L2 Charging won't Initiate on Cold Battery

[NoDakEric]

Has anyone seen this issue? I have a Gen1 R1T, Max Pack that will not initiate L2 charging at home when the temperature is very cold, like below zero. This has happened three times this winter. The battery temp has been 15 degrees and the truck has been sitting undriven for a few hours. When plugged in, I get a charging initiation failure message and the light around the charger flashes red. Repeated unplug and plug in do not change the outcome. It will charge normally if I drive around the block (aggressive acceleration and deceleration to warm the battery 1 degree). Just 1/2 mile of driving allows me to charge normally. I did not encounter this last winter and assume it is part of the updates to protect the battery. But why is it not initiating a battery-heating sequence?
#minnesotaproblems

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[C.R. Rivian]

Doesn't get that cold here so have not had any problems. Minimum temp for L2 for me has been in the 20s for overnight charging.

 

[TollKeeper]

I have a quad large, and I actually had this problem this morning.

I was not worried about it since I was about to leave for work, but I had an idea.

What I did what "brake torque" the truck. Put the truck into D, foot fully on the brake pedal first, and then fully on the accelerator. That warmed everything up right quick. Rear motors went from 20* to 100* in about 45 seconds, the fronts went from 20* to 50* in the same amount of time. About the time I hit 1 minute mark, it may have been 90 seconds, the battery was up to 45*. And I was able to charge it no problem.

 

[emoore]

Never had this issue even in below 0 temps.

 

[Taz355]

Left truck outside at -35C overnight moved truck inside in the morning
truck battery at least -15c truck would not charge and the charge time ramped up quickly from 1 .5 hrs to blank within about 1 minute it just kept going up until it went blank
1.5 to 2 to 2.5 to 3 to 3.5 and so on over about 1 minute till blank

left truck plugged in within 15 minutes motors started heating up within that time likely went to about 90C or a little more still no charge time.
truck only had to charge from 50 to 70%:
checked on truck and about 1.5 hrs in the battery was now at 10C and truck now said 3 hrs to charge.
this is normal from what others told me.

 

[Taz355]

Has anyone seen this issue? I have a Gen1 R1T, Max Pack that will not initiate L2 charging at home when the temperature is very cold, like below zero. This has happened three times this winter. The battery temp has been 15 degrees and the truck has been sitting undriven for a few hours. When plugged in, I get a charging initiation failure message and the light around the charger flashes red. Repeated unplug and plug in do not change the outcome. It will charge normally if I drive around the block (aggressive acceleration and deceleration to warm the battery 1 degree). Just 1/2 mile of driving allows me to charge normally. I did not encounter this last winter and assume it is part of the updates to protect the battery. But why is it not initiating a battery-heating sequence?
#minnesotaproblems

Was you charger and truck out side? at these temps

 

[Taz355]

I have a quad large, and I actually had this problem this morning.

I was not worried about it since I was about to leave for work, but I had an idