Hot Weather - Precondition?

[Dana3502]

There has been a ton of discussion about preconditioning your battery in cold weather. Is hot weather an issue? If so, above what temperature? I had no luck finding anything in the owner's manual (as usual). Since we are not shown the battery temperature in the car or on the app, I'm hoping going by the temperature in my garage is close enough.

My primary concern is preserving battery life because I intend to have this vehicle for many years. I don't want to be dealing with 70% range 8 years from now.

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[Keyk4]

Preconditioning in warm weather won't give as much of a benefit as it does in cold weather. Your battery will like the warm weather, regardless of preconditioning, unless it's extreme heat (like 110F +). I set departure times for my daily commute and known trips but otherwise I don't sweat it. My FE is almost 4.5 years old and I'm just about to 100k miles and I have seen no visible loss of range. I charge to 90% daily and 100% on occasion if I need it. I'm sure my battery SoH has decreased but it hasn't been noticeable.

 

[Deleted member 19354]

What you might consider is opening the window’s prior to departure to get some excess heat out of the cabin so the AC may not work as hard.

 

[E90alex]

I assume you are talking about turning on the climate from your Ford Pass app? This kind of preconditioning is primarily for cabin comfort. The battery will manage its temperature as needed and is generally nothing you can manually control.

The only exception is fast charger preconditioning, which only happens when you use the navigation to route to a DC fast charger. And this will happen even if it’s warm out because the target battery temperature for fast charging is like over 100°F.

 

[AtomicInternet]

I can assure you Ford has engineered the battery to last the life of the car. There are members with over 150k miles on here with very high battery health. Preconditioning in the cold allows you to charge at a faster rate since the battery is warmer and can accept charge faster.

The vehicles battery management will always protect the battery, no matter what you do in terms of charging/pre-conditioning.

If, however, you're like me and want to absolutely maximize every single electron storage capability then I'd recommend only charging to 80% regularly and keeping it above 20% charge. That's the happiest range your battery can possibly be at.
Keep in mind, that's not your actual charge level since Ford builds in buffers on top and bottom specifically to help preserve the life of the battery. You only see the percentage you're allowed to see. You would have to deplete to 0% and then let it sit for months to get the battery to actual zero before any real battery damage could occur. And the car will do everything in it's power to prevent that from happening.

Having said all that, if you keep your car plugged in then absolutely pre-condition in the summer if only to save some battery charge before you go drive since the AC will power from the plug until you disconnect.

 

[Dana3502]

What you might consider is opening the window’s prior to departure to get some excess heat out of the cabin so the AC may not work as hard.

I'm not concerned about how far I can go on a charge. I rarely drive more than 25 miles in a day. I'm trying to be proactive on caring for my battery. I'm talking about battery pre-conditioning, not cooling the cabin.

 

[Mach-Lee]

There has been a ton of discussion about preconditioning your battery in cold weather. Is hot weather an issue? If so, above what temperature? I had no luck finding anything in the owner's manual (as usual). Since we are not shown the battery temperature in the car or on the app, I'm hoping going by the temperature in my garage is close enough.

My primary concern is preserving battery life because I intend to have this vehicle for many years. I don't want to be dealing with 70% range 8 years from now.

The temp threshold for the battery is 95ºF. So you don't need to plug in or precondition unless you have ambient temps above that level.

For longevity, set your charge limit to 80% and keep the car plugged in any time the temp is outside of 40-95ºF.

 

[macchiaz-o]

The temp threshold for the battery is 95ºF. So you don't need to plug in or precondition unless you have ambient temps above that level.

For longevity, set your charge limit to 80% and keep the car plugged in any time the temp is outside of 40-95ºF.

I don't precondition at any time, under any conditions. And it's fine for more than 4 years so far.

I do worry about heat's negative impacts here in Phoenix but since I drive the car to work everyday and my only option is to park outside in a giant unshaded lot with nowhrre to plug in, there's nothing I can reasonably do about my concern. And it's been fine so far.

 

[macchiaz-o]

If, however, you're like me and want to absolutely maximize every single electron storage capability then I'd recommend only charging to 80% regularly and keeping it above 20% charge.

It's perhaps important to caveat this recommendation with the type of battery your vehicle has. If @Dana3502's vehicle uses a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery then he or she absolutely should charge to 100% monthly or more often, and also shouldn't be at all stressed about charging to 100% anytime they want to.

Some LFP charging guidance:

https://www.ford.ie/support/how-tos...ium-iron-phosphate-electric-vehicle-batteries

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