Battery Conditioning

On the energy details screen, under what condition would battery conditioning be displayed higher than 0%. I've never experienced this yet. Would this be when you leave the car out in the hot sun, unplugged, then you start the car and go on your way? Or perhaps when you are driving in 95 degree plus heat?

I believe this would show up only during really hot or cold conditions, <30° or >90° F, I'm guessing. And only if the car is unplugged for a long time.
Would this be power coming from the battery only during those conditions? And no reporting of Battery Conditioning while plugged in?
I suspect if you keep the battery at a happy temp by being plugged in during these conditions that the car may not use battery power to do the same thing due to the mass of the battery retaining its temp.

Once again, this is probably covered in the manual.

I did notice over the weekend (temps were in the 90's) that my Spark was drawing 2kW when stopped at a light. I killed the AC and lights and it was still drawing 1kW. I assume this is the battery conditioning due to high temperatures.

NORTON said:

Would this be power coming from the battery only during those conditions? And no reporting of Battery Conditioning while plugged in?

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Correct, this screen only shows power consumed for those functions that come from the battery (when not charging or when charging power is less than power required for the functions). If not plugged in and cold, battery conditioning will be seen around ~35F and below (the exact number has been hard to pinpoint, since it's referencing battery temperature rather than ambient temperature we see on the instrument cluster). I haven't ever had it be hot enough to condition the battery due to battery temperature unless I was driving on the highway (high continuous power) or fast charging (high continuous power) with high ambient temperatures as well, so I'm not sure if it will ever run the battery conditioning due to battery temperatures in stationary, non-charging situations.

Bryce

Does anyone know exactly what happens in battery conditioning? Is it running more coolant or using active cooling or?

From my portable device info, Li battery doesn't like to be at full charge. They like to be at roughly 1/2 capacity. Applying the same, I keep mine at 1/2 capacity at home over night. DCFC is only about 36 kW, so I use DCFC and drive it right away to avoid keeping it at full charge. Any ideas if this is better than slow charge to full capacity all the time?

SparkevBlogspot said:

Does anyone know exactly what happens in battery conditioning? Is it running more coolant or using active cooling or?

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"Battery conditioning" (as it relates to the energy display) uses either a high voltage coolant heater (located inside the battery pack) or the high voltage air conditioning to coolant heat exchanger to heat/cool the coolant that is circulated through the battery pack. The car is also equipped with an air to coolant heat exchanger that can be used, but this won't show up in the "Battery conditioning" display (as it's not using battery power directly, it's using ambient airflow). While you're driving, if the cooling required for the power electronics/battery is low enough and/or the ambient temperature is mild, then the grill will be in the open state and cool the power electronics/battery with only ambient air flow. This is how the car works 99% of the time, or so...it's a rare occasion when the "battery conditioning" is required (usually due to high speed driving in high heat, fast charging after high speed driving or with very high ambient temps, or if the car wasn't pre-conditioned while plugged in with extremely low temps).

From my portable device info, Li battery doesn't like to be at full charge. They like to be at roughly 1/2 capacity. Applying the same, I keep mine at 1/2 capacity at home over night. DCFC is only about 36 kW, so I use DCFC and drive it right away to avoid keeping it at full charge. Any ideas if this is better than slow charge to full capacity all the time?

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Nobody here will be able to answer that question precisely. Generally speaking, you're better off not keeping the battery at 100% SOC all the time, you'll get less calendar aging (reduction in capacity due only to time, not cycling)...just like with any cell phone or similar lithium battery. The severity of this depends on battery chemistry, temperatures, etc. and this is all highly proprietary information that isn't shared with end users. The reduction in capacity due to high power charge/discharge is also highly dependent on the cell chemistry, temperature control, and manufacturing quality, and as such is highly dependent on the battery and again is proprietary. In general, if you can avoid being at a full charge all the time, you're best off to keep the battery near the middle of the SOC window. With that said, GM specifically recommends leaving the car plugged in when you aren't driving if you can...so they've accounted for this usage pattern which allows maximum utility in their development.

Bryce

If I leave it plugged in, it will be at 100% SoC most of the time as I don't drive much. Question is, is it better to keep it at 50% SoC and mostly use fast charge or better to keep it at 100% with slow charge? I guess there isn't a simple answer, or maybe Peter Savagian is reading and have an answer?

I live on top of a long hill and I pick up about 10 miles range going down, so I don't charge to 100%. But it's a pain to set a alarm to remind myself to unplug at 80% SoC (about 70 miles range) each time I charge at home.

SparkevBlogspot said:

I guess there isn't a simple answer, or maybe Peter Savagian is reading and have an answer?

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Correct, there is no simple answer. The simplest answer is that the battery has an 8 year warranty that assumes you'll do all of the worst things a person could do and still survive at least that long.

Bryce