Preconditioning didn't work

[BobV]

Do you mean cabin heating or battery pre-conditioning. If you just want to warm the cabin on demand, press the start button in the app.

I just watched a Youtube video interview (from State of Charge) with the Ford VP of EV development and he said that if you are plugged in, the battery temp is automatically kept at a good temperature. So if I keep it always plugged in during the winter, just pressing the start button should be all I need. BTW, the Ford VP also said that once preconditioning is completed, the cabin will only lose about 1° temp per hour, so he said if you don't use the car at regular times, just set it to precondition every morning and it will still be fairly warm even if you don't use the car for several hours later.

Sponsored

 

[Hammered]

Last night I set a departure time of 0815 for this morning, plugged into 120v outlet and vehicle was ready to go as it should be. Battery SOC was 2% lower than it would have been just straight charging otherwise.

 

[AKgrampy]

I just watched a Youtube video interview (from State of Charge) with the Ford VP of EV development and he said that if you are plugged in, the battery temp is automatically kept at a good temperature. So if I keep it always plugged in during the winter, just pressing the start button should be all I need. BTW, the Ford VP also said that once preconditioning is completed, the cabin will only lose about 1° temp per hour, so he said if you don't use the car at regular times, just set it to precondition every morning and it will still be fairly warm even if you don't use the car for several hours later.

I believe that is not quite correct. The battery will not lose its temp much after preconditioning but the cabin surely will! Also the car will maintain the battery at a OK temp if plugged in but I do not believe it is the same temp as it would reach during preconditioning. Also your issue may have been that you were setting a departure time just a couple of hours from current time and the Ford servers did not feed it to your car prior to your departure.

 

[BobV]

Last night I set a departure time of 0815 for this morning, plugged into 120v outlet and vehicle was ready to go as it should be. Battery SOC was 2% lower than it would have been just straight charging otherwise.

Did you set the departure time only with the app, or in the car Sync screen?

 

[BobV]

I believe that is not quite correct. The battery will not lose its temp much after preconditioning but the cabin surely will! Also the car will maintain the battery at a OK temp if plugged in but I do not believe it is the same temp as it would reach during preconditioning. Also your issue may have been that you were setting a departure time just a couple of hours from current time and the Ford servers did not feed it to your car prior to your departure.

The VP's name is Darren Palmer, BTW. His exact wording regarding preconditioning in the interview is: "....it will prepare the cabin and the battery, and it will stay the right temperature for hours...". After re-wtatching the video, his 1° per hour statement is unclear but probably is regarding the battery and not the cabin.

I assumed that since the car and the app are connected to my home wifi that the app would feed the departure time directly to the car. If not, it's not good that it takes so long for the Ford servers to send the info to the car.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Last night I set a departure time of 0815 for this morning, plugged into 120v outlet and vehicle was ready to go as it should be. Battery SOC was 2% lower than it would have been just straight charging otherwise.

I'm betting you would have had the same result without the loss of SOC if you had been plugged into an L2 charger. L1 just doesn't provide enough juice to avoid battery drain during preconditioning. L1 only delivers around 1 kW.

 

[RickMachE]

I just watched a Youtube video interview (from State of Charge) with the Ford VP of EV development and he said that if you are plugged in, the battery temp is automatically kept at a good temperature. So if I keep it always plugged in during the winter, just pressing the start button should be all I need. BTW, the Ford VP also said that once preconditioning is completed, the cabin will only lose about 1° temp per hour, so he said if you don't use the car at regular times, just set it to precondition every morning and it will still be fairly warm even if you don't use the car for several hours later.

Your understanding is not completely accurate.

First, Darren was referring to setting a departure time, when plugged in. This warms the battery, and then the cabin. His point about hours later is this - if you set a departure time for 7AM, and you don't leave until 9AM, the battery has retained heat for the 2 hours and while it's not at the same temperature, it's still close.

And, if you just do a remote start, the battery is not warmed at all. So plugged in, then remote start, gets you the same result as not plugged in, remote start, except it uses house current to warm the cabin.

 

[RickMachE]

Last night I set a departure time of 0815 for this morning, plugged into 120v outlet and vehicle was ready to go as it should be. Battery SOC was 2% lower than it would have been just straight charging otherwise.

So here's what happened.

The cabin was ready. Yup. It used house current AND battery power.

The battery did not warm up. It can't, not enough juice. This has been verified by people with a OBD reader and Car Scanner app.

 

[BobV]

Your understanding is not completely accurate.

First, Darren was referring to setting a departure time, when plugged in. This warms the battery, and then the cabin. His point about hours later is this - if you set a departure time for 7AM, and you don't leave until 9AM, the battery has retained heat for the 2 hours and while it's not at the same temperature, it's still close.

