Lithium batteries and cold weather 28 February at 9:53AM in Techie Stuff 3 replies 266 views

MouldyOldDough

I am considering buying a lithium powered mobility scooter
It would have to live in the garage 
Would the cold temperature reduce the capacity of the Li battery permanently or would it recover when warmed up? 

Neil_Jones

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1002007118307536 - "The acceptable temperature region for LIBs (Lithium-ion battery) normally is −20 °C to 60 °C. Both low temperature and high temperature that are outside of this region will lead to degradation of performance and irreversible damages,"

km1500

Where do you live? Unlikely to get to -20C in St Ives, for example, especially in a garage.

grumbler

MouldyOldDough said:

Would the cold temperature reduce the capacity of the Li battery permanently or would it recover when warmed up? 

My e-bike is kept outside, not in a garage. Yes, capacity drops in winter and recovers in summer. My feeling is that it doesn't charge full at low temperatures - it almost instantly drops below 75% when I start using a fully charged bike. I never tried, but suspect it would be better to remove the battery and charge it indoors.