Finally personally saw the difference between battery preconditioning and no battery preconditioning

[bshaw]

[...] switch to the native app about 30 miles out so that I can get the benefit of pre conditioning and use another navigation app for the majority of the trip.

This is the way ^^^


Also, you should consider turning off the e-Heat at the same time you activate the in-car navigation to DCFC. Otherwise, you'll be splitting the heat between the cabin and the battery. Moderate temps won't matter as much, but if its below freezing outside, most of the heater will be diverting to the cabin and you'll get very little pre-conditioning.

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[Geep]

If during winter, your car is charging in a heated (40F+) garage, does it still need preconditioning?

 

[bshaw]

If during winter, your car is charging in a heated (40F+) garage, does it still need preconditioning?

Unfortunately, Ford has re-used the term "pre-conditioning" in confusing ways.

When you set a departure time, the car will warm the cabin according to the departure settings, and it will bring the battery to 59 deg F. FordPass may say something along the lines of "Cabin pre-conditioning in progress" while it's going on.

When you set a DCFC destination using the Ford Nav, there is no indication in the car, but what's happening is the car will try and bring the battery up to around 90 deg F, aka "pre-conditioning the battery".

So, to answer your question -- setting a departure time for a heated garage is totally up to you. Do you need to have the seats warm, and/or plan a drive to get the maximum range?

 

[silverelan]

I've had my car over 2 years now, with about 35K miles. I pre-condition as indicated via the native nav app, etc. Yet only maybe once in the entire time I've had the car has it charged over 100kw, that I can recall. Normally she tops out around 70KW on a 150kw or higher charger. What's the scoop? I am totally baffled by all of you folks indicating you get in the low 100's fairly normally. Any tips would be appreciated. My grumpy wife doesn't like waiting to charge.......

Your profile says you have a Select. The Select has the standard battery which tops out for the ‘21-‘23 model years at 115kW and charges from 10-80% in 38 minutes.

The 2023.5 model years have a different chemistry for the standard battery and allegedly charge faster, plus there’s no harm in keeping them charged at 100%.

 

[PA27]

Very similar experience for me this weekend at the Mercedes factory (EA charger) in Vance AL. 22KW in 22 minutes vs 30KW in 20 with preconditioning. Had the full 150KWH for a bit with preconditioning too(50% SOC). Thought I could use native nav in the background while using Apple CarPlay but couldn’t figure it out so didn’t use it on my way home and just charged what I needed to get home.

 

[Mach-e4x]

Any idea roughly what outside temperature does it become unnecessary to precondition? I don't use the native navigation app, and I'm planning on taking a long road trip through the Southwest in April.

I read you can't use the cabin heater while preconditioning, so hopefully not too cold?

 

[apwelsh]

I had a short road trip this weekend that involved two stops at the same DCFC station, the recently added Mercedes branded dispensers at the Buc-ee's in Fort Valley Georgia.

Both stops started at similar initial SOC.

The first stop was without preconditioning.
32.2163 kWh dispensed
in 28 minutes
with a peak of 110 kW

The second stop was with preconditioning.
44.2208 kWh dispensed
in 24 minutes
with a peak of 165 kW

So 37% more energy four minutes quicker.

Why didn't I precondition for the first stop? Because I use Apple maps for navigation.

It was a bit of a pain to force the native navigation in the car to navigate to a specific desired charging station. But the speed was so much improved I guess I will go through the pain on future road trips.

I hope that in the future we get preconditioning through other navigation.

Keep in mind that the charge rate depends on current charge level at time of start for the charging session. I charged on a 350kWh EA DCFC charger with no condition, and battery level at 20% approximately. I charged at 148kWh or so for most of the charge, it the closer I got the 80% the lower the charge rate. My point being, it could just be on the 2nd leg, your battery was at a much lower charge than the first charge. As I got similar results to your 2nd charge, and there was no pre-conditioning.

 

[apwelsh]

Pre conditioning only occurs when using the native navigation app.

I don't use the native navigation app.

In this case if I plugged in my final destination into the native navigation it tried to take me to a different charging destination than I wanted to use. Since I don't use the native navigation it took a while to happen upon a way to force it to use the charging destination I wanted.

