To check if the electric vehicle battery begins to fail – TU

The greatest uncertainty related to electric vehicles is about the battery pack. When this has lost enough capacity, is one potentially facing a big expense associated with replacing.

In practice it turns out that lithium-ion batteries in electric cars remain far better than was expected a few years ago.

If you want to examine how much capacity may have been lost, there is basically no information that is easily accessible.

You can get examined this in a workshop, but if you suspect that something is not quite right with the battery it is possible to make some some research yourself.

There will hardly be a problem for many that capacity falls below capacity manufacturer guarantee.

It is not only because batteries generally have good life. It’s also about that EVs rarely lets you utilize the actual battery capacity as advertised.

See also: Which electric car should you buy?

As a rule, less usable capacity

For example, specifying that Nissan Leaf has a battery capacity of 24 kWh. In reality you only utilized approximately 21.5 kWh. The same applies to VW e-Golf, which has stated capacity of 24.2 kWh, but a real net capacity of approximately 21.8 kWh.

At the opposite end we find Renault, which only advertises net battery capacity of 23 , 3 kWh. The actual capacity is not known, but is probably at least 24 kWh.

The reason why you can not utilize the full capacity is that the car manufacturer protects itself with a “buffer” which allows the battery never runs completely up or out. Both are unfortunate for lithium-ion batteries.

It ensures that the battery does not degenerate as fast as for example the battery in a mobile phone that is charged to full capacity every time.

The EV battery can therefore real terms decrease over time, without experiencing any change in practical mileage.

At some point, this buffer being used up and you will do more degree experience that the actual range of the vehicle is reduced.

Read more: How to put the battery in electric vehicle to last

New EVs, as Kia Soul EV, has long warranty on batteries. Kia estimates that the residual capacity of the battery in this car should be at least 70 percent after 15 years. Photo: Kia

Hardly cause for concern

Realistically it’s hardly great reasons to worry that battery capacity decreases abnormally fast for most people. In practice, an electric vehicle battery fine last for 10 years before it begins to fail.

Data collected from Tesla owners indicate that the battery remains nearly 95 percent of its original capacity after 100 000 km . It does not seem that it is specifically for Tesla.

Rune Haaland lead industry organization Electric Vehicle Union, said last year to TU batteries in Nissan Leaf does not show deterioration after 100 000 km.

In March Nissan announced that 99.99 percent of all batteries in the Leaf sold in Europe were still in use. Only three cars have been replaced its batteries.

Some usage patterns may reduce the capacity faster

High-temperature battery is worst enemy, something Nissan Leaf owners in Arizona, USA experienced. In 2012 there were many who felt that capacity was reduced very quickly. This is because the car does not have active batterikjøing, and in the desert can be extremely hot.

High temperature is not something we are much troubled with in Norway. You should still be aware that some use patterns could reduce batterikapastiteten faster.

Vehicles without active battery drive could theoretically get persistent high cell temperature after many long journeys with rapid charging process.

About the battery constantly drained almost completely out, the car used so little that the battery almost always have high charge state, and the temperature is high, it may also contribute to faster degradation.

This is extreme cases .

See also: The electric car is far less effective than many people think

range for fully charged battery can be an indicator of lost capacity, if you reset the trip computer. Photo: Marius Valle

Can be smart to follow

If you for example to buy used electric vehicle, it is difficult to know with any certainty how the battery is treated. Therefore, you should do research that gives you a picture of battery health.

It can also be useful to have an eye on this so that you quickly perceive that the capacity is about to lose themselves.

The battery condition is not necessarily easy to figure out. Whether you should buy a used electric vehicle, or only of the type that likes to be in control, it lilkevel possible to investigate.

To check

There is unfortunately no simple solution that works for all electric vehicles, and for best results, you should obtain equipment that can help you.

Most cars will however somehow indicate that the battery capacity is reduced.

This is done in different ways. Nissan Leaf has a system of lines that disappear with time. Other indicates lost capacity with lower specified range.

If you want to investigate whether the scope of your car is reduced, try to reset the trip computer for a full charge. Then the car in theory set the maximum mileage. Is it shorter than when the car was new, it may mean that the battery capacity is reduced.

But not necessarily. Various factors, such as battery temperature, can record. Information car shows you are after all only ferdigtolkede results based on data you do not have access to.

Best overview you get if you go to purchasing equipment that can communicate with the car’s computer via OBD2- connector that you find in all modern cars.

As bonus, these solutions help you to take extra good care of the battery, especially if you are obsessed with technical details.

See also: How we changed the driving patterns and increased the range of the electric vehicle

There are many wireless OBD2 adapters. This from Vinli whose purpose is to make your car smarter, but uses the same plug.

Use your mobile to talk to mobile

OBD2 adapters Bluetooth or Wi-Fi you get a cheap price from China, but please note that these are counterfeit and in many cases does not work.

These are often sold as “ELM327» adapters, and is based on old, counterfeit microchips from ELM Electronics. They often do not work with EVs, because of lack of support for some protocols. This is usually no way to determine what kind of chip used in the adapter.

A type who allegedly work for many electric cars goes by the name “KW902.” Please note that this is still a pirate product, and that there are many variations of it. If you buy one, you can not be sure that you actually get one that works.

For most challenge will be to find software that can interpret the data from the car. There are in fact no standard that specifies how cell voltage, battery status and other electric vehicle-specific data should be presented.

Thus, you need software that knows how data from your particular vehicle model should be interpreted.

Appen Leaf Spy allow Android and iOS users to monitor the vehicle via a OBD2- adapter. Photo: Turbo3.

Many Nissan owners use app Leaf Spy. This requires you to have a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi-based OBD2 adapter. The app allows you to read the cell voltage of all cells, battery temperature, and battery available ampere-hours. The latter indicates the remaining capacity, according to the developer.

It is found for both iOS and Android, and costs respectively 189 and 150 respectively. Android users can also test a free version. Please note that you need to have a Wi-Fi-based OBD2 adapter if you have iOS.

For owners of other cars, the committee appears to be limited.

A popular Android app to diagnose problems is Torque. This is designed for automobiles with internal combustion engine, and has no built-in support for displaying data for battery and other EV-specific data. It can make the solution complicated.

In most cases you will have to define the parameter IDs (PID) that should be read and how the data should be interpreted.

Put simpler: You have to tell the app what information it should bring out, and know how it should be presented. In practice it is something you need to be an advanced user to achieve, and requires that you install an additional app.

Great overview: Here is the range of all-cars you can buy in Norway

This diagnosis tool from iCarsoft adapted some car manufacturers. It allows you to read the battery data from supported EVs. Photo: iCarsoft

Dedicated solutions

A safer solution would be to obtain a dedicated diagnostic system developed for your car. For example develops US iCarsoft such solutions, which you should expect to pay about 1500 kroner for.

These have OBD2 connector and can interpret data from your car. The information is displayed on a screen, and you can then easily view battery data.

This solution will generally only work with cars from one or two manufacturers. Whether you are primarily looking for information about battery health in relation to used car purchases, it has obvious disadvantages.

The simplest solution

If you are just looking to know how the state of the battery is, it will probably be easier to dip into a workshop and get them to investigate this for you.

You have to expect to pay for, and how much the workshop must have, will vary. This investigation probably in connection with the service anyway, so it will certainly be cheaper to ask about battery condition in connection with this.

Oslo-Trondheim in electric vehicle without stops: This technology makes it possible

‘); }}); was cX = cX || {}; cX.callQueue = cX.callQueue || []; function myOnImpressionResult (event) {console.log (“Matched ads:” + event.matchedAdCount); if (event.matchedAdCount