Active cooling system

Faults and Technical chat for the Honda E
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Reuben80
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Location: Malta

Post by Reuben80 »

The Honda E should be liquid cooled according to Honda although I never saw it really and since I am not a mechanic I cannot check personally. I have some questions.

1. Can anyone confirm that it really has a liquid cooled battery system
2. The system will be active only while the car is switched on to Ready mode or while charging only correct? So when it gets hot in summer the best thing to do is to start charging it as soon as you arrive home to cool the battery down?
3. When parking outside under the sun in summer would it makes sense to switch on the AC system with the keyfob after you lock the car for maybe 10 minutes. Does that also cool the battery or only the passenger compartment?

Trykpaa
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Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 9:18 pm

Post by Trykpaa »

The E has 3 liquid cooling systems. One for cabin, one for motor and one for battery.

I don't know know any of the systems are controlled, but I have heard "noises" from the car during charging last summer. What does the manual say on this?
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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

Is there a reason for your questions/concern with regards active battery cooling on the E?

The Nissan Leaf’s battery pack has always been passively cooled and hasn't been an issue, are you expecting problems with the E?
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Reuben80
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Location: Malta

Post by Reuben80 »

Yes I expect problems with any battery if not cooled properly. I already had bad experience because of tempreture with the Yaris Hybrid, the middle modules degraded faster than the rest so I want to protect the battery of the E as much as possible. We already know how the batteries of the leaf degrade in hot climates. I live in a country that in summer can reach 40 degrees celcius.
milligoon
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Post by milligoon »

I think a lot of problems with batteries stem from stacked batteries, it tends to be the upper packs that suffer the most, which makes sense as they not only have their heat to contend with but also the heat from the packs below, when I've watched various battery pack dismantling it's been the upper packs showing physical distortion.

As far as I'm aware the Honda e has a single layer pack so won't be exposed to this condition.
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Trykpaa
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Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 9:18 pm

Post by Trykpaa »

Temperature is a potential issue, but I would trust Honda to take sufficient precautions.

With Nissan Leaf you void the warranty is car is in a country with more than 50degr. That's another way of admitting car is not designed for it. If Hondas manual does not have similar claim, I wouldn't worry.
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Reuben80
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Location: Malta

Post by Reuben80 »

The only way to know how the system works is to have a compatible OBD device and monitor the battery temperature. You can easily understand if the cooling will work if you switch AC remotely or not. If I do not understand my car I will never be satisfied. Few weeks ago I took my E to a mechanic to check about the pop up hood warning that I am having and he managed to connect it to his wired OBD tool. I could see many data although I could not find battery temperature.....
From now on I might invest some money to find a working bluetooth OBD2 device by trial and error. There is not so much data online about the E.
SwissChris
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Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2020 2:25 pm

Post by SwissChris »

Well especially the heating and cooling of the battery of the Honda e is very well documented (not free of charge though). Honda learned a lot from the Clarity Hybrid/Electric and designed a sophisticated liquid cooling/heating system which tries to keep the battery at the optimal operating temperature between 25° and 35°C. E.g. special adjustable orifices for each cooling plate under each battery pack ensure minimum temperature variation of the battery packs by precisely controlling the coolant flow.
Number5
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Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:55 pm

Post by Number5 »

Good Honda have designed a system to protect the battery from extreme temperatures. If the operational window is as swisschris post, would explain why cooler climates produce such poor efficiency, energy used to drive battery temp into operational window at expense of range.
SwissChris
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Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2020 2:25 pm

Post by SwissChris »

Good point. Therefore it makes sense to program pre heating whilst the car is plugged in, as the system will warm up the battery approx. 60 mins before the planned driving start, depending on battery temperature.
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