several loops and its own cooler. The system can also produce heat when needed. NB! Only cars for the Nordic markets have a battery heater.

KIA e Niro

Bag cells from SK Innovation. Liquid cooling. Same system for thermal management of the batteries as the Hyundai Kona.

Models that have been upgraded from air to liquid cooling

Hyundai Ioniq

ioniq battery ventilation — Ventilation for the batteries in the Ioniq series 1.

Bag cells from LG Chem. Hyundai states that models from 2020 with a 38,3 kwh battery have liquid cooling. There is no information material on how the system is built, but it is assumed to be of the same type that the Hyundai Kona uses, - and which from 2020 will also be rolled out in the new KIA e-Soul. The outgoing model of the Ioniq, series 1 produced before 2020, has ventilation ducts from the passenger compartment with a thermostatically controlled fan that draws interior air towards the battery pack.

KIA e-Soul 64 kwh

Models from 2020+ have pouch cells from SK Innovation. Uses the same system for battery cooling and heating as the Hyundai Kona. The first series of KIA e-Soul – before 2020 – ventilates the batteries based on air from the car's air conditioning. They have their own fan to draw air if needed.

Active battery cooling with air

Renault Zoe

New 2020+ models with 52 kwh have vertical bag cells from LG Chem. All models (also older ones) have active air cooling that uses air from the car's air conditioning to supply cooled air directly into the battery box - one hole for intake and two for venting. During charging, the car can therefore start the air conditioning if necessary. The system can also use warm air from the heating system, for example during preheating.

BMW i3

Prismatic battery packs from Samsung are mounted over a frame with cooling channels. It is not air, but cooling gas that is sent out under the battery packs when needed. There are also heating wires that produce electrical heat under the batteries.

Without active battery cooling

Nissan Leaf

Lying pouch cells from Chinese AESCs. Nissan claims that there is no need for active battery cooling, even for 62 kw batteries. Leaf has put a limitation in the software to limit fast charging several times in a row - on the same day. The phenomenon is hashtagged #rapidgate. This is probably done to prevent damage to the battery due to a lack of active battery cooling. Cars that are delivered to cold regions have battery heaters that are primarily intended to protect the batteries from being destroyed in extreme cold - not to provide an optimal operating temperature.

Volkswagen e-Golf

Prism cells from Panasonic. Volkswagen claims that the batteries do not need an external source for battery cooling and heating. In addition to passive cooling, the e-Golfs have a function that automatically reduces the current when you press the gas too hard for a long time. It official the rationale is to reduce consumption. It real the rationale is likely to reduce the possibility of the battery overheating. Likewise, the charging power is limited if the battery is too hot. This is common on all electric cars, but is rarely a problem on cars with active battery cooling. Volkswagen has given a recommendation that the e-Golf should not be fast-charged more than every other charge.

Conclusion

It is not surprising that premium cars such as the Tesla 3 and Audi e-tron have proper temperature control of the battery cells. Although performance degradation has been demonstrated in the Tesla after repeated accelerations due to the battery cooling not being efficient enough. If it is not the world's best, it is a benchmark for the other electric cars.

I am impressed that even affordable electric cars have active, liquid-based cooling of the batteries. I'm thinking in particular of the new KIA e-Soul and Hyundai Ioniq. Mentions on the fly also the Renault Zoe passenger car with separate air ducts from the air conditioning directly into the battery box.

It's about what we get for our money. If you use an electric car in temperate environments with quiet charging, you can certainly save a few kroner by choosing a model without active battery cooling. The most important thing is that you make conscious choices.

The car manufacturers must then explain how they ensure that the battery cells reach the optimum working temperature. Please mention it in the brochures!

See

Jalopnik have visited Munro & Associates which has screwed three leading electric cars completely apart. Jalopnik characterizes the three cars as "conventional approach", "weirdo approach" and "blank sheet". Guess who is who!