when you use the scheduled departure feature in the app and are plugged in,
Electric cars don’t idle. The electric motor(s) only run when required to. There is no excess heat when just sitting there. Pushing the “start” button is rather misleading.
I didn't mean idling in the literal sense. I guess sitting there idle would have been a better way to phrase that.
It is my understanding that pre-setting a departure time using the Ford Pass App does the same thing. I believe it will both warm up the cabin and heat the battery if scheduled enough in advance. And yes, the car must be plugged in to level 2 charger. I‘ve been doing this over the past week when our temps have been in the 20’s, pre-scheduling 60-90 minutes in advance, which I just guessed would be enough time.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.
Curious about this topic and stumbled onto this thread. Yesterday I had stops in town and I had warmed the battery before I left home, but it had cooled down during an appointment. I tried as you said to leave the car on, shut off HVAC and such, but I still had a bunch of gray bars which tells me the battery didn't warm. I don't have the climate settings as Lee mentioned. My next plan was to try turning on the climate remotely with the HVAC off I think as Lee had mentioned.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.
Did you hear the recic pump kick on before you left? As soon as the cabin heat is shut down you should hear it click in. Remote starting with no heat and it started with no heat is about the same.
A lot of us don’t have the climate settings. My 2024 is fully up to date via FDRS and it doesn’t have the climate settings. Just waiting for Ford’s back-end team to get it sorted. ?
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I don't think I have it job 1? There is is a setting in the sync remote start since the beginning that is something like last used. Set it to that and turn HVAC off before leaving? Not sure if that will work have not tried it but I know shutting the HVAC to off is the ticket to it switching to heating the pack. Watched the cabin heat up on OBD while the battery stayed at -11 C shut the HVAC off and watched it heat the battery to 20C +/- then shut down.A lot of us don’t have the climate settings. My 2024 is fully up to date via FDRS and it doesn’t have the climate settings. Just waiting for Ford’s back-end team to get it sorted. ?
I don't recall hearing anything. I just left it turned on and shut off the HVAC but it didn't seem to heat the battery (going by gray bars).
Grey bars is not really the way to ensure it is heating the battery. I had a recent BCM OTA so tried it again yesterday and it works as before. As soon as you turn off the hvac you will hear the recirc pump start. Turning the hvac off remotely or manually is the same thing. It is a high pitched hum the same thing you hear for departure schedules at the start (preconditioning). This is the sound of the fluid being pumped through the pack. If the heater is heating the cabin it is most likely heating the pack as it is one in the same. You can watch it on a obd2 app. They should rethink preconditioning a bit so there is not so many hoops.
That's interesting, I'll have to pay more attention and see what happens. I do know that this is some poor engineering in that the one heater is way too small to serve two purposes. There should have been a dedicated heater for the cabin and one for the battery. I know if it gets down to -15-20F this rig is staying in the garage. As I mentioned before I think they did their winter testing in Arizona! At the least Ford should offer a larger replacement heater, but space probably doesn't allow.Grey bars is not really the way to ensure it is heating the battery. I had a recent BCM OTA so tried it again yesterday and it works as before. As soon as you turn off the hvac you will hear the recirc pump start. Turning the hvac off remotely or manually is the same thing. It is a high pitched hum the same thing you hear for departure schedules at the start (preconditioning). This is the sound of the fluid being pumped through the pack. If the heater is heating the cabin it is most likely heating the pack as it is one in the same. You can watch it on a obd2 app. They should rethink preconditioning a bit so there is not so many hoops.
I have no grey bars on my trim but yesterdays start after it ran a departure schedule it was 1.4 mi/kw but it went up to 1.8. Where has my range gone is my battery broke?
I tried something similar 2 years ago by having the car navigate to a nearby DCFC while it sat in the parking lot at work. It technically works, but you've got to walk out to a cold car to start the process.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 ?
Best of the season to all.
Charge goes down and range goes up as batteries heat up makes sense. There is no need to turn the seat and wheel heat off it is the resistance heater that does hvac and batteries. You can come back to a warm seat and wheel.
