Confirmed: Preconditioning matters

[jimfigler]

Curious in the diminishing returns as well. Especially as many of us here in NE experience cold that would warrant preconditioning but are paying >$0.30 per kWh at home. At a certain point it won't be worth preconditioning. Obviously worth it if I'm trying to squeeze maximum range, but if I know I only have a short commute that day I will probably just remote heat the cab as you mention.

Like you mention I think if you really need the extra range that specific day then precondition otherwise if your commute or needed range that day is low then skip it.

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[BennyTheBeaver]

Does preconditioning (either doing it or not) have any affect on battery longevity?

 

[TaxmanHog]

That seems way too little. Are you sure you set a Departure Time?

Yes look at the graphic tile

And, did you do it the night before?

Thursday afternoon...... set a specific recurring Mon/Wed/Fri be ready at 08:15 AM schedule.
I am creating a new one for Saturday morning now.

In other words, if it's 7AM and you set a departure time for 7:30AM, that's not going to work right.

If the requirement was that only 20 minutes were need it would work, OTOH, if it were zero degrees out, then might not work or would follow the schedule but not be adequately condition at departure time, this is my first go with an EV in New England weather.

Did you set a departure time for 8:15AM the night before?

Prior day

I used it a few times on my Mach-E. On one trip, it used almost 5kWh and took 1:20 to complete.

How cold was it?
5/80*20 = 1.25 kWh my meter is integer value only so It could have been 1.25 as well.

It will also choose to warm the battery on very cold nights, often for 15 minutes at a time. On my Mach-E, these hits were about 1.6kWh and infrequent.

I'll repeat this study when weather turns much colder I may get those type of results.

 

[RickLightning]

Yes look at the graphic tile



Thursday afternoon...... set a specific recurring Mon/Wed/Fri be ready at 08:15 AM schedule.
I am creating a new one for Saturday morning now.



If the requirement was that only 20 minutes were need it would work, OTOH, if it were zero degrees out, then might not work or would follow the schedule but not be adequately condition at departure time, this is my first go with an EV in New England weather.



Prior day



How cold was it?
5/80*20 = 1.25 kWh my meter is integer value only so It could have been 1.25 as well.



I'll repeat this study when weather turns much colder I may get those type of results.

Your tile was for 7PM earlier in the thread, that's why I questioned it. But that is the correct way to do it - or in the vehicle.

The 1.6kWh hits were during the night. Nothing to do with preconditioning. The car decided to warm the battery up a bit.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Your tile was for 7PM earlier in the thread, that's why I questioned it. But that is the correct way to do it - or in the vehicle.

Ahhhhhh yes, post 21 was just an experiment concerning using the "while unplugged" switch, I adjusted the timeframe and dates after that snap shot to what I posted this morning, sorry for the confusion

The 1.6kWh hits were during the night. Nothing to do with preconditioning. The car decided to warm the battery up a bit.

I'll keep an eye on this as the weather gets colder.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

It's not clear to me that this improves actual range (calculated range aside). My intuition tells me it's the opposite. You're warming up the battery by expending energy that could been used to drive. The battery would warm up on its own simply by driving.

Granted, preconditioning is worth it for other reasons but if you're just talking about the maximum distance you could theoretically travel then I would assume starting cold is marginally better.

A lot of people are saying that the range is improved with pre conditioning. Why do you feel differently?

 

[LightningShow]

A lot of people are saying that the range is improved with pre conditioning. Why do you feel differently?

I was only referring to the case where the truck couldn’t make up the lost energy during preconditioning. Since you have to be plugged in to precondition then my comment is moot.

 

[hihosilver]

... I think we all get the point that there is some benefit if you need the extra range and from my experience the preconditioning using the scheduled departure has the same impact as just doing a remote start and letting it run for 10-15 minutes. This is under mild cold conditions though (40 - 60 degree mornings). I'm not entirely convinced that the meaning of "preconditioning" as used by Ford really has anything to do with the battery state of readiness. This same terminology is used by BMW solely in reference to cabin temperature.

 

[vandy1981]

I'm not entirely convinced that the meaning of "preconditioning" as used by Ford really has anything to do with the battery state of readiness.

 

[Oneand0]

I preconditioned for the first time two mornings ago before heading 126 miles to my office and it worked well from the app. Also driving around locally brought my guessometer up to almost to 300 miles. I will definitely be preconditioning when I remember.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I was greeted with this warning after returning from early breakfast this morning at a chilly 32 degrees at 97% SOC

I planned to plug in anyway, I want a 100% SOC upon leaving for the NY/NE meetup later this morning. Welcome to Fall & Winter mode of operation!!

 

[RickLightning]

... I think we all get the point that there is some benefit if you need the extra range and from my experience the preconditioning using the scheduled departure has the same impact as just doing a remote start and letting it run for 10-15 minutes. This is under mild cold conditions though (40 - 60 degree mornings). I'm not entirely convinced that the meaning of "preconditioning" as used by Ford really has anything to do with the battery state of readiness. This same terminology is used by BMW solely in reference to cabin temperature.

Actually, Ford doesn't use the term "preconditioning", as noted in the manual excerpt. However, remote starting does not condition the battery like departure time does.

Setting a departure time can start systems running over an hour ahead of time - last year my Mach-E ran for 1:18 prior to departure. Obviously the internal warming is only 10 or 15 minutes, so the amount prior to that is warming the battery.

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