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by kjsthree 2055 days ago
> Temperature ranges aren't as wide.

I thought people were mounting these out in the garage.

For me that would be an 80° delta between the highest summer highs and the lowest winter low. The delta in places like Wyoming would be a lot more.

3 comments

Big fixed installations (think multi megawatt industrial sites) have far more batteries compared to surface area. That means it makes sense to simply wrap the batteries in insulation and use heaters to keep them warm over the winter. Sure, you use a little power to do that, but you gain back far more performance.

For $50 worth of electricity, you can keep something the size of a refrigerator 40 degrees F warmer than the outdoor air all year if you can surround it with an insulating box 2 inches thick.

In a car, the volume to surface area ratio is worse, and you can't guarantee it won't be left in the cold for months without a grid connection, so you need to ensure the chemistry can work cold.

I'm more familiar with Alaska and had a 130˚F delta between the high and low air temp. The garages I'm familiar with were always insulated and contained the furnace. Even if the garage was unheated, the excess heat from the furnace and insulation would keep the inside above freezing. Also, the insulation and lack of windows would keep the garage cool in the summer.
Presumably that’s less range than in a car driving around in Wyoming?