Exactly How Cold Does It Need to Be to Make Plugging In Worthwhile

[ARK]

Exactly how cold does it need to be to make plugging in worthwhile, where the Mach-E draws on energy from the grid to protect the battery?

In my part of Los Angeles, the coldest it ever gets is the high 30s on a few nights per year. Last night was just such a night so I decided to charge my Mach-E and leave it plugged in.

I reached full charge around 10:15 p.m., and for the approximately next 8 hours, the temperature stayed in the high 30s (I park outside).

But my ChargePoint Home Flex shows no power draw whatsoever during this time, after full charge was reached. See pic below.

Is plugging in when it’s cold out something that only needs to be done in freezing temperatures? I’m not talking about keeping it plugged in for pre-conditioning before I drive somewhere, I’m just interested in plugging in because it’s so cold out that the Mach-E might need to protect the battery.

Or am I wrong about all this, the Mach-E will not work to heat the battery from the grid when it’s very cold, and the only point to leaving it plugged in is preconditioning with a set departure time, and if I don’t care about the temporary performance drop by starting a vehicle with an ice cold battery, there is no harm in leaving the Mach-E unplugged in ice cold weather?

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[AZBill]

Lithium batteries do not like to be below freezing, so 32F or 0C would be the magic number. It the manual it recommends below 32F or above 113F. My Bolt recommends below 32F or above 90F.

 

[ARK]

Lithium batteries do not like to be below freezing, so 32F or 0C would be the magic number. It the manual it recommends below 32F or above 113F. My Bolt recommends below 32F or above 90F.

Thank you, that's right, the manual does say that the "most beneficial" temperature range is between 32F and 113F, so it would make sense that the battery wouldn't work to heat or cool itself if the temperature stayed between 32F and 113F.

That makes me feel better, I suppose I live somewhere where I never need to plug in (except maybe in the summer, because I think temperature is usually given as in the shade, i.e. out of direct sunlight, so perhaps 100F in direct sunlight is harder on the car than 113F in the shade).

 

[SnBGC]

Exactly how cold does it need to be to make plugging in worthwhile, where the Mach-E draws on energy from the grid to protect the battery?

In my part of Los Angeles, the coldest it ever gets is the high 30s on a few nights per year. Last night was just such a night so I decided to charge my Mach-E and leave it plugged in.

I reached full charge around 10:15 p.m., and for the approximately next 8 hours, the temperature stayed in the high 30s (I park outside).

But my ChargePoint Home Flex shows no power draw whatsoever during this time, after full charge was reached. See pic below.

Is plugging in when it’s cold out something that only needs to be done in freezing temperatures? I’m not talking about keeping it plugged in for pre-conditioning before I drive somewhere, I’m just interested in plugging in because it’s so cold out that the Mach-E might need to protect the battery.

Or am I wrong about all this, the Mach-E will not work to heat the battery from the grid when it’s very cold, and the only point to leaving it plugged in is preconditioning with a set departure time, and if I don’t care about the temporary performance drop by starting a vehicle with an ice cold battery, there is no harm in leaving the Mach-E unplugged in ice cold weather?

The car will ask you to plug in when ambient temps require HVB thermal management. I see it on the driver's screen when I shut down. It may also appear in FordPass but I wouldn't hold my breath...

 

[ARK]

The car will ask you to plug in when ambient temps require HVB thermal management. I see it on the driver's screen when I shut down. It may also appear in FordPass but I wouldn't hold my breath...

Indeed, I have seen that message mentioned on the forums.

Practically, my problem with that has been that the temperatures dip the most late into the night and early morning hours, times when I am unlikely to be in my Mach-E to see if the driver's display shows anything. I agree that a FordPass push notification would be great, but I've only seen images of the driver screen message posted on here, never a FordPass push notification.

 

[SnBGC]

Indeed, I have seen that message mentioned on the forums.

Practically, my problem with that has been that the temperatures dip the most late into the night and early morning hours, times when I am unlikely to be in my Mach-E to see if the driver's display shows anything. I agree that a FordPass push notification would be great, but I've only seen images of the driver screen message posted on here, never a FordPass push notification.

Good point.
I think the trigger point for the message is 32F.

 

[SnBGC]

To add a little more info.....

During the summer as temps increased it took quite a while for the "please plug in" message to appear. I don't remember the ambient temp......I might have written it down somewhere. At any rate....as the summer continued, the car appeared to learn the temp patterns so it started to ask to be plugged in at lower temps in anticipation of warmer weather to come. That made me wonder if ambient temps matter at all. Ford might be using battery temp instead which sorta makes sense. I don't really know either way. Curious to find out though. Someday when I have time to view the calibrations then I might have more info to share. Someday....

In my FFE, it was wholly dependent on ambient temp. Message would trigger at 97F and 32F without fail. The MME might be different though. Since the HVB is so huge in this car, ambient temp might not be the best way because it might not track the same as actual HVB temp. ???

 

[Mach-Lee]

Has anyone actually observed unscheduled thermal management occurring? Seems like it only heats the battery before charging and preconditioning.

 

[SnBGC]

Has anyone actually observed unscheduled thermal management occurring? Seems like it only heats the battery before charging and preconditioning.

I have observed HVB cooling many many times. It doesn't get cold enough here for the heater to kick in.

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