And, if you just do a remote start, the battery is not warmed at all. So plugged in, then remote start, gets you the same result as not plugged in, remote start, except it uses house current to warm the cabin.

Yes, I understand that the preconditioning will warm the battery more to optimize range. Darren specifically said that "if you keep the car plugged in, the vehicle will do the work for you, it tries to be ready for you. So if you keep it plugged in, it will keep the battery at a range that it's ready for work. So, it'll keep it above zero degrees C, and it's ready for work...for most people...".

So if the outside temperature is under freezing, and the car is plugged in, it will keep the battery above 32°F so it's ready to go.....just with a lower range than if you preconditioned.

 

[RickMachE]

Yes, I understand that the preconditioning will warm the battery more to optimize range. Darren specifically said that "if you keep the car plugged in, the vehicle will do the work for you, it tries to be ready for you. So if you keep it plugged in, it will keep the battery at a range that it's ready for work. So, it'll keep it above zero degrees C, and it's ready for work...for most people...".

So if the outside temperature is under freezing, and the car is plugged in, it will keep the battery above 32°F so it's ready to go.....just with a lower range than if you preconditioned.

That's correct also.

 

[AKgrampy]

The VP's name is Darren Palmer, BTW. His exact wording regarding preconditioning in the interview is: "....it will prepare the cabin and the battery, and it will stay the right temperature for hours...". After re-wtatching the video, his 1° per hour statement is unclear but probably is regarding the battery and not the cabin.

I assumed that since the car and the app are connected to my home wifi that the app would feed the departure time directly to the car. If not, it's not good that it takes so long for the Ford servers to send the info to the car.

Just sharing info and experience. Personally range is not an issue for me and I keep my car in a heated garage so I just auto start to warm in up during the winter months. If range were an issue I would most likely precondition; however, my garage is at 50 F so I would get little value. I do not have to worry about programming and can leave anytime I want is a nice toasty Mach! Enjoy your ride!

 

[Maquis]

Just sharing info and experience. Personally range is not an issue for me and I keep my car in a heated garage so I just auto start to warm in up during the winter months. If range were an issue I would most likely precondition; however, my garage is at 50 F so I would get little value. I do not have to worry about programming and can leave anytime I want is a nice toasty Mach! Enjoy your ride!

My garage is likewise heated to 50-ish in the winter. I will precondition if I need max range for a trip and the difference is noticeable. It would be a lot more noticeable if the car was sitting outside!

 

[Mach-Lee]

Yes, I understand that the preconditioning will warm the battery more to optimize range. Darren specifically said that "if you keep the car plugged in, the vehicle will do the work for you, it tries to be ready for you. So if you keep it plugged in, it will keep the battery at a range that it's ready for work. So, it'll keep it above zero degrees C, and it's ready for work...for most people...".

So if the outside temperature is under freezing, and the car is plugged in, it will keep the battery above 32°F so it's ready to go.....just with a lower range than if you preconditioned.

To summarize a few points:

• Set up departure times in the car, not in the app
• You must be plugged in to heat the battery, it will not do it unplugged
• Setting a departure time heats the battery to 15ºC (best)
• Leaving it plugged into a Level 2 charger heats it to 5ºC
• Leaving it plugged into a Level 1 charger heats it to 2ºC, only after charging is finished
• Level 1 does not provide enough power to heat the battery pack fully during a departure time. It will still be cold (<5ºC) afterwards.
• The battery stays warm for several hours after a Level 2 departure time
• Remote start does not heat up the battery whatsoever
• If you park in below freezing temperatures, you should stay plugged into level 2 as much as possible to maintain at least 5ºC battery temp.

For more information and strategies, please read my topic about preconditioning:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/mach-lees-cold-weather-charging-strategies.24548/

 

[BobV]

To summarize a few points:

• Set up departure times in the car, not in the app
• You must be plugged in to heat the battery, it will not do it unplugged
• Setting a departure time heats the battery to 15ºC (best)
• Leaving it plugged into a Level 2 charger heats it to 5ºC
• Leaving it plugged into a Level 1 charger heats it to 2ºC, only after charging is finished
• Level 1 does not provide enough power to heat the battery pack fully during a departure time. It will still be cold (<5ºC) afterwards.
• The battery stays warm for several hours after a Level 2 departure time
• Remote start does not heat up the battery whatsoever
• If you park in below freezing temperatures, you should stay plugged into level 2 as much as possible to maintain at least 5ºC battery temp.

For more information and strategies, please read my topic about preconditioning:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/mach-lees-cold-weather-charging-strategies.24548/

Thanks for the summarization and everyone’s posts. I have a much better understanding of all of this than I did when I wrote this post this morning. You guys are awesome!

 

[efisher]

The best way to condition the interior is to use the FordPass app to start the car about 10 minutes before you need it and make sure you have the climate control set to auto

Sponsored