Preconditioning

[Kabloom123]

I'm a bit confused about preconditioning. I've set up my app for morning weekday departures with our Emporia home charger plugged into our Mach-E overnight. What I'm confused about is that the car hasn't been turning on the climate controls even though its set up to do so before our departure. Perhaps its my fault. Our charger has already done its magic earlier each am - 12 am on - charging to 90% so by 7 on there's nothing remaining to charge and the charger has stopped. What am I missing?

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[AliRafiee]

Did you setup a charging schedule in your Emporia app?

 

[Kabloom123]

Yes. 12 to 5 am.

 

[AZBill]

Yes. 12 to 5 am.

What is your departure time? If it is after 5am, then the car will see no wall power after 5am.

 

[E90alex]

If you have a charging schedule in the charger then the car will not be able to pull any power outside of that schedule to precondition. It will act as if it’s not plugged in.

You can enable the option to prepare cabin when off plug so it will warm the cabin with power from the battery, but I don’t believe it will warm the battery for departure when off plug.

 

[Kabloom123]

What is your departure time? If it is after 5am, then the car will see no wall power after 5am.

So I could address this by moving the shut off time of the charger to 8 am?

 

[Kabloom123]

If you have a charging schedule in the charger then the car will not be able to pull any power outside of that schedule to precondition. It will act as if it’s not plugged in.

You can enable the option to prepare cabin when off plug so it will warm the cabin with power from the battery, but I don’t believe it will warm the battery for departure when off plug.

Is it recommended to set up my charger so that power is pulled from that rather than the battery?

 

[E90alex]

Depends on your electricity rates and other factors.

If you have significantly higher rates after 5am then it may not be worth it.

If you just have a very short drive then preconditioning the battery for departure may not be worth it.

Unless it’s below freezing it won’t heat the battery anyways.

 

[Kabloom123]

Depends on your electricity rates and other factors.

If you have significantly higher rates after 5am then it may not be worth it.

If you just have a very short drive then preconditioning the battery for departure may not be worth it.

Unless it’s below freezing it won’t heat the battery anyways.

My commute to work is about 10 miles, and then the car sits in a heated parking garage all day before I return home in the evening.

 

[AliRafiee]

So I could address this by moving the shut off time of the charger to 8 am?

Set the charging schedule of 12 to 5am in the car instead of the charging station. That way the charging station is always ready when the car asks for power.

 

[Maquis]

My commute to work is about 10 miles, and then the car sits in a heated parking garage all day before I return home in the evening.

There is no need to precondition for that use case.
Simply remote start 5 minutes before leaving to warm the cabin.

 

[RickMachE]

I'm a bit confused about preconditioning. I've set up my app for morning weekday departures with our Emporia home charger plugged into our Mach-E overnight. What I'm confused about is that the car hasn't been turning on the climate controls even though its set up to do so before our departure. Perhaps its my fault. Our charger has already done its magic earlier each am - 12 am on - charging to 90% so by 7 on there's nothing remaining to charge and the charger has stopped. What am I missing?

Think of the Emporia as a wall switch, and the car as a light bulb. The car says, at say 6:15AM, let's start warming the battery for the 7AM departure. It calls for power to do so, but the wall switch is off...

Yes. 12 to 5 am.

Therefore, outside those hours, the car can not use any power from the house.

So I could address this by moving the shut off time of the charger to 8 am?

That would be one way

Is it recommended to set up my charger so that power is pulled from that rather than the battery?

The ONLY way to warm the battery via a departure time is from the house power.

My commute to work is about 10 miles, and then the car sits in a heated parking garage all day before I return home in the evening.

Setting a departure time for such a short drive is simply a waste of money. Just do a remote start, then go to the car as the 15 minutes are ending.

 

[Kabloom123]

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Billyk24]

Depends on your electricity rates and other factors.

If you have significantly higher rates after 5am then it may not be worth it.

If you just have a very short drive then preconditioning the battery for departure may not be worth it.

Unless it’s below freezing it won’t heat the battery anyways.

Unless it’s below freezing it won’t heat the battery anyways.----that is not what I see on my Car Scanner Pro app.

 

[Adventureboy]

Preconditioning is not always efficient. In many cases, a warmer battery to achieve better range is not needed, and there is little advantage if you don't need the range. Preconditioning burns a lot of power when it is cold, to warm the battery unnecessarily for your commute. While the MME is plugged in and EVSE is ON, the car will keep the battery in operating range by default.
I run the Emporia with no schedule set and a charge window set in the MME. I warm the cabin using the Start Climate function. Occasionally, before a road trip on a really cold day, I will set a departure time to warm the battery for maximum range. The Emporia has full monitoring capabilities, and you can watch the power consumption in your current scenario and compare. I've found that the energy cost efficiency overall is higher using this approach. The MME uses power mostly overnight when it is really cold to keep the battery in operating range.

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