Suppose you are considering a home EV charging setup. In that case, it is important that your solution is dependable and effective come rain or shine. The elements can adversely affect how your EV charging station delivers power, but how exactly does this work, and what can you expect when charging your EV in inclement weather?

As simple as the process of choosing a home EV charger might seem, there are certain factors to be aware of when making this decision. This article will guide you through what to expect when charging your EV in harsh weather, leaving you better equipped to decide on the perfect charging station for your home EV setup.

Hot weather can have an adverse effect on the ability of your EV to receive a charge. In essence, this is because your onboard battery management system is designed to maintain a temperature of around 20–25°C – the ideal range for effective battery power. When the environmental temperature is much higher than this, as is often the case in the extreme summer heat, then the battery management system will slow the flow of electricity into the battery to prevent potentially dangerous overheating.

For most of us, this would not make much of a difference. If your car is in 35-degree heat, then you may have to wait a few extra minutes to receive a full charge. But for any significant delay or risk of legitimate danger, you really would have to live in the middle of a desert and leave your charging setup in direct sunlight for hours and hours in the most extreme heat conditions imaginable.

In normal conditions, it is sufficient to factor in potential EV charging delays when the mercury starts rising, and possibly consider having your home EV charging setup installed in a shaded area to avoid the worst of the sun’s midday heat – especially if you live in a particularly hot country.

Thinking about how the inbuilt battery management system in your EV responds to hot weather makes it simple to understand how extreme cold is handled too. Again, the battery management system operates with the goal of achieving that perfect temperature range. In hot weather, this means throttling the electricity supply to prevent overheating.

In cold weather, the goal is to gently allow your EV battery to come up to temperature by gradually increasing the amount of power it receives.

Suppose you were to open the floodgates all at once. In that case, there is a risk that certain elements of the battery will warm up earlier than others, potentially introducing stresses into the chemicals and materials that form it and leading to damage. So instead, the dial is turned gradually so that eventually, the battery warms up as a whole and is ready to receive a full power flow.

What this means practically is that, again, you may experience slightly longer charging times in freezing weather. Fundamentally, though, this should not change your experience of charging your EV too dramatically – after all, it is better to wait a few extra minutes than to risk a potentially unsafe charging procedure.