Ford's Important Tip For Driving Your Lightning in the Cold: Preconditioning / Pre-Heat Your Battery

[Nick503955]

Only the cabin, not the battery.

Would it be an easy change to make it condition the battery when turned on while connected to "shore power"?

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[sotek2345]

Would it be an easy change to make it condition the battery when turned on while connected to "shore power"?

It is about time. When cold, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to fully warm the battery. The 15 minutes you get with a remote start is plenty for the cabin, but not nearly enough for the battery. Too much thermal mass.

 

[VTbuckeye]

I want to use as little electricity as possible. 15 to 25 minute 7.5 mile commute. Yes preconditioning makes the truck more efficient during the drive, but I already have on a hat, jacket, gloves and ty he wheel and seats warmers are effective, so I do not need to make the interior a balmy 72 degrees. If I use 3.2kwh each way on my drive in the cold and 2.5 kWh each way when warmer will I use more than 1.4 kWh preconditioning? Probably and at that point heating it when not driving is wasting electricity. Will not heating it cause damage/degradation? If not and I don't need the range then I'd rather not plug it in.

 

[sotek2345]

I want to use as little electricity as possible. 15 to 25 minute 7.5 mile commute. Yes preconditioning makes the truck more efficient during the drive, but I already have on a hat, jacket, gloves and ty he wheel and seats warmers are effective, so I do not need to make the interior a balmy 72 degrees. If I use 3.2kwh each way on my drive in the cold and 2.5 kWh each way when warmer will I use more than 1.4 kWh preconditioning? Probably and at that point heating it when not driving is wasting electricity. Will not heating it cause damage/degradation? If not and I don't need the range then I'd rather not plug it in.

Preconditioning will always use more electricity than not, since you are bleeding heat while it is warming. For minimum electrical usage, don't precondition or remote start. The battery will keep itself warm enough to avoid damage / degradation.

 

[Nick503955]

It is about time. When cold, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to fully warm the battery. The 15 minutes you get with a remote start is plenty for the cabin, but not nearly enough for the battery. Too much thermal mass.

Would extending the time be an option?

 

[sotek2345]

Would extending the time be an option?

Maybe? Makes more sense to give a pre-condition on demand function (and get as much as you can) as well as the remote start function. That way we could choose what we want.

 

[Beans]

One thing to keep in mind about preconditioning is that it may help preserve battery life. Batteries only have so many cycles in them. By adding 10kW from shore power that's 10kW of a charge cycle that the battery doesn't use warming itself.

No idea if this will have any noticeable effect on battery life, but something to consider.

 

[Nick503955]

Tom just did a State of Charge video about this topic:

 

[HaroldCal]

I'll add my "me too" to the request for a "precondition now" button. I too leave at unpredictable times each day, but I usually know 30m before I need to walk out the door. If I could hit the "precondition now" button before I get in the shower, that would probably be entirely sufficient in the mild Las Vegas winter.

 

[Akbrian]

Your truck will warm the battery (either using stored energy, or energy from the grid if plugged in) to avoid any damage or deterioration. However, this temperature point is less than the optimum temp for range/performance.

On a daily basis, preconditioning is just about comfort / convenience as you said. You can also get that just by remote starting the truck in the app (for the cabin anyways). Where it really matters is before a longer range road trip, as it can get you an extra 40-60 miles of range on that first leg. Thankfully, we typically know those are coming more in advance.

No it does not use battery energy to warm battery. It limits power available. I can confirm based on several recent trips at -20F. once battery cools down unplugged it never heats up in very cold conditions even after driving for two hours. I got 1 degree of HVB temp rise and HVB inlet temp was never above 0. The only way to heat battery is charge or plug in and precondition.

preconditioning uses a tremendous amount of power 10-35kWh depending on outside temperature.

 

[jerock]

This was a very good podcast! Darrin Palmer was informative & it sounds like they may cut back on some of the conservative things about the Lightning, hopefully faster DC charging to 90%?

He made a point that if you’re uncertain of your departure time, setting it for an earlier time will give you most the benefit, even if set a couple of hours early. It's supposed to only loose 1 deg per hour according to testing.

Now if they could only make everyone’s departure settings work. Mine is working lately without a hitch.

Tom just did a State of Charge video about this topic:

 

[Nick503955]

He made a point that if you’re uncertain of your departure time, setting it for an earlier time will give you most the benefit, even if set a couple of hours early. It's supposed to only loose 1 deg per hour according to testing.

Link to referenced time 24:35 :

 

[Pioneer74]

So, precondition.....but you lose your heated steering wheel. Use the brake coach on the main screen.....but there is no battery percentage on that screen. Darren says they are too conservative with their range guesstimation, but the new DTE update shows an unattainable number.

Maybe it's just because I had a bad day at work, but why is every interview between Tom and Darren "love fest"? Palmer says they are talking to customers every day and will treat them like family to fix issues. But the Lightning, and especially the Mach-E, have had software issues since launch and there is no way to report it, no way to bring it to the attention to somebody that can address it and nothing ever changes.

/rant

 

[nanohead]

So, precondition.....but you lose your heated steering wheel. Use the brake coach on the main screen.....but there is no battery percentage on that screen. Darren says they are too conservative with their range guesstimation, but the new DTE update shows an unattainable number.

Maybe it's just because I had a bad day at work, but why is every interview between Tom and Darren "love fest"? Palmer says they are talking to customers every day and will treat them like family to fix issues. But the Lightning, and especially the Mach-E, have had software issues since launch and there is no way to report it, no way to bring it to the attention to somebody that can address it and nothing ever changes.

/rant

I feel much the same... Our Mach E has a mind of its own many days, but overall is really a great car. But the software ... just not there yet

The Lightning, I've only had it for less than a week, but it feels more refined.

This whole precondition thing though, I have ZERO idea what they're talking about. I don't set departure times, as they are different every day. Why can't I just go on my phone and tell it to "Precondition" and heat the battery and car.

Why in the world do I have to set a departure time for every day of the week. Makes ZERO sense

 

[nanohead]

Maybe? Makes more sense to give a pre-condition on demand function (and get as much as you can) as well as the remote start function. That way we could choose what we want.

This! I have absolutely no clue why I need to set this on a schedule for every day of the week. Just dumb, and a terrible assumption on the software designers part. While it make work for some people who are on a more rigid schedule, many people just jump in the car and go but know about it a few hours ahead of time.

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