Heaters

I have been working on building an electric water heater for the EV. I have been using a KATs 1500 watt block heater and a Jabsco RV water pump, and so far the bench testing has been great. I have more work to do, like build a DC thermal switch that I can adjust the temperature, and possibly some sort of relief valve system. I don't need much heat, but from my tests for far this should give heat just as well as it did with the ICE.

I have also been investigating ways to warm my batteries. Right now I have about 12 miles of range, and I need to jump that back up to 20 miles so it can be an all year EV. My batteries are usually around 50-55F on a good winter day with insulation alone, and they need to be over 80F for proper battery performance. I am going to try an electric blanket, because they are inexpensive and have temperature control built in. I only really need it in the mornings after charging has completed before I go for a drive. The insulation on the batteries can keep them warm/hot but they need something else to get them up to temperature.

Tomorrow I am going to check out some local stores to see what they have for electric blankets, and if I do fine some I will try them out this weekend. I have to redo my insulation anyways, so it should be simple to wrap a blanket around the batteries before I tape up the insulation.