How to Remotely Precondition Battery

[moog]

I just tested this with my 2023.5 SR that had been plugged in all night and currently plugged in. It is -6C outside

Turning on climate remotely with heat set at 18C and the battery inlet temp stays below 0.
When I turned the climate set temp all the way down the battery inlet temp suddenly went up. But the heater stayed on full power.

I can’t figure out the logic of this. Why doesn’t it just sent some heat to the battery at any set temp. Is this just a bug in the system?

this does show I think that it will do what you described even when plugged in at least as well.

If that were true, then congratulations to Ford! "Great job!"

Why educate your "new to EV" customers and give them all the options they can use, so that they can learn and understand this new EV battery tech vs the old ICE stuff......when you can avoid it all, keep them "uneducated", and not have to deal with them at all.

Why try to educate your buyers about the new tech in automobiles going forward?

Meanwhile Ford CEO is driving around in Xiaomi EV because, you know....EV's are the way of the future for the company......but don't educate your customer base....that would make no sense at all.

Meanwhile other makes have the simple precondition battery option. Make you wonder sometimes.

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[Snakebitten]

Good point.

But I gotta tell ya, as far as I can tell, few people I run into know more than the minimum necessary to operate their phone, pc, vehicle,........

Forum members are not the typical

 

[Jacques]

If that were true, then congratulations to Ford! "Great job!"

Why educate your "new to EV" customers and give them all the options they can use, so that they can learn and understand this new EV battery tech vs the old ICE stuff......when you can avoid it all, keep them "uneducated", and not have to deal with them at all.

Why try to educate your buyers about the new tech in automobiles going forward?

Meanwhile Ford CEO is driving around in Xiaomi EV because, you know....EV's are the way of the future for the company......but don't educate your customer base....that would make no sense at all.

Meanwhile other makes have the simple precondition battery option. Make you wonder sometimes.

If that were true, then congratulations to Ford! "Great job!"

Why educate your "new to EV" customers and give them all the options they can use, so that they can learn and understand this new EV battery tech vs the old ICE stuff......when you can avoid it all, keep them "uneducated", and not have to deal with them at all.

Why try to educate your buyers about the new tech in automobiles going forward?

Meanwhile Ford CEO is driving around in Xiaomi EV because, you know....EV's are the way of the future for the company......but don't educate your customer base....that would make no sense at all.

Meanwhile other makes have the simple precondition battery option. Make you wonder sometimes.

How did you receive the new climate control features? Was it a download or changes to the FordPass app?

 

[redgrandam]

How did you receive the new climate control features? Was it a download or changes to the FordPass app?

It will just show up one day. I got them and it wasn’t connected with any app or car update. At least not one that happened right at that time.

 

[Billyk24]

Since Ford still doesn't have a dang battery precondition button...I had a hunch. For those of you with the remote climate control settings showing up in FordPass, there is a way to use the remote controls to heat the battery. The car must be parked in below-freezing conditions; otherwise the A/C will run instead.

Once you start climate control with the fan button, tap on the climate settings box and set the cabin temp to LO. Make sure defrost is off. You can turn on heated seat/wheel if desired. When you accept the setting, the temp shown may change from LO to 59ºF, just ignore that.

The LO setting is sort of special because it disables cabin heat regardless of temperature. With no cabin heat demand, the powertrain strategy will allow battery heating instead if the battery is cold (also works while driving).

The only negative is the fan will blow raw outside air into the cabin. But if the car is already bone cold, it doesn't really matter.

In my test, the battery temperature was raised +8ºC in the 15-minute remote climate period. Since you get two climate activations, you could then do a subsequent remote climate and change the temp to 72ºF or whatever to actually warm up the cabin the second time.


If you do not have the remote climate controls in FordPass, you can also do this by changing your remote start settings to "last setting" instead of AUTO on the main screen, and shutting off HVAC before you leave the car. Then start remote climate. Not nearly as convenient, but it works if really necessary.

Is that 8F or 8C?

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Since Ford still doesn't have a dang battery precondition button...I had a hunch. For those of you with the remote climate control settings showing up in FordPass, there is a way to use the remote controls to heat the battery. The car must be plugged in and parked in below-freezing conditions; otherwise the A/C will run instead.

Once you start climate control with the fan button, tap on the climate settings box and set the cabin temp to LO. Make sure defrost is off. You can turn on heated seat/wheel if desired. When you accept the setting, the temp shown may change from LO to 59ºF, just ignore that.

