How long should you precondition the battery before leaving?

[MisterSofa]

How long should you precondition the battery before leaving?

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[Mach-Lee]

Uh, that's not really a valid question because the car will automatically decide when to start preconditioning the battery before a scheduled departure time. The car decides how long.

Remote start runs for 15 minutes and does not precondition the battery.

 

[dbsb3233]

Remote start runs for 15 minutes and does not precondition the battery.

I think it's 10 minutes IIRC, and can be extended to 20 with another click.

 

[MisterSofa]

Uh, that's not really a valid question because the car will automatically decide when to start preconditioning the battery before a scheduled departure time. The car decides how long.

Remote start runs for 15 minutes and does not precondition the battery.

I don’t schedule a departure time. I’m retired. It is a valid question.

 

[SnBGC]

I don’t schedule a departure time. I’m retired. It is a valid question.

The vehicle requires a Departure Time to pre-condition the battery. There is no other way.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I think it's 10 minutes IIRC, and can be extended to 20 with another click.

It can be set to 10 or 15 minutes. I have mine set to 15 minutes.

I don’t schedule a departure time. I’m retired. It is a valid question.

OK, then you aren't preconditioning the battery since a departure time is required for that to occur. Remote start is just going to heat/cool the cabin only.

 

[bshaw]

I think what was missed above is the explanation that precondition is not the same as remote start.

Remote start will just warm the cabin in as little as 5 min, depending on outside temps.

Precondition only happens with a scheduled departure time and can spend maybe an hour getting the battery pack ready.

Ford should add a middle ground option which offers an on demand: “I’m leaving in 20 minutes” and the car does its best to do cabin and battery precondition in the time available.

 

[Blue highway]

It can be set to 10 or 15 minutes. I have mine set to 15 minutes.



OK, then you aren't preconditioning the battery since a departure time is required for that to occur. Remote start is just going to heat/cool the cabin only.

I dunno, a precondition button on the app would be helpful… wonder why this isn’t included.

 

[dbsb3233]

I dunno, a precondition button on the app would be helpful… wonder why this isn’t included.

And in the car while driving, that we can switch on if heading to a DCFC station to charge soon.

 

[Gullwingdmc]

How long should you precondition the battery before leaving?

Preconditioning the battery can take upwards of an hour. Unfortunately there is no way to trigger it on demand. You must set a departure time. You can do this through the app before you know you are going to leave, but it will stay in there and you’ll have to delete it after. On demand preconditioning has been a frequent request by users.

 

[SnBGC]

And in the car while driving, that we can switch on if heading to a DCFC station to charge soon.

I have never understood why people desire that feature. The battery heats up while DCFCing and then must be cooled once plugged in anyway. Besides, the energy consumed to attempt to pre-heat the HVB in route will severely impact range and surely be offset by the increased time required on plug to replenish that energy.

I believe Ford tested that quite extensively and found that pre-heating the pack prior to DCFC didn't net any substantial gains in time or energy.

 

[dbsb3233]

I have never understood why people desire that feature. The battery heats up while DCFCing and then must be cooled once plugged in anyway. Besides, the energy consumed to attempt to pre-heat the HVB in route will severely impact range and surely be offset by the increased time required on plug to replenish that energy.

I believe Ford tested that quite extensively and found that pre-heating the pack prior to DCFC didn't net any substantial gains in time or energy.

Maybe I've watched too many Kyle Conner videos. He's always going on and on about how much battery preconditioning matters for DCFC speed. But like you, it just makes sense to me that if the car has already been driving (especially at highway speeds), that the battery should already be warmed up. So I really don't know which is more true.

We do run into slow DCFC when it's cold out even after just having driven 100 miles at 80 MPH, but maybe that's just the charger rather than the battery? I really don't know.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I have never understood why people desire that feature. The battery heats up while DCFCing and then must be cooled once plugged in anyway. Besides, the energy consumed to attempt to pre-heat the HVB in route will severely impact range and surely be offset by the increased time required on plug to replenish that energy.

I believe Ford tested that quite extensively and found that pre-heating the pack prior to DCFC didn't net any substantial gains in time or energy.

Maybe I've watched too many Kyle Conner videos. He's always going on and on about how much battery preconditioning matters for DCFC speed. But like you, it just makes sense to me that if the car has already been driving (especially at highway speeds), that the battery should already be warmed up. So I really don't know which is more true.

We do run into slow DCFC when it's cold out even after just having driven 100 miles at 80 MPH, but maybe that's just the charger rather than the battery? I really don't know.

The answer to whether preconditioning makes sense depends on the pack temp and the desired charging speed. If the pack is less than 32ºF then it needs to be heated first before DCFC, which wastes time at the charger (and forces you to sit without heat for a while). If the pack is between 32-95ºF and the charge rate is less than 85 kW, then it doesn't need to be heated and will naturally warm up. But if the pack is less than 95ªF and you want to charge at >85 kW, then it really should be warmed up to 95ºF first so it can accept the amperage faster and more efficiently.

Spending a couple kWh to heat the pack to double your kW charge rate is well worth it since it will only take a couple extra minutes to charge that back into the pack. At an EA station with a cold battery, preconditioning could save you up to 15 minutes. Thats why other manufacturers like Kia and Porsche have implemented it. Battery temp is really important for a good DCFC experience.

I'm for the feature. Ford can tweak the target battery temp based on the charger kW rating and the current battery and outdoor temps. If you want maximum range then you can turn it off, but we should have the option to speed up our charging.

One factor why it may not be implemented in the Mach-E is the heater design. Because the heater is shared between the cabin and battery pack, heating the pack while driving will result in a very noticeable loss of heat. In winter conditions this could be very frustrating (nobody like to lose their heat while driving) or a possible safety risk if the windows fog up. The rate of heating and the maximum battery temp attainable may be limited without sacrificing too much cabin heat. But that is something I think the engineers could play around with during winter testing. For example, maybe we only get the pack up to 60ºF while driving to the charger instead of 95ºF, but we still save time compared to starting with a 25ºF pack.

Another strategy would be to overheat the cabin by a few degrees, then switch to battery heating hoping the heat in the cabin would last the 15 minutes required to heat the pack. Again, users might not like something like that.

The best way would be to have a separate heater for the battery and cabin like some of the other brands, then there is no penalty to cabin heat while heating the battery. That adds expense though, for something that is considered an occasional activity.

Ford only recently got the HVAC figured out in cold temps, so I think battery preconditioning will take them another couple years to figure out at the current rate of progress.

BTW me and some other guys are willing to be beta testers for winter en-route preconditioning if anyone at Ford is interested...

 

[tesla2mme]

I dunno, a precondition button on the app would be helpful… wonder why this isn’t included.

same reason why it won’t precondition when you select a DCFC that you’re en route to, like our Tesla did.
And also why I never get OTAs
And also why my car turns into a Honda Accord 2.0t after 5 seconds..

Ford doesn’t know what they are doing.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

Maybe I've watched too many Kyle Conner videos. He's always going on and on about how much battery preconditioning matters for DCFC speed. But like you, it just makes sense to me that if the car has already been driving (especially at highway speeds), that the battery should already be warmed up. So I really don't know which is more true.

We do run into slow DCFC when it's cold out even after just having driven 100 miles at 80 MPH, but maybe that's just the charger rather than the battery? I really don't know.

Right. We know the chargers have cooling systems but do they also have heating systems for cold weather?

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