Draping an electric car with a temperature-regulating blanket while it is parked could help keep its battery in prime condition.
When an electric vehicle is parked outside, or in an unheated garage, its temperature can vary dramatically from day to night and from season to season, from well below freezing to well above 40°C (104°F), depending on where it is in the world.
But to stay in optimum condition, the lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars should be stored between 15°C (59°F) and 35°C (95°F). This range is also optimum for charging and discharging.
Most batteries have built in thermoregulation capabilities to keep them within a safe temperature range when in use, but this drains power that could otherwise be used for driving, and does nothing for stationary cars. So Kehang Cui at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and his colleagues have developed a blanket that aims to regulate an electric car’s temperature, keeping its batteries at peak performance.
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