The LO setting is sort of special because it disables cabin heat regardless of temperature. With no cabin heat demand, the powertrain strategy will allow battery heating instead if the battery is cold (also works while driving).

The only negative is the fan will blow raw outside air into the cabin. But if the car is already bone cold, it doesn't really matter.

In my test, the battery temperature was raised +8ºC in the 15-minute remote climate period. Since you get two climate activations, you could then do a subsequent remote climate and change the temp to 72ºF or whatever to actually warm up the cabin the second time.


If you do not have the remote climate controls in FordPass, you can also do this by changing your remote start settings to "last setting" instead of AUTO on the main screen, and shutting off HVAC before you leave the car. Then start remote climate. Not nearly as convenient, but it works if really necessary.

Lee, Why don't I have those Climate Settings on my Ford Pass App? Is this an Android thing or am I just not up to date on my Ford Pass?

 

[Shayne]

I'll give you a very real use case of how this would have been deeply helpful for me a few days ago.

Was driving up the Alaska Highway and stopped for the night in Fort Nelson, BC. No EV charger at the hotel, and couldn't leave on the single local fast charger overnight with a $0.40/min idle fee. Had I known this trick, when I got up in the morning I could have pre-conditioned the battery for the fast charger and not had to endure 30 minutes of sub-50kW charging on a 180kW DCFC (temp was about 10 below F)

It is a good work around. It heats the battery or the cabin it does not do both effectively at the same time. Old last winters app you could set it for last used and turn the HVAC off before exiting. Remote start, extend and run again.

A twist is to go out to the car, starting it, turning the HVAC off, turning auto off to off, lock the car and walk away. You can leave it on for an hours if it has the juice to get them to 20C. You can hear to recirc pump and when it stops. Just leave it running and shut down HVAC before exiting. Gas vehicle do it at the corner store why not us! Consumes peanuts and worth it in some temps if you can.

At -20C I would start thinking about warming them up before driving it if not plug in and it has sat for awhile. I would go out start it and go back inside. Shut down HVAC is the key. The ones that think 10 Kw ($1.50) is something to save do not live where breaking down means you could freeze to death.

It comes on lately automatically plugged to L2, runs for 20 minutes or so, the recirc pump working (most likely not to 20C). This is the auto conditioning that started last winter. Last year it said preparing to drive this year preparing cabin and battery for departure ?‍. Nope not either. Why not keep it simple conditioning the vehicle. It is doing it all by itself now; it is growing up.

Best of the season to all.

 

[Bradn]

@Mach-Lee Am I correct that, plugged in or not, this is essentially a method for a half hour precondition (15 min at LO for the battery pack followed by ~15 minutes at 70 degrees for cabin heat)? Whereas the only option for the same preconditioning (pack + cabin) would be to set a departure time, which requires being set 1.5 to 2 hours in advance?

 

[cmbfod]

As per the previous question, the first post states ”The car must be plugged in and parked in below-freezing conditions; otherwise the A/C will run instead.”. Will this work if not plugged in?

 

[flapjake314]

@Mach-Lee Am I correct that, plugged in or not, this is essentially a method for a half hour precondition (15 min at LO for the battery pack followed by ~15 minutes at 70 degrees for cabin heat)? Whereas the only option for the same preconditioning (pack + cabin) would be to set a departure time, which requires being set 1.5 to 2 hours in advance?

this was my question too. asked more empirically, can someone test how much does 30 min precondition raise the battery temp (vs the full 1.5-2h)

 

[MadMatt]

I do not have the “climate control settings” either.

All I can do is turn the fan system on or off (and extend for another 15min) where would this button be?

iOS 18, latest FordPass app in Canada

 

[DumpsterJ]

I have my car turn itself on 10 mins before I usually get in for work. I don't live somewhere where it gets below 0 but I still like to hop in a warm car. It warms the battery just by being on idling ?

 

[MadMatt]

I have my car turn itself on 10 mins before I usually get in for work.

you use the “Scheduled Departure Time” smart phone feature? And it’s plugged in?

then yes.

If you answered no to either of the above then no.

 

[DaddyDeuce]

A post this clever could only come from @Mach-Lee!

 

[DumpsterJ]

you use the “Scheduled Departure Time” smart phone feature? And it’s plugged in?

then yes.

If you answered no to either of the above then no.

Thanks ?. I didn't know it had to be plugged in. I figured 10 mins on battery wouldn't hurt. Luckily it rarely gets below freezing here. I'll plug it in if it's gonna be real cold.

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