Unless we get an option to manually trigger pre conditioning I think I will probably switch to the native app about 30 miles out so that I can get the benefit of pre conditioning and use another navigation app for the majority of the trip.

The native navigation will suggest the most optimal charging station for the trip, but as you drive, it will realize that isn’t possible, and will find something closer. Supposedly, the native navigation will learn and become more accurate. I’m still waiting for that to happen.

 

[apwelsh]

If during winter, your car is charging in a heated (40F+) garage, does it still need preconditioning?

The preconditioning while on a charger is not the same thing as stated in a prior response. What this does, and the app explains this quite well, is it uses your charger’s power to power the heater, or AC system, so that when you leave your cabin is already a comfortable temp (saving a lot of battery energy that would normally steal from your range). It will also ensure the battery is at an optimal temperate so as to not be too hot nor too cold, so that you initial efficiency while starting your drive is at optimal levels. Of course, to maintain those conditions will use charged up energy that will impact the driving efficiency once the vehicle must maintain the temps on battery).
This is, clearly, a huge deal when the outside air is extremely cold. Since you no longer have to warm up the cabin off the battery, and instead only have to maintain cabin temp

 

[Opa]

Why don't you use your home charger. It's financially wiser to use your home L2 charger as much as possible.

they may be like us: retired and living in a gated apartment community where a 240 V drop would cost us about $2000?

So we are stuck with running a 110 V extension cord to our Ford charger and plugging in at level one; thank goodness we live on a ground floor

 

[dbsb3233]

I had a short road trip this weekend that involved two stops at the same DCFC station, the recently added Mercedes branded dispensers at the Buc-ee's in Fort Valley Georgia.

Both stops started at similar initial SOC.

The first stop was without preconditioning.
32.2163 kWh dispensed
in 28 minutes
with a peak of 110 kW

The second stop was with preconditioning.
44.2208 kWh dispensed
in 24 minutes
with a peak of 165 kW

So 37% more energy four minutes quicker.

Why didn't I precondition for the first stop? Because I use Apple maps for navigation.

It was a bit of a pain to force the native navigation in the car to navigate to a specific desired charging station. But the speed was so much improved I guess I will go through the pain on future road trips.

I hope that in the future we get preconditioning through other navigation.

What was the outside temp of each? I wonder if the first was in the morning when it was colder outside, and the car had been sitting cold overnight?

 

[dbsb3233]

This is the way ^^^


Also, you should consider turning off the e-Heat at the same time you activate the in-car navigation to DCFC. Otherwise, you'll be splitting the heat between the cabin and the battery. Moderate temps won't matter as much, but if its below freezing outside, most of the heater will be diverting to the cabin and you'll get very little pre-conditioning.

Frankly, if that's what it takes, I'll just live with the few minutes longer to charge. Only time I DCFC is road trips anyway, every few months.

 

[dbsb3233]

Very similar experience for me this weekend at the Mercedes factory (EA charger) in Vance AL. 22KW in 22 minutes vs 30KW in 20 with preconditioning. Had the full 150KWH for a bit with preconditioning too(50% SOC). Thought I could use native nav in the background while using Apple CarPlay but couldn’t figure it out so didn’t use it on my way home and just charged what I needed to get home.

All your kW and kWh references are reversed.
150 kW is the "speed" at which it's adding electricity at a particular moment.
20 or 30 kWh is the total amount of electricity added in that 20 or 22 minutes.

 

[kdonnel]

What was the outside temp of each? I wonder if the first was in the morning when it was colder outside, and the car had been sitting cold overnight?

The temp did not change much between the two sessions.

It was 50 each night and mid 60s during the day.

The first session started at 22% just after 3pm and the second at 24% just after 1pm.

 

[BillPitman]

I preconditioned yesterday and got a peak of 123 kW. An ID4 next to me complained he was only getting 34 kW. When I talked about how important it is to have a warm battery, he dismissed it with a "the car should charge faster than 34 kW". Uh, OK dude, that'll work.

Yeah, he was probably at 90% SOC……….! Bill P

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