Cold Cold Weather tips

[fedie0007]

One important note on Departure Times/Preconditioning: It appears the truck prioritizes charging to SOC over preconditioning. Make sure you have enough time to get to your SOC before your preconditioning window hits or it may not precondition. The preconditioning window can be up to 2 hours before your departure time. This is most noticeable when charging to 100% since it does a cell/pack balance between 99%-->100% SOC. If you are unsure if you have the time for 100%, set SOC to 95% for more reliable preconditioning.

I take my truck to 100% at least once every couple of months. It had been about 2 months since I did this, but this weekend it took 3 hours to go from 99%-->100% due to the slow balancing process. I'm pretty sure this would have killed preconditioning had it been set in that 3 hour period. If you charge to 100% more frequently, it will take less time for the 99%-->100% balancing process.

Thanks, This explains why my battery didn't preheat the last two times I set a departure time.
I ended up starting the truck while it was still plugged in, turning on cabin heat for 30 seconds and then turning the heat back off. After that the truck will warm the battery up to 65 degrees according to car scanner. Not sure why that isn't listed as a strategy above.

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[Jseis]

Oh come on MAN how many kilometers per midnight ?

I get home really late lol‍. Kilometers per midnight is a cool statistic that only an S.O. has a handle on 🫣

and to quote SNL George Washington: “Because we are free to choose any unit we want but energy will
always be in kilometers per midnight”

 

[TaxmanHog]

One important note on Departure Times/Preconditioning: It appears the truck prioritizes charging to SOC over preconditioning. Make sure you have enough time to get to your SOC before your preconditioning window hits or it may not precondition. The preconditioning window can be up to 2 hours before your departure time. This is most noticeable when charging to 100% since it does a cell/pack balance between 99%-->100% SOC. If you are unsure if you have the time for 100%, set SOC to 95% for more reliable preconditioning.

These screens confirm the concept, this is before plugging in the truck, I am only 7% below my goal of 90% and my FCSP running at 80 amps has the capacity to restore the deficit in about 30 minutes.

After plugging in the truck & EVSE exchange data, this informs the truck that it can reach SOC goal well before the set departure time at 12:50 pm, charging on Sunday will start at 10:00 am, should be done by 10:30 am and the departure time is 12:50 pm. The first screen shot assumes the possibility of needing to start charging immediately with the capacity unknown at the moment.

Notice the impact on the scheduled charge time when the departure & comfort is switched off.

Given worse variables, such as a lower SOC or a tight scheduling of events, I've seen the charging commence immediately after plugging in.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I did a second departure time test this afternoon, again with the charging SOC goal shorted to below present SOC to block possible charging energy, I also switched off cabin conditioning.

The purpose of the test is to see how much of the morning warm-up was lost to the environment. Simulating a work schedule where one is to prepare for homebound commute, only factor that may negatively affect the results is the heat created during a morning commute, the motor inverters, gears and battery create heat, I'm not creating any by leaving the truck parked in the cold garage all day, actually have not driven the truck for over 32 hours, Temperature was high 30's peak temp mid day was ~41 degrees.

Departure time goal is 4:50 pm, battery conditioning phase kicked off at 4:08 pm, ran 11 minutes finishing at 4:19 pm, total energy to get the temperature to spec. is 1.991 kWh

FCSP proves the energy needed, 1.996 kWh to warm up the battery again.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Then after letting the truck sit for a while, I did a remote start to warm the cabin, seats and steering wheel over a period of 15 minutes. This is the power flow to warm up the cabin only.

The FCSP energy for remote start / cabin climate conditioning, shows 4.222 kWh, a bit more than the Emporia measured at 3.167 kWh

The times on the chart are encoded from the most recent FCSP setup that I did in the fall before the change from EDT to EST, the FCSP does not automatically change DST value, the Ford cloud takes the date stamp at face value.

Total energy for the day's battery warming phases and one cabin warming phase consumed 7.77 kWH, if I had done a cabin warming phase in the morning similar to the afternoon event, grand total energy for conditioning would be about 11 kWh, or about 300 kWh per month, at my local energy rates @ 33.3 cents a kWH that's $100.

Again, for my driving conditions, moderate speeds, low loads, short trips, battery warming is not super beneficial, YMMV.

Possibly warming the battery in preparation for a weekly charging session would be helpful for the general health of the battery.

 

[TaxmanHog]

With that all said, I look forward to testing results in fine detail from a member with a model year 2024 heat pump HVAC system showing the efficiency improvements.

 

[Lightning Rod]

I have been setting departure times this week before leaving and it always says, Preparing the cabin for departure, but is never says preparing battery. The temp in my garage would be 20 degrees F, yet I've never seen the Preparing battery message. Is there something that I'm doing wrong?

 

[TaxmanHog]

I have been setting departure times this week before leaving and it always says, Preparing the cabin for departure, but is never says preparing battery. The temp in my garage would be 20 degrees F, yet I've never seen the Preparing battery message. Is there something that I'm doing wrong?

Take a peek at FP in ten minute increments starting about an hour prior to your set departure time, you'll see it at some point.

 

[Lightning Rod]

Take a peek at FP in ten minute increments starting about an hour prior to your set departure time, you'll see it at some point.

Ahhh... ok.

Will try that, thank you.

 

[Ragman]

With that all said, I look forward to testing results in fine detail from a member with a model year 2024 heat pump HVAC system showing the efficiency improvements.

Based on your testing and observations any recommendation for ideal "L2" charger - looking like ~11kw? We're popping our L2's that put out 9 KW right now, can probably swing 60 amp breakers to step up to a full 48 charger the 100 amp for the FCSP's is a bit more of a capacity challenge.

