Mach-Lee's Mach-E Cold Weather Testing [Taking Requests]

[Mikeg]

oh yes, you must be referring to LaRiche Chevrolet dealer in Findlay. I'll be driving through Findlay around 10pm at night. Is the chargepoint charger accessible even after the dealership is closed? I don't want to deviate from course only to find the charger behind a locked gate. Otherwise I'll keep pushing to Lima.
Thanks for all your feedback btw...it's our first EV trip from Canada to FL. I am prepared for an adventure but unfortunately I'll be driving through some severely cold temperatures....something I wasn't counting on. The trip back looks warmer...all the way in the mid 20's.

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[AKgrampy]

I'll tell you what's happening here in -31 celsius Calgary. Barely over 200km on a long range.

Some have complained about window frost... We don't have that issue and we don't need to use full defrost either.

It's a dry climate I guess... But regardless.. we first press the full defrost button and then adjust fan lower to between 4 and 6. That takes care of anything and doesn't run the fan at full tilt.

Drive safe!

Basically the same here in Fairbanks. Many people, in not so cool climates, can set it on Auto and they are good to go.

 

[ckt]

Here's a quick comparison of the cabin warm-up speed between being stationary in a 27ºF garage and driving without preconditioning at -2ºF. Sensor in same spot. You can see the warmup time if you don't precondition and just drive is about 3x longer to reach the same temp. Last little bit while driving is very slow due to being close to thermal equilibrium. Better to heat it up while stationary since there's no wind to take the heat away. I know they're not at the same exterior temp but this is real-world usage where you might park in a warmer garage at night.

Thank you for this! I've always wanted to know cabin heating ramp up of precondition vs not.

Congratulations, I decided to test that just now. The answer is yes, you can heat the battery if you set the cabin temperature to OFF in the departure times setting. If you set a cabin temp, that takes priority and the battery will not be heated in that short time. After figuring that out, I set a departure time for 8:00 at about 7:40. In 20 minutes the battery warmed up from 34ºF to 59ºF, so it is worthwhile to do that. Rate is about 75ºF per hour, do the math to calculate time to 59ºF from current temp. The heating and EVSE will shut off once the pack reaches 59ºF/15ºC. The cabin will be cold though since it will only heat one or the other at a time.

Power used for the below was about 2.6 kWh.

This is neat! What's likely to give you more range? 15 min precondition, vs 15 prewarm cabin? Assuming outside is 30F for most of the trip, and the desired cabin auto temp setting set to 68?

 

[mkhuffman]

Thank you for this! I've always wanted to know cabin heating ramp up of precondition vs not.
This is neat! What's likely to give you more range? 15 min precondition, vs 15 prewarm cabin? Assuming outside is 30F for most of the trip, and the desired cabin auto temp setting set to 68?

Seems like a test that should be done! Lee!

I bet the 15 minute precondition has a bigger impact. You can warm the cabin in 5 minutes with remote start. So if I ever find myself in the great white north, I will precondition for 30 minutes, and then remote start for 5 minutes just before getting in the car.

 

[kkgg]

Is there any other way to pre condition the battery(Other than going in to charge settings and departure times)

It makes sense to pre condition the battery when we remote start the car, but not sure why Ford did not do that way (looks like it only heats the cabin)

 

[mkhuffman]

OK, I know this is somewhat ridiculous. But if I lived in Alaska like @AKgrampy, or Wisconsin, I would seriously consider turning off E-Heat, using the fresh air vent on low setting when glass fogging occurs, and this handy device to keep me from turning into a ice cube:

It is supposed to be safe indoors, and will run for 5 hours on a propane tank. And fresh air will come in when the vent it on.

I mean, it is extreme, but so is -20 F.

Is this a bad idea? Maybe Lee will add this to the test.

 

[Mach-Lee]

OK, I know this is somewhat ridiculous. But if I lived in Alaska like @AKgrampy, or Wisconsin, I would seriously consider turning off E-Heat, using the fresh air vent on low setting when glass fogging occurs, and this handy device to keep me from turning into a ice cube:

It is supposed to be safe indoors, and will run for 5 hours on a propane tank. And fresh air will come in when the vent it on.

I mean, it is extreme, but so is -20 F.

Is this a bad idea? Maybe Lee will add this to the test.

Bad idea, water vapor is a combustion byproduct and will fog up the windows even worse.

 

[Rory]

This would be even better:

 

[HGxxx]

Is there any other way to pre condition the battery(Other than going in to charge settings and departure times)

It makes sense to pre condition the battery when we remote start the car, but not sure why Ford did not do that way (looks like it only heats the cabin)

Looks like the only way is departure time , but I find that I can set the time in fordpass app, 15 -20 min before you leave to precondition.

 

[stackcat]

OK, I know this is somewhat ridiculous. But if I lived in Alaska like @AKgrampy, or Wisconsin, I would seriously consider turning off E-Heat, using the fresh air vent on low setting when glass fogging occurs, and this handy device to keep me from turning into a ice cube:

It is supposed to be safe indoors, and will run for 5 hours on a propane tank. And fresh air will come in when the vent it on.

I mean, it is extreme, but so is -20 F.

Is this a bad idea? Maybe Lee will add this to the test.

I would not do this lol. The biggest thing I have seen to help retain heat in the vehicle when it's this cold (it is still hovering -35F) is to preheat in the garage until its swelteringly hot and drive. The heater continues pumping out hot air until I reach work. Sure it uses way more electricity (especially when it's $0.28/kWh here...) but it's better than being a frozen native.

 

[Arsenic17]

Bad idea, water vapor is a combustion byproduct and will fog up the windows even worse.

The humidity reduction effect of warmer air should outweigh the miniscule amount of water vapor from combusting a tiny amount of propane.

 

[mkhuffman]

The humidity reduction effect of warmer air should outweigh the miniscule amount of water vapor from combusting a tiny amount of propane.

Oh, no! A disagreement has occurred! Testing may be necessary!

 

[Rory]

Turns out you produce 1.6 pounds of water for each pound of propane burned.

 

[Jiji]

I don't have too many really cold trips logged yet but this scatter chart of my driving history should give an idea of the relationship between efficiency, temperature, and the change in elevation on a trip:

 

[mkhuffman]

I don't have too many really cold trips logged yet but this scatter chart of my driving history should give an idea of the relationship between efficiency, temperature, and the change in elevation on a trip:

What are you using to capture and display that data?

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