Cold weather range and battery temperature

[HimuraMOdo]

Does anybody know what the optimal battery temp range is? I had been told at one point by a Rivian Tech that it was 70-90F, but it seemed like this morning like my motor temps dropped back from the high 200s to the low 100s once once the battery hit the 50F range.

Based on my last ski trip observation, the battery preconditioning stops at around 59-60F.

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[Electrified Outdoors]

Below 20F all EV really suffer... Even Tesla with the heat pump.

Until the update here is what I recommend:

Drop charge limit to 10% below your normal charge limit. Set a reminder on your phone, go into the app 1 hour before your departure and increase charge limit at least 10%. This will charge the battery and heat it up some.

Alternatively, if you know how long it will take to charge you can set a charging schedule so that it starts charging and stops right when your ready to depart. If you want to do this, use the EV charging time calculator here:

https://www.inchcalculator.com/electric-vehicle-charging-time-calculator/

If your charging at the full 48 amps it's 11kw. This will get you pretty darn close ?

 

[Singletracker]

Does anybody know what the optimal battery temp range is? I had been told at one point by a Rivian Tech that it was 70-90F, but it seemed like this morning like my motor temps dropped back from the high 200s to the low 100s once once the battery hit the 50F range.

I can’t recall ever seeing battery temps anywhere near 90F. 50‘s and 60’s seem to be more the norm, when warmed up. Your experience with the motors heating up and the related battery temp is consistent with my experience on cold winter mornings. I’ve seen up to 284 F on the motors. And, it can take quite awhile for things to heat up to normal operating temp, all the while the motors are smokin’.. If I drive off with the vehicle stone cold, between the motors heating up the battery and my heater warming up the interior, mileage really takes a hit. If you can charge at home, what I have found that really helps is to plug the car in for 15 minutes or so prior to hitting the road. This uses my cheap shore power to not only heat the battery, but also the interior. When I follow this procedure, I don’t experience the high motor temps and large mileage hit.

 

[iansriv]

I can’t recall ever seeing battery temps anywhere near 90F. 50‘s and 60’s seem to be more the norm, when warmed up. Your experience with the motors heating up and the related battery temp is consistent with my experience on cold winter mornings. I’ve seen up to 284 F on the motors. And, it can take quite awhile for things to heat up to normal operating temp, all the while the motors are smokin’.. If I drive off with the vehicle stone cold, between the motors heating up the battery and my heater warming up the interior, mileage really takes a hit. If you can charge at home, what I have found that really helps is to plug the car in for 15 minutes or so prior to hitting the road. This uses my cheap shore power to not only heat the battery, but also the interior. When I follow this procedure, I don’t experience the high motor temps and large mileage hit.

Does simply plugging the car in initiate the battery to warm up or do you have to set a destination or something? Planning my first EV road trip next week. Cheers.

 

[eskudo12791]

Does simply plugging the car in initiate the battery to warm up or do you have to set a destination or something? Planning my first EV road trip next week. Cheers.

Preconditioning is allegedly coming in the next update, like a previous commenter mentioned, changing the charge limit to higher than where the vehicle currently is at will initiate charging which will heat up the battery.

 

[Supratachophobia]

Hi all,

This is my first winter with my R1T and I've been a bit surprised by the extent to which range has been suffering (and by how slowly the battery seems to warm up) in in recent weeks. I'm in Vermont.

Decided to collect a bit of data on a route I often drive this morning and would be interested to hear if folks think this is all normal, or if this is an issue that requires service.

Departed at 8AM today headed from my home to Stratton Ski Resort, which is 33.5 miles away (all on 2-lane state highways), with a net elevation gain of approx 1400 feet. Car was charged to 95% but not plugged in when I departed and the outside temp was 16F. At departure, my battery temp was 27F and motors were all 32F.

At 8:15, fifteen minutes into my drive, outside temp was still 16F, battery temp was 32F and motor temps ranged from 224-253F.

At 8:30, thirty minutes into my drive, outside temp had climbed to 18F, battery was up to 49F and motor temps were 267-280F.

At 8:48, on arrival at Stratton, outside temp was 21F, battery was 59F and motor temps had dropped to 129-140F. The car reported 72% range remaining, so I used approximately a quarter of my car's range to drive 33 miles.

Does this sound within reasonable expecations to you folks? My other car is an I Pace which, while having a baseline range of quite a bit less than the R1T, doesn't seem to lose quite so much range in cold weather.

I think we all underestimate the amount if energy needed to bring a cold soaked battery up to optimal operating temperature. So yes, that does sound excessive but it also sounds rough correct. Is there any way you can prevent your battery getting that cold to begin with? And/or why can't you just leave it plugged in?