We have a 24 Flash being prep'd at dealer and a 24 Pro stuck at factory, after xmas can compare live against our 23's (parked side by side) if you have ideas.

 

[Maquis]

Based on your testing and observations any recommendation for ideal "L2" charger - looking like ~11kw? We're popping our L2's that put out 9 KW right now, can probably swing 60 amp breakers to step up to a full 48 charger the 100 amp for the FCSP's is a bit more of a capacity challenge.

We have a 24 Flash being prep'd at dealer and a 24 Pro stuck at factory, after xmas can compare live against our 23's (parked side by side) if you have ideas.

Based on what I’ve gleaned from this forum and the Mach-E forum, Emporia seems to get the most love and fewest complaints.

 

[Maxx]

Again, for my driving conditions, moderate speeds, low loads, short trips, battery warming is not super beneficial, YMMV.

I need your advice. I am OK with inefficiency of a cold battery. The only thing I am concerned about is preventing or slowing down lithium plating. In other words, I prefer not to jam in electrons by charging or regen when battery is really cold. My drives are short and unpredictable. I don’t have a garage and truck sits outside when it is bellow freezing. Here are my questions:

1 - I try not to do this when possible, but when I plug in my 32 Amp L2 charger bellow zero, does the truck heat up the battery first before pushing the electrons in? Or they go in cold and it is electrons that heat up the battery not the heating element? In other words, does truck protect itself or some damage is done with every cold charge? Edit: I just plugged in with battery at 28 degrees and it started adding energy to the battery immediately so there is no automatic precondition feature before charging there.

2 - What is the easiest way to get the battery above freezing before my unplanned departure? I have my driving info sharing off so I don’t see a lot of features including departure times in the app but I don’t mind walking to the truck to do anything I need to do. Is there a secret “precondition now” button somewhere?

3 - What do you think is better; Drive first to heat up the battery and then charge, or charge the battery to heat it up and then drive (assuming range is not a concern).

 

[TMND]

In my experience dealing with negative temperatures. When I plug in to level two charger cold the first hour I lose anywhere between 2 to 5% charge although the Ford app says it’s charging at 8 kW. After which the percentage will start slowly going the other way. I can only assume this is the system bringing the battery up to a safe temperature to deposit said electrons.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I need your advice. I am OK with inefficiency of a cold battery. The only thing I am concerned about is preventing or slowing down lithium plating. In other words, I prefer not to jam in electrons by charging or regen when battery is really cold. My drives are short and unpredictable. I don’t have a garage and truck sits outside when it is bellow freezing. Here are my questions:

1 - I try not to do this when possible, but when I plug in my 32 Amp L2 charger bellow zero, does the truck heat up the battery first before pushing the electrons in? Or they go in cold and it is electrons that heat up the battery not the heating element? In other words, does truck protect itself or some damage is done with every cold charge? Edit: I just plugged in with battery at 28 degrees and it started adding energy to the battery immediately so there is no automatic precondition feature before charging there.

2 - What is the easiest way to get the battery above freezing before my unplanned departure? I have my driving info sharing off so I don’t see a lot of features including departure times in the app but I don’t mind walking to the truck to do anything I need to do. Is there a secret “precondition now” button somewhere?

3 - What do you think is better; Drive first to heat up the battery and then charge, or charge the battery to heat it up and then drive (assuming range is not a concern).

Unfortunately I don't use a scanner to monitor what the temps actually are in the cold soaked pack during charging process, but I have to assume that at least 25% of the energy is initially going to the warming process, the balance is going to the battery pack.

Assuming your highest concern is to not 'force' a charge while the battery is below freezing, without putting miles on the truck & using a faux destination to a DCFC to trick the BMS to commence battery warming, stationary in the driveway process

You could also try the following

• Edit the location based charging profile (in the truck) to 50% (assuming you're current SOC is above this value) that should inhibit charging for the next step, 50% is the minimum.
• Define a departure time that commences around the time you intend to do some charging, that will execute 30-60 minutes prior to faux leave time, warming up the battery.
• Once the departure time has lapsed, go out to the truck, edit the location based charging limit to whatever value you desire, let the charging proceed.
• This sequence of events should get the pack temps up, and it'll warm further from the charging activity.

You could do all of this from the comfort of your easy chair IF you turn on connected options......

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I need your advice. I am OK with inefficiency of a cold battery. The only thing I am concerned about is preventing or slowing down lithium plating. In other words, I prefer not to jam in electrons by charging or regen when battery is really cold. My drives are short and unpredictable. I don’t have a garage and truck sits outside when it is bellow freezing. Here are my questions:

1 - I try not to do this when possible, but when I plug in my 32 Amp L2 charger bellow zero, does the truck heat up the battery first before pushing the electrons in? Or they go in cold and it is electrons that heat up the battery not the heating element? In other words, does truck protect itself or some damage is done with every cold charge? Edit: I just plugged in with battery at 28 degrees and it started adding energy to the battery immediately so there is no automatic precondition feature before charging there.

2 - What is the easiest way to get the battery above freezing before my unplanned departure? I have my driving info sharing off so I don’t see a lot of features including departure times in the app but I don’t mind walking to the truck to do anything I need to do. Is there a secret “precondition now” button somewhere?

3 - What do you think is better; Drive first to heat up the battery and then charge, or charge the battery to heat it up and then drive (assuming range is not a concern).

The truck will manage its battery health better than you can.

1. Keep the truck plugged in whenever possible.
2. Set a departure time.
   1. If you really want to warm it up and you have an L2 charger, in Ford's Nav (or Google Maps, if your truck is updated) set your destination to a DCFC that's no farther than about 18 miles, and tell the navigation to start.
3. Charge the battery to give it the opportunity to control its battery temperature more deliberately.

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