Should I keep my bike battery in the fridge?

[Vern]

We have had a heat spell here in Southern California this week. With terrible fires in San Diego county. I got home yesterday, trenched in sweat by the way, and I plugged my battery into the charger in the very hot garage. My wife won't let me keep the battery in the house due to fire fears so that idea is toast. So, I was thinking about keeping it in the extra fridge that we have in the garage. My grandfather used to do this with his batteries and I recently read an article in Motor Trend where the author surrounded a Tesla with dry ice prior to a performance test.

I am probably too chicken to try it, but is it a good idea?? I am also thinking about the summer coming up. It will probably be a very hot summer, and I most likely won't ride my bike very much in the summer. Could I keep the battery in the fridge for months?

 

[Aushiker]

Are you talking lithium batteries here or LiPo batteries?

Andrew

 

[James]

Hi Vern,

Unless you plan on keeping your fridge set higher than 36 deg I wouldn't suggest it. Batteries don't do well in extreme heat, but they don't do well in really cold environments either

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

You need something like this for your Carbon commute, Vern.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

We have had a heat spell here in Southern California this week. With terrible fires in San Diego county. I got home yesterday, trenched in sweat by the way, and I plugged my battery into the charger in the very hot garage. My wife won't let me keep the battery in the house due to fire fears so that idea is toast.

Vern, just wanted to reiterate that Li-ion battery technology has matured a lot!
That is why we keep the phones that have Li-ion batteries in sensitive areas like pant pockets and also let our kids/infants play with iPads.
There is absolutely no difference in the cells used in our laptops and the Neo bikes. Same 18650 but with different BMS. There should be no problem keeping the battery inside.

 

[Admin]

We have had a heat spell here in Southern California this week. With terrible fires in San Diego county. I got home yesterday, trenched in sweat by the way, and I plugged my battery into the charger in the very hot garage. My wife won't let me keep the battery in the house due to fire fears so that idea is toast. So, I was thinking about keeping it in the extra fridge that we have in the garage. My grandfather used to do this with his batteries and I recently read an article in Motor Trend where the author surrounded a Tesla with dry ice prior to a performance test.

I am probably too chicken to try it, but is it a good idea?? I am also thinking about the summer coming up. It will probably be a very hot summer, and I most likely won't ride my bike very much in the summer. Could I keep the battery in the fridge for months?

Your wife is off base, newer Lithium-ion batteries are much safer than the old ones used in Dell laptops that caused this big rash of fears. Yes... I'm sure she is also concerned about the Tesla Model S fires (that use the same 18650 Lithium Manganese Oxide cells) but those fires were caused by direct contact with rocks and speed bumps on the road... that' won't happen in your garage.

By keeping your already hot battery in the hot garage to heat up as you recharge it you are probably aging it twice as quickly. I'm not a battery expert but I just took the Light Electric Vehicle Association training and am reciting what I learned from the experts there. Keep the battery inside and charge it on top of your washing machine or somewhere metal or ceramic to ease your wife's concerns... or pay for her to take the LEVA training, it will cost less than a new battery pack and get her excited about ebikes instead of afraid of them