Is Battery Preconditioning a Premium Paid Option?

[Blue highway]

Sorry my French, but how damn hard can it be for a company such as Ford to make a button to manually preheat? The new capri has one but god forbid we have such alien technology in a 50k+ car - after all it’s just about 60 years since we walked on the moon…

apparently real hard.

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[MadMatt]

I've only had the car a month, but have seen extremity slow charging in the cold. Took a road trip and hit a charger to try and bring the battery temp up, got 40kW at -20f, 40kW sustained takes over 90 minutes to go 10-80%, very slow.

and what makes you think that speed is solely because of battery temp?

 

[kens]

Was this at an EA charger or a Tesla charger, or a 50kW charger.

Tesla Supercharger.

I've now got preconditioning sorted, which helps a lot, and the weather is getting warmer

I'm really happy to see Ford finally added preconditioning to (some) of Tesla's chargers through the built in nav, all the Superchargers I've tried since have worked, though others have reported they don't all have updated POI info. Not excited to see it's set up to be a paid feature though. They need to allow preconditioning for folks that don't want/need connected services.

 

[Blue highway]

FWIW, I do use the Ford app for road trip navigating. It works well and does pre-conditioning when navigating to a blue oval DCFC... usually EA.

you can in some cases trick the car to pre-condition if you insist on using a different app for nav. The "trick" is still use the built in nav to navigate to a blue oval DCFC near where you are really going. When you are within 20 miles it will start pre-conditioning... just ignore the ford nav and use your own nav in car play to drive by.

 

[kens]

and what makes you think that speed is solely because of battery temp?

Before I had preconditioning figured out every single charging session would max between the 40-60kW range. Every time. Multiple Superchargers, and a couple EA stations. Now that I'm preconditioning I get full charge rates.

It gets cold here. Preconditioning is important to some. It should not be a paid feature, it is an essential function of the car.

 

[kens]

... just ignore the ford nav and use your own nav in car play to drive by.

I swear I tried that and as soon as my Carplay nav would start the Ford nav would quit, might try again. FWIW, they've started adding preconditioning to Superchargers in the Ford nav. Apparently they're not all included yet, so need to try a station to see if it's included, and they're not listed in the charger menu, you need to navigate directly.

 

[Sikkun]

right, my point being were are talking about minutes.. like 3-4 minutes. not 10's of minutes.

the whole thing is blown out of proportion, not to mention you use up more battery power doing the pre-con on the way.

Believe it’s higher than that. But even if it’s not, give me a button that saves 5 minutes of my life…I’m going to hit it.

Look at how many people speed to save minutes!

 

[MacherAWD]

i am also an EV owner of 8 years, 2017 Ford Focus Electric with a 33kwh battery in Canadian winters. Its really not at all that important.

Most of the time I wish the car wouldn't. I set off, car adds a charger 160 miles away, yet I know of a better one at 180miles. If preconditioning kicks on I don't make the further charger, if I cancel the route at 140 miles I can breeze into the further.

I am in team "just give me a button"

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Buying any vendors phone shouldn’t be a requirement to precondition

Ford gave both Apple and Google the ability to display both turn by turn directions on the ipc and to provide the information for preconditioning at the same time. Apple integrated the ipc turn by turn first while Google waited then implemented one later and the other (preconditioning ) first.

Apple has the ability to integrate it. They’ve chosen not to.

Does any car have preconditioning in car play?

No, not even through Google Maps. It’s an Apple issue.

 

[Misterrobot]

Btw CarPlay doesn’t filter out non compatible chargers like ford nav. But that might be me as I just tested it on my commute home tonight. Might be a setting or two.

 

[Misterrobot]

Also by the way the latest TSB software update didn’t address the car switching drive modes on its own.

 

[Teslaeata]

Is Battery Preconditioning a Premium Paid Option?

No, stop it, you’re killing me???????????????????

 

[bbulkow]

@Ford Motor Company Is preconditioning the battery a premium paid option?

My car only preconditions the battery when using the Connected Built In Navigation which is $80 a year. It does not precondition using the Public Charging app in the car.

If I don't renew my Connected Built In Navigation, the free Ford options to locate a charger are, per your web site, the public charging app in the car, and the Ford Pass phone app. The Ford Pass app only utilizes Google and Apple maps so no preconditioning there.

I conclude that preconditioning the battery is a paid option.

