Preconditioning Improves Range up to 20% [Ford Brochure]

[Mach-Lee]

I must be missing something big in the equation. Just doesn't seem like it would add up to close to that difference for the entire drive. Early in the drive, yes.

Battery temp. A warm battery produces more kWh of energy than a cold battery, so you can go further. You're focused on heater usage, the battery temp is a big factor too.

If your on a long road trip kind of day and the battery hits 113 deg F, and you use Ford Nav to go to the next charger, will it then cool the battery to get to 77 - 95 deg, or is 113 ok to get a 125kw charging rate? This assumes your in the 20% SOC range.

Yes, I would precondition to the DC charger in that scenario, it will probably cool the battery off to 95F so you don't get a thermal derate.

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[dbsb3233]

Battery temp. A warm battery produces more kWh of energy than a cold battery, so you can go further. You're focused on heater usage, the battery temp is a big factor too.

If the battery temp makes that massive of a difference vs cabin heat, then I don't get why the the car doesn't just condition the battery while driving. 17% loss from cold battery output should be way more than the energy used just to heat it up on the fly. 1 hour of preconditioning off a 6kw EVSE is 7% of the battery (if it even uses all of that). So just use 7% in the first hour of the drive (if starting cold) to save 17%. 10% net gain.

I know that's oversimplified but should be ballpark... IF that 17% figure is correct, which still seems high.

 

[Shayne]

Looks like I looked up the wrong test initially (that showed just 12.75 minutes). The full multi-cycle test specific to EVs does keep repeating the cycles until the battery runs out, which is good. Although use of the "partial" qualifier here could mean anything, I suppose.

I wasn't thinking "deceiving" as much as just misleading for road trip use (as most everything about the EPA testing is). 17% (or even 14%) difference still sounds high to me for an entire 3+ hour drive leg. For the first half hour, that sounds reasonable. But I've gotta think the preconditioning heat wears off by then, and most of the drive after that is just neutral vs no preconditioning (especially the cabin heat). If so, to end up with a 17% difference over a 3-hour drive, seems like that would make it a massive 70% difference or something in the first 30 minutes.

I must be missing something big in the equation. Just doesn't seem like it would add up to close to that difference for the entire drive. Early in the drive, yes.

Sitting in park you can have one or the other. Hvac (heat) or the recirc pump (battery heat). The heater can do only so much is my guess.

I have not explored what happens when driving or if it does both; alternates? With all the cold souls up here I am thinking the recent HVAC CSP updates are not in the batteries favor.

I agree preconditioning may not last long but it helps at the beginning and for 1 hour trips should be ideal. Maybe if true northerners need more cold weather range cracking a window and putting on the toque would help. Almost never fogs up with a window open in -10F. Would be good to know if that is the case. Need to drive it with OBD next winter.

 

[Mach-Lee]

If the battery temp makes that massive of a difference vs cabin heat, then I don't get why the the car doesn't just condition the battery while driving. 17% loss from cold battery output should be way more than the energy used just to heat it up on the fly. 1 hour of preconditioning off a 6kw EVSE is 7% of the battery (if it even uses all of that). So just use 7% in the first hour of the drive (if starting cold) to save 17%. 10% net gain.

The battery doesn't heat while driving because the heater isn't big enough to heat both the cabin and the battery at the same time effectively. It would take 1-2 hours of heating to get the battery fully warmed up while driving. Below about 14F there's barely any heat left for the battery and it will never reach target temp.

If the heater was powerful enough, your argument would make sense, but the design limitations make it so it has to be done sequentially on L2 before the cabin is warmed up.

 

[dbsb3233]

The battery doesn't heat while driving because the heater isn't big enough to heat both the cabin and the battery at the same time effectively. It would take 1-2 hours of heating to get the battery fully warmed up while driving. Below about 14F there's barely any heat left for the battery and it will never reach target temp.

If the heater was powerful enough, your argument would make sense, but the design limitations make it so it has to be done sequentially on L2 before the cabin is warmed up.

I can see that argument when it's super cold outside (like 0F or something). Every heating system has it's point where it can't keep up with the extreme cold. However the inverse should be true as well. If the break-even point is, say, 0F where maxing the heater out is just enough to keep the cabin warm, that should mean it doesn't have to be fully max'd at 20F. Even less at 30F. Even less at 40F. That should mean there's leftover heat capacity to funnel to the battery unless it's super cold out.

It should be incremental too, meaning, the battery doesn't need to be 80F to still function better. 50F should be better than 30F should be better than 10F. Incremental gains.

If that's the case, I'll give them a pass for not doing in-drive battery conditioning at 0F outside (if the cabin needs 100% of it keep up), but not when it's 20F or 30F or 40F.

 

[Shayne]

The battery doesn't heat while driving because the heater isn't big enough to heat both the cabin and the battery at the same time effectively. It would take 1-2 hours of heating to get the battery fully warmed up while driving. Below about 14F there's barely any heat left for the battery and it will never reach target temp.

If the heater was powerful enough, your argument would make sense, but the design limitations make it so it has to be done sequentially on L2 before the cabin is warmed up.

Thanks for the info I had no OBD readings while driving yet but logically assumed. If you shut off hvac does battery heat kick in while driving like it does in park?

First Bjørn Nyland review he noted the joint heater and why it does not work. Theoretically turning hvac off in -10F should increase your range on a 200 mile first leg. Manually alternate?

Kind of makes the precondition on the way to a DCFC difficult in the cold.

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