To Pre-Condition or not to? Usage and analysis - 7kw @0C/32F

[PrivateJoker]

I recently started testing pre-conditioning to see how much energy it would consume. I have a JuiceBox which has some good data logging that I'm taking advantage of and thought I'd review what a pre-conditioning session looks like consumption and timewise on an F150.

This morning was good because it offers a baseline at 0C/32F.

It looks like there was a little over 7kW of Energy used to precondition the truck outdoors. I had my time set to 7am and it started drawing electricity from my charger at ~5:43am. See graph below:

Now looking at this, its quite a bit of Energy and my commute to work is short, 4km/~2 miles. IMO I'm better off jumping in the truck and just driving with some gloves (Ford, heated steering activation any time now ) in this scenario - seems wasteful for 4 minutes of mild discomfort. But you can see why lots of small trips from a cold and dark start can easily chew through the battery simply getting it up to temp.

@Ford: I'm not sure what the start feature does, if it warms the battery - but it would be nice to have finer tuned "on-demand" control of this feature. For example, could I choose to warm the battery, or the cabin, or both. I also really miss my old Tesla feature of selecting which seats (and/or) steering to warm.

Sponsored

 

[RickLightning]

Remote start does not warm the battery.

Yes, departure times for short drives are wasteful.

Note that Ford has just implemented a battery warm, if capacity exists (you're not pulling all the heat into the cabin). I would not be surprised if they implement a remote start battery warm at some point.

 

[jimfigler]

I never precondition but I do remote start while plugged in. I honestly never know when I leaving or which vehicle we are driving as my wife and I carpool most days. I do it mainly to warm the cabin, that makes her happy. It was in the garage and outside temp temp was 32F. So probably 40s in the garage. I used 0.209 kwh.

 

[greenne]

Also note that as far as I know "preconditioning" when not plugging in will only precondition the cabin..not the battery.

If you don't want the battery precondition you could simply not plug in every night.

 

[Fryballin]

I wonder if driving the truck with the battery “cold soaked” (sitting at cold temps for hours overnight” is hard on the battery at all? I expect it probably isn’t but I know the ford engineers say preconditioning the battery at some point in the day allows the battery to retain a lot of that heat throughout the day. But maybe all that does is extend your range when driving. I do know though that when a battery is cold soaked, the available power the truck allows is less than 100% and I’m sure that’s to protect the battery some how.

 

[F150ROD]

Preconditioning works for me on my 75 miles daily drive, so those extra kW are worth it to me. Ford will get there with their app and features.

 

[greenne]

I wonder if driving the truck with the battery “cold soaked” (sitting at cold temps for hours overnight” is hard on the battery at all? I expect it probably isn’t but I know the ford engineers say preconditioning the battery at some point in the day allows the battery to retain a lot of that heat throughout the day. But maybe all that does is extend your range when driving. I do know though that when a battery is cold soaked, the available power the truck allows is less than 100% and I’m sure that’s to protect the battery some how.

I would hope that the truck has a battery management system that "protects" the battery from damage in high or low temps, even when the truck is turned off. I can't imagine Ford offering a warranty on a battery that would be allowed to routinely be damaged by simply NOT plugging it in.

I know Ford does recommend plugging up for best performance, but I would be surprised if they did not have a sufficient battery protection system in place

 

[davehu]

Haven't received my Lightning yet but have been wondering the same thing: Range is not an issue for me as 100% of my driving will be local, so I don't anticipate pre conditioning the battery unless I see something that tells me it extends battery LIFE...not just range

 

[cwstnsko]

Since my local driving never uses much of the battery, I tend to only use departure times when I am planning to leave on a trip. For everyday driving, I do a remote start about 10 minutes before I go, just so the truck is comfortable when I get in.

 

[3rdgenfan]

I wonder if driving the truck with the battery “cold soaked” (sitting at cold temps for hours overnight” is hard on the battery at all? I expect it probably isn’t but I know the ford engineers say preconditioning the battery at some point in the day allows the battery to retain a lot of that heat throughout the day. But maybe all that does is extend your range when driving. I do know though that when a battery is cold soaked, the available power the truck allows is less than 100% and I’m sure that’s to protect the battery some how.

I noticed mine dialed back the available power down to about 90%, and I normally have it plugged in after a day or two of driving...pretty sure it even kept it down at 90% the entire drive. I was thinking it'd have gone back up to 100% after a few miles of driving to get everything flowing and up to temp.

 

[luebri]

I've been doing some testing in the following thread...

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/ideal-charging-practices.14066/page-4#post-295063

...and my research so far completely validated my belief that the best of both worlds is to set up your "nightly charge" (if you are a charge every day person... I am.) to happen as close to your morning departure, with or without Departure times setup. Charging itself warms the battery to the same amount if not more than Departure times. So just use the charging time to kill both birds with one stone and not waste energy.

What you do not want to do is get home in the evening charge and warm battery, let battery cool overnight, and then spend more energy re-warming in the morning with Departure time.

I do my Charging starting at 4 AM for a targeted departure time of ~7 AM and have found that to be my sweet spot and it has definitely improved my efficiency and lessened my Departure and Comfort kWh usage. In the attached graph you can see how I am "blending" the 2 periods.

Also an additional benefit of morning charging is it prevents the battery from sitting at a potentially high state of charge for longer periods prior to .

 

[Akbrian]

Charging itself warms the battery to the same amount if not more than Departure times.

you made some really good points. One clarification based on checking battery temps while charging. I found all the temp pid sensors and have monitored them during charge.

charging with FCSP does warm the battery the same as preconditioning because the heater engages and the two diverter valves send heat to the battery whenever it is charging with the FCSP in cold temperatures.

while using the ford mobile in 240v to charge the heater does not engage and the temperature increase in battery is minimal.

in 120v same as 240v no heat and minimal charging if you can even get it to charge. My 120v charger goes amber below 15F.

Sponsored