Auto Battery for your EV Accessories?

by Kennedy
(Bandon, OR)

I've heard you need an expensive deep cycle battery to run the 12 volt accessories in your EV. You can use your regular automotive batteries to run your 12 volt accessories in the gas-guzzler, but Is there something special about electric car accessories that makes them drain more power?

Hi, Ken!

Not special, except you might be running the heat from your auxiliary battery where you wouldn't be doing that with your ICE machine.

While you don't strictly NEED a deep cycle battery to run your EV's accessories any more than you need one to run your gas-guzzler's accessories...it's a pretty good idea anyway. You could just use a regular car battery and recharge it from your main battery pack with your DC/DC converter, the EV's answer to the alternator.

Except:
1) If you don't have a DC/DC converter, and are charging your auxiliary battery separately, you'll probably want a deep-cycle battery (you'll kill your poor little automotive battery in no time flat otherwise).

2) If your car's stereo is so loud that the neighbors regularly call the police to report noise ordinance violations, you'd better have a deep-cycle battery, whether you drive a gas-gobbler or an EV. Right? The newer gadget-heavy ICE cars have deep cycle batteries (more like golf cart batteries) for their accessories, too.

This is true for all accessories that draw a lot of power, so if you've got a cooler, a stereo, your cell phone and laptop all plugged in to the accessory battery, it really pays to invest in a deep-cycle battery.

It will save you money in the long run.

Regards,
Lynne