CHARGING IN THE WINTER

[Firn]

Are you stuck with a constrained TOU window?
If not, try shifting the charging period closer to drive time.

No, can charge at any time.

In the end though regardless of when it charges I have no use for the heat in the battery. If it helps or protects the battery i can see it, but otherwise I just wish it kept the battery cold and charged it up.

Probably another thing that would be nice to have more manual control over

Sponsored

 

[Maxx]

No, can charge at any time.

In the end though regardless of when it charges I have no use for the heat in the battery. If it helps or protects the battery i can see it, but otherwise I just wish it kept the battery cold and charged it up.

Probably another thing that would be nice to have more manual control over

It is true that using the battery (taking power) when it is below zero is not as bad as charging at that temp (which cause lithium plating and permanent damage). But it is good to remember when you drive away your truck cold, every time you hit the brake, you are charging it. And with most brakes, especially when it is in sport mode you are fast charging it. So heating the battery before leaving has two benefits; 1 you protect it from permanent damage. 2 - you get more miles out of stored energy (you get some of the power you put in to heat it back).

 

[RickLightning]

below, brake, brakes...

 

[PJnc284]

I looked at my unofficial (dated) service manual, no pictorial diagram of where it's located, suspect it's down stream of the PTC or the near the diverter valve.

I'm guessing it's pretty close to the heater. Cranked up the heat and the coolant heater power jumped up from 0 to 8kW and the engine coolant temp went from 80F to 120F in about 15-20 seconds.

 

[Firn]

It is true that using the battery (taking power) when it is below zero is not as bad as charging at that temp (which cause lithium plating and permanent damage). But it is good to remember when you drive away your truck cold, every time you hit the brake, you are charging it. And with most brakes, especially when it is in sport mode you are fast charging it. So heating the battery before leaving has two benefits; 1 you protect it from permanent damage. 2 - you get more miles out of stored energy (you get some of the power you put in to heat it back).

I dont disagree, however I also dont see any benifit to me.

I could set a charge time closer to my departure time however it would still be heating at the beginning of the cycle and cooling off before I drive it, so wasted BTUs.

I could set a departure time, but then I'm heating the battery just to throw more btus into the environment when I get to work 20 minutes later.

I could initiate a short charging session before I leave, but here again I dont need the range and I would just be throwing away BTUs 20 min later when the truck sits at work. If I'm buying those BTUs I would very much rather have them in the garage

Ultimately my first drive of the day usually to work, there it sits and cools to ambient. If we drive the truck heavy that day its into the evening so there was no benifit from heating it 10 hrs earlier.

No matter how I cut it I might only see a benifit for a short drive to work, when I dont need it. After that any benifit of heating the battery is lost.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Last night was mild rainy evening, the day time temps hit low 50's so pack wasn't as cold, no call for spontaneous warming, but I did program an early morning charging session starting at 0500 am, I needed 29% to get back to 90%. The Session lasted 2 hours 35 minutes.

The conversion loss was on point at 9%, this number tells me that the pack was not directly pre-heated or in processes heated by the PTC.

The Car Scanner stat's about 2 minutes before the charging session completed ~ 7:33 am, the heat in the pack is from charging activity, transmission & motor temps were warm also, I suspect the circulator and diverter values runs the excess heat through all systems to help dissipate the heat, avoiding the need for the active chilling system to run. The DC/DC & LVB was trickle charging the 12v system.

Energy consumed for the charging session : per Emporia, Ford App & FCSP log:

The Charging session losses calculation

The weekly energy needed including prior days of spontaneous warming and on the plug remote start warming of cabin for 46 miles driven so far this week:

Weekly view of data from Emporia & FCSP logs

Sponsored