Preconditioning Improves Range up to 20% [Ford Brochure]

[dbsb3233]

Exactly. If I don’t precondition, the energy needed to heat the pack comes from the battery, killing my efficiency.

I really wish Ford would give us an easy one-time battery precondition button in FordPass. Or better yet, just make Remote Start do battery preconditioning too.

We're retired and don't need/want a daily schedule. It's a pain to have to set a one-time departure schedule then remember to go in after and delete it. We road trip a lot. There are times we're plugged in overnight at a hotel and I want to do a one-time battery precondition when I wake up the next morning. Just a simple "Depart in XX minutes" would be great, where we could select XX from a dial between like 15-60 minutes.

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[Shayne]

I really wish Ford would give us an easy one-time battery precondition button in FordPass. Or better yet, just make Remote Start do battery preconditioning too.

We're retired and don't need/want a daily schedule. It's a pain to have to set a one-time departure schedule then remember to go in after and delete it. We road trip a lot. There are times we're plugged in overnight at a hotel and I want to do a one-time battery precondition when I wake up the next morning. Just a simple "Depart in XX minutes" would be great, where we could select XX from a dial between like 15-60 minutes.

Do not think the heater in the car has the power to do both the cabin and pack at the same time. They have had numerous complaints about the HVAC (not here) and most of the heat the heater can generate may now be diverted to the cabin. Looked to me that you can pick if you want the heat in the cabin or the pack it is your choice. There has been another new hvac update recently not sure if anything has changed.

 

[dbsb3233]

Do not think the heater in the car has the power to do both the cabin and pack at the same time. They have had numerous complaints about the HVAC (not here) and most of the heat the heater can generate may now be diverted to the cabin. Looked to me that you can pick if you want the heat in the cabin or the pack it is your choice. There has been another new hvac update recently not sure if anything has changed.

Not sure as I almost never use Departure Times. But even if so, it could just do them subsequently instead of concurrently. Or alternating (10 minutes pack, 2 cabin, back and forth). Unless it's super cold out, 3-5 minutes of cabin heating is usually plenty anyway.

 

[Shayne]

Not sure as I almost never use Departure Times. But even if so, it could just do them subsequently instead of concurrently. Or alternating (10 minutes pack, 2 cabin, back and forth). Unless it's super cold out, 3-5 minutes of cabin heating is usually plenty anyway.

If you are just looking to warm the pack and are looking for one button from the comfort of the hotel this works. link you have the choice

 

[RickMachE]

Departure times heat the battery, then the cabin. You can't pick the minutes, because it needs to determine that based on the temp of the battery. So, you could have a button, click it, and then it should feedback to you - this will take XX minutes, switch to remote start if you need to leave sooner.

 

[dbsb3233]

I just looked, and Departure Time does have a cabin temp setting as part of it. So it appears to do both. Or at least is intended to do both.

 

[RickMachE]

I just looked, and Departure Time does have a cabin temp setting as part of it. So it appears to do both. Or at least is intended to do both.

Correct. But it does the cabin AFTER the battery is done.

 

[dbsb3233]

If you are just looking to warm the pack and are looking for one button from the comfort of the hotel this works. link you have the choice

I'll never remember to have to turn off HVAC when leaving the car.

 

[dbsb3233]

Correct. But it does the cabin AFTER the battery is done.

Which makes sense. Although a little alternating would be nice too as we might get to the car 5-10 minutes earlier than the estimated departure. I guess the solution to that is always set the time earlier than we expect to be ready to leave.

 

[dbsb3233]

Departure times heat the battery, then the cabin. You can't pick the minutes, because it needs to determine that based on the temp of the battery. So, you could have a button, click it, and then it should feedback to you - this will take XX minutes, switch to remote start if you need to leave sooner.

For it to get up to full temp, yes, it needs to calculate the needed time. But a manual "Leave in xx minutes" addition would still help, even if it only gets 70% of the way.

Just like the cabin, really. It may only get to 70% of the target temp too when remote starting, but that's still a big help vs no pre-warming.

 

[RickMachE]

My take is that this is way too much to ask any manufacturer to do.

"I want to leave in 17 minutes, so heat the battery for 12 and then the cabin for 5, then I can complain about the lack of range I got because I didn't plan ahead."

What should happen is that the app / vehicle should be able to feedback, "it will take XX minutes to precondition the battery and warm the cabin, do you want to do proceed, or instead do a remote start XX minutes prior to departure?"

 

[Mach-Lee]

Which makes sense. Although a little alternating would be nice too as we might get to the car 5-10 minutes earlier than the estimated departure. I guess the solution to that is always set the time earlier than we expect to be ready to leave.

They already thought of this with the current departure times implementation. The cabin is warm 5-10 minutes early, and continues to run for 15 minutes after the scheduled time. The only thing you might miss if you come early is the heated seats might not be fully warmed up yet because I think those turn on at T -5 minutes.

 

[dbsb3233]

My take is that this is way too much to ask any manufacturer to do.

"I want to leave in 17 minutes, so heat the battery for 12 and then the cabin for 5, then I can complain about the lack of range I got because I didn't plan ahead."

What should happen is that the app / vehicle should be able to feedback, "it will take XX minutes to precondition the battery and warm the cabin, do you want to do proceed, or instead do a remote start XX minutes prior to departure?"

It's just some extra lines of code to add an manual option, and tell each system when to turn on/off. The capability is all there. The interface that controls it could just use a few tweaks to fit more common use cases. Right now the only use case they offer (for battery) is daily commuter. All they need to do is add an easy one-time "Departing Soon" button with timer, and toggles for Battery, Cabin, or Both. Shouldn't be hard to allocate heat to each according to the time stated. Select 15 minutes and have it follow an appropriate pattern. Select 30, 45, or 60, and they'd have their patterns.

It basically already does that with existing departure times. They just need a one-time "Leaving Soon" feature.

 

[RickMachE]

It's just some extra lines of code to add an manual option, and tell each system when to turn on/off. The capability is all there. The interface that controls it could just use a few tweaks to fit more common use cases. Right now the only use case they offer (for battery) is daily commuter. All they need to do is add an easy one-time "Departing Soon" button with timer, and toggles for Battery, Cabin, or Both. Shouldn't be hard to allocate heat to each according to the time stated. Select 15 minutes and have it follow an appropriate pattern. Select 30, 45, or 60, and they'd have their patterns.

You attribute way too much intelligence to the average person. What you describe would never work, people would be like "what if I select 30, then want 45, but really need 17"?

 

[dbsb3233]

You attribute way too much intelligence to the average person. What you describe would never work, people would be like "what if I select 30, then want 45, but really need 17"?

17 is ridiculous, of course. 15 minute increments between 15-60 is perfectly reasonable for a manual "Leaving Soon" use case, like a hotel or other non-routine drive. Select it, hop in the shower, check out, and go. Perfectly normal use case.

And no big deal if it warms up a bit early. The car stays warm enough for a while.

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