Outside temperature low Plug in vehicle when not in use

[alokmenghrajani]

I get a "Outside temperature low Plug in vehicle when not in use" message when the outside temperature is around freezing and I park the car. I'm wondering what are the implications of not plugging in? If I do plugin, how much power does the car draw from the charger?

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[Murse-In-Airy]

If you do plug in, the car will try to charge to your set desired charge percentage.
If you don’t plug in, the car will use electricity from the battery to keep the battery from getting too cold. It isn’t much but you will see a slightly lower State of Charge when you come back to the car.

 

[alokmenghrajani]

If you do plug in, the car will try to charge to your set desired charge percentage.
If you don’t plug in, the car will use electricity from the battery to keep the battery from getting too cold. It isn’t much but you will see a slightly lower State of Charge when you come back to the car.

Thanks, good to know. I haven't noticed the SoC dropping much, so this doesn't seem to be a big concern for me.

My car is set to charge at night (between 10pm-6am), so it would be nice if plugging in at say 4pm would take just enough power to maintain the same SoC.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

If you’ve got a charging schedule set then your car will not try to raise the SOC. It will only use the wall power to maintain the battery. I didn’t realize your had preferred charge times set based on your original post.

 

[generaltso]

If you don’t plug in, the car will use electricity from the battery to keep the battery from getting too cold.

I have yet to see the car heat the battery when not plugged in. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's been very cold here this winter, and I've never seen it. In contrast, when the car is plugged in, it uses more power than I would have thought to keep the battery warm. On a cold night, it can easily use over 8 kWh. That's why I leave it unplugged despite what the message on the instrument cluster tells me every day.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

I have yet to see the car heat the battery when not plugged in. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's been very cold here this winter, and I've never seen it. In contrast, when the car is plugged in, it uses more power than I would have thought to keep the battery warm. On a cold night, it can easily use over 8 kWh. That's why I leave it unplugged despite what the message on the instrument cluster tells me every day.

Thanks for clarifying. Perhaps I’ve been wrong on this and the downside to not plugging in is that the battery is allowed to assume ambient temperature.

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