A large portion of the nation is facing severe heat, leading to power and health issues for many people. A new issue has emerged in the push for EV adoption across the US as temperature sensitivity causes accelerated battery wear.
The right temp? Batteries have a human-like temperature comfort zone, with 115F being the point of increased wear.
Solution? Barring keeping a fresh icepack under the hood, most solutions will be battery and automaker driven. With many advances in battery technology already separating EV batteries from their predecessors, companies are looking for a way forward but are limited by the foundational facts of chemistry. Some are looking outside the battery to ease the situation. BMW, for instance, moved its battery packs to the trunk and away from the heat-generating components in the engine compartment.