 

[NineElectrics]

With 20" snow tires, a ski rack, and 40 degree ambient temps, my max range is 212 miles, BTW. The car really needs a heat pump.

 

[Fred6v]

Pretty informative video for first time EV owners abt cold weather effects on battery. Might want to watch at double speed given length

 

[sherold]

Does simply plugging the car in initiate the battery to warm up or do you have to set a destination or something? Planning my first EV road trip next week. Cheers.

No. As of today, the only "pre-heating" done by plugging in is the heat naturally generated by charging. This can be enough to get the batteries warm but, depending on your conditions maybe not up to optimal efficiency temperatures.

Once they release pre-conditioning feature in the next update, this will give us the ability to use shore power to purposefully perform this heating to optimal temps.

 

[Golfer04]

No. As of today, the only "pre-heating" done by plugging in is the heat naturally generated by charging. This can be enough to get the batteries warm but, depending on your conditions maybe not up to optimal efficiency temperatures.

Once they release pre-conditioning feature in the next update, this will give us the ability to use shore power to purposefully perform this heating to optimal temps.

I have found setting the overnight charge yo end at 7am (when I leave) helps immensely. Obviously more of a PIA than just plug and go inside, but you know approximately how much power you need to reach the desired state of charge and how much you get per hr. Just set the vehicle to finish 30 minutes before you leave. And I'm pretty sure the optimal battery temp is 70-80 degrees. Kyle C mentioned it several times and two Riv techs told me the same thing.
That being said this thing really does need a heat pump. Btw, I also found the 20in original tires were part of my problem too. This winter on my Michelins I have not seen the terrible efficiency of last winter. Hit me in spades when I got a stock loaner on 20s during a service call. Efficiency was 20 percent less.

 

[iansriv]

Thanks all for the good info. I will charge up to 90% the night before and then switch up to 100% in the morning before leaving so the battery is warmed up. The battery temp has usually been 55-60 in the garage.

My R1S is on 20" ATs. I plan to charge to 100% before leaving the house. I'm driving ~300 miles in temps between 40 (low)-60 (high), on flat roads. Once I get on the highway I plan to use conserve mode. That will probably give me ~300 mile range. I will most probably be driving 75-80mph so, I'm planning on 250 mile range and leaving a little buffer to charge at the 200 mile mark.

 

[Riviot]

Does this sound within reasonable expecations to you folks?

Yes. Preconditioning is coming s00n, gone will go the days of us doing math to manually determine start times for warming our batteries.

Thanks all for the good info. I will charge up to 90% the night before and then switch up to 100% in the morning before leaving so the battery is warmed up. The battery temp has usually been 55-60 in the garage.

My R1S is on 20" ATs. I plan to charge to 100% before leaving the house. I'm driving ~300 miles in temps between 40 (low)-60 (high), on flat roads. Once I get on the highway I plan to use conserve mode. That will probably give me ~300 mile range. I will most probably be driving 75-80mph so, I'm planning on 250 mile range and leaving a little buffer to charge at the 200 mile mark.

Where's the fire, my dude? Can you slow down to 70? 80mph will do more damage than the cold will.

 

[iansriv]

Yes. Preconditioning is coming s00n, gone will go the days of us doing math to manually determine start times for warming our batteries.

Where's the fire, my dude? Can you slow down to 70? 80mph will do more damage than the cold will.

I've read one too many "Rivian rear ended" posts. I'm scared of getting run over. (j/k).

 

[Singletracker]

Does simply plugging the car in initiate the battery to warm up or do you have to set a destination or something? Planning my first EV road trip next week. Cheers.

To answer your quesion - no, you do not have to set a destination. I leave my truck plugged in over night. Then, 15-20 minuted prior to leaving, I use my phone to initiate the charging process remotely. If your vehicle is already sitting at its predetermined charge limit, you will have to bump the limit up a few percentage points so that the charging will start. As noted, I also start the heater to warm up the interior. While this is not enough time to thoroughly heat up the battery, it seems to be enough to limit the motors’ excessive heating and to minimize the negative effect on range.

 

[rpo]

Related question - will plugging into 120V outlet help with battery temperature? Heading to northern NM next week with lows forecasted in the single digits and no access to a garage. Thanks in advance

It will help if it is plugged into 120v and charging, so do it. It is definitely better than leaving it unplugged and getting completely cold soaked.

As a comparison, I had a 2023 Model X until it was lemoned that spent a couple of nights in single digits plugged into 120v/12amps. It lost a few miles overnight despite charging because it was mostly trying to keep the battery pack warm enough to charge...which means it did not need to warm the pack once we started driving, so there was still a benefit even if the miles didn't increase.

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