What to expect with cold weather traveling

[KevinNM]

Hi, I've read through many posts on cold weather, but have a couple questions.

I'm planning a ski trip, and will be parking outside with no overnight charging. I'm planning to fast charge up to 80% every night.

So in the morning, let's say it's 10 degrees F outside and I'm going to go skiing. The car isn't plugged in. What will I find when I get to the car? Remote starting it works great, so I can do that 30 minutes ahead (though I wish it wouldn't turn the lights on), but from what I understand that won't do much for the battery pack.

Will the car be ready to drive? Do I need to turn it on and let it sit? If I drive it right away, is the only consequence that it performs sluggishly? Or am I damaging something by running it too cold?

I'm often tempted to just leave the car on overnight in situations like this but haven't tried it. Does anyone do this? Any idea how much charge I would lose? (Obviously with the cabin heating off)

Thanks - Kevin
(2022 Mach E GT)

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[Mach-Lee]

Yes the car will drive. You’ll just see extremely low range. When you DC charge you’ll see extremely slow rates, it could take 90 minutes to charge.

The only thing you can do is leave the car on with HVAC off and a DC charger in the nav. Leave it on for like 30-45 minutes before driving over to DC charge.

Also don’t go below 20% in those conditions because there’s a chance of getting turtle mode.

 

[KevinNM]

Yes the car will drive. You’ll just see extremely low range. When you DC charge you’ll see extremely slow rates, it could take 90 minutes to charge.

Thanks for the info! When you say low range, am I actually using more electricity when driving on a cold battery? So if I drive for a while and the battery warms up, will the range for the remaining charge improve to normal?

I will definitely use the advice about preconditioning in idle. Does tricking the car into preconditioning help with driving the car also? Or is that only important before charging?

How long does the car need to be on/driving before the battery reaches a more efficient temperature? Does remote starting move that along as quickly as having the car "on"?

Really appreciate the expertise. I have options regarding what to drive, where to go, but would like to make use of the car as much as possible.

Thanks - Kevin

 

[Mach-Lee]

Thanks for the info! When you say low range, am I actually using more electricity when driving on a cold battery? So if I drive for a while and the battery warms up, will the range for the remaining charge improve to normal?

I will definitely use the advice about preconditioning in idle. Does tricking the car into preconditioning help with driving the car also? Or is that only important before charging?

How long does the car need to be on/driving before the battery reaches a more efficient temperature? Does remote starting move that along as quickly as having the car "on"?

Really appreciate the expertise. I have options regarding what to drive, where to go, but would like to make use of the car as much as possible.

Thanks - Kevin

Low range as in only 95 miles displayed at 80%. And the last 10-20 miles may be unusable. So plan accordingly. You use the same amount of energy driving with a cold pack, but because battery capacity varies with temperate, a cold battery produces less miles even though the efficiency is the same. For example, the 91 kWh pack may only have 77 kWh when cold.

Heating the pack can make the miles increase, but you’re also using energy at the same time, so it’s sort of a wash. For max range you don’t want to use preconditioning while driving.

It’s important to understand the pack doesn’t really heat up while driving (unless you’re preconditioning to a DC charger). You’ll start out at 10°F and it might only be 14°F after an hour of driving. Which limits your power and regen.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Please see these:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/mach-lees-mach-e-cold-weather-testing-taking-requests.24393/

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

 

[kltye]

Hi, I've read through many posts on cold weather, but have a couple questions.

I'm planning a ski trip, and will be parking outside with no overnight charging. I'm planning to fast charge up to 80% every night.

I would recommend charging to as high as you can whenever you can. I understand you might not want to sit at a charger doing nothing waiting to get past 80%, but every % is important when it's extremely cold. I wouldn't worry about reducing the lifespan of the battery pack charging close to 100% for those few days.

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