NOTE:
1 - This is not a time to teach me about how preconditioning doesn't matter, I just want Ford to let me know if it is a paid option.
2 - I admit it could be the car. However the latest TSB for a software update was installed at my local dealership on Monday. The car acts the same as prior to the update.
3 - The Connected Built In Navigation doesn't show Tesla chargers but the Public Charging app does. This might be related?
4 - I could be ALL WET here. if I am... I can handle it.. (sniff sniff)

Ron
early 2023
Select Std Range
AWD

Hi.

If you want to precondition, bring up ford nav and find any dc rapid charger within i think 15 minutes and set it as a nav target in ford nav.

I don't have connected nav subscription, never have, and the last time i checked, it preconditioned, as measured by looking at the kw being consumed by the battery heater and the increasing temp of the battery over obd2.

You don't have to drive to that charger. Only navigate to it. Therefore you can navigate to an ea station and drive to a supercharger and use the supercharger.

While this is a terrible inconvenience, with ford nav continually shouting about rerouting, and potential spots with so few chargers you can't use this trick, i am convinced it works on my car. i am also shocked that ford does not provide a button, it works and proves precondition does not require a subscription.

Given the large number of posts previously on this topic saying the same thing, i am surprised at your post.

If you have data showing it aint so, do share.

You never mentioned how you determined preconditioning isn't happening. I hope you are reaching that conclusion based on reported hvb temp, because charge speed is complicated.

Obviously the battery does not precondition in a few cases, like already being warm and the hvb soc being below a certain point. But you have already read those posts.

 

[kens]

Hi.

If you want to precondition, bring up ford nav and find any dc rapid charger within i think 15 minutes and set it as a nav target in ford nav.

I don't have connected nav subscription, never have, and the last time i checked, it preconditioned, as measured by looking at the kw being consumed by the battery heater and the increasing temp of the battery over obd2.

You don't have to drive to that charger. Only navigate to it. Therefore you can navigate to an ea station and drive to a supercharger and use the supercharger.

While this is a terrible inconvenience, with ford nav continually shouting about rerouting, and potential spots with so few chargers you can't use this trick, i am convinced it works on my car. i am also shocked that ford does not provide a button, it works and proves precondition does not require a subscription.

Given the large number of posts previously on this topic saying the same thing, i am surprised at your post.

If you have data showing it aint so, do share.

You never mentioned how you determined preconditioning isn't happening. I hope you are reaching that conclusion based on reported hvb temp, because charge speed is complicated.

Obviously the battery does not precondition in a few cases, like already being warm and the hvb soc being below a certain point. But you have already read those posts.

Good to hear it's working for you without the subscription, I think a lot of cars are still on the new car trial, I know my '22 is still on the initial 3 year trial. I've seen mentioned in other threads that the nav will revert to whatever version the car shipped with when you stop the connected services, map updates will be lost, etc. If you used the nav often enough to notice, did you see any changes when you cancelled the service? How long ago did your trial end?

I had been doing the waypoint thing of 'route to charger and ignore directions' to start preconditioning for Tesla, but now my frequented Superchargers are recognized by the car and will precondition without the extra hoops. If you get a chance you might try routing directly to a Supercharger to see if it's recognized. Don't use the 'chargers' tab, use the search bar.

 

[OH2AZ2OH]

Hi.

If you want to precondition, bring up ford nav and find any dc rapid charger within i think 15 minutes and set it as a nav target in ford nav.

I don't have connected nav subscription, never have, and the last time i checked, it preconditioned, as measured by looking at the kw being consumed by the battery heater and the increasing temp of the battery over obd2.

You don't have to drive to that charger. Only navigate to it. Therefore you can navigate to an ea station and drive to a supercharger and use the supercharger.

While this is a terrible inconvenience, with ford nav continually shouting about rerouting, and potential spots with so few chargers you can't use this trick, i am convinced it works on my car. i am also shocked that ford does not provide a button, it works and proves precondition does not require a subscription.

Given the large number of posts previously on this topic saying the same thing, i am surprised at your post.

If you have data showing it aint so, do share.

You never mentioned how you determined preconditioning isn't happening. I hope you are reaching that conclusion based on reported hvb temp, because charge speed is complicated.

Obviously the battery does not precondition in a few cases, like already being warm and the hvb soc being below a certain point. But you have already read those posts.

On another thread it was noted the the car reverts to the as-built maps if connected services is not renewed. Charger maps will be, in my case, 4 years old. Connected Services is probably worth the price if you regularly fast charge in cold weather.

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