Drive battery Thermal Management.

[AndyH]

I have the opposite problem here - summer heat radiating off tarmac that can reach 125°F/50°C. That makes a battery pretty toasty even before it's asked to do any work. My smart wouldn't let me charge past 90% in the summer with an L2 charge (3.3kW charger) until I fired up the AC for 20 minutes to cool things down. I think batteries would be happy if we took them into the house with us after a drive. :lol:

:lol:

Yep same here about the heat.

Does the Smart not start the A/C in the battery case for charging?

It didn't seem to. The AC would cycle when the car was on, but didn't seem to when the car was off unless I used the cabin pre-cool. It wasn't a regular occurrence, though - just on the hot days when I charged right after a drive.

 

[slingphev1]

I think there is no heating

Some cars in some areas appear to have some sort of battery heater. The 2018 North American model has, but I have no idea yet how it's implemented.

The battery box appears to be sealed, so that rules out using conditioned cabin air. Cold cells under 1C load do warm, but it appears they only gain a couple of degrees - not enough to restore full capability.

2018 NA Owner's Manual (See pages 3-13 through 3-16, 3-40, 9-2, 9-27 [fuse for 'Main drive lithium-ion battery PTC heater])
http://www.catcoinwallets.com/images/posts/EV/2018_PHEV_Owners_Manual.pdf

2018 NA window sticker with note about battery heating ("main battery warming system")
http://www.catcoinwallets.com/images/posts/EV/monroney.pdf

I noticed that in the North American Model of the PHEV, it list that the "Battery Heater for Cold Weather is Standard". I'm not sure what type of specific heater that means. The local dealer (Alberta Canada) along with the Technicians are new to the PHEV. Sometimes they ask me questions because I know more, which isn't much, about the PHEV. Everything that I know is from this Forum and from the couple of weeks that I've driven the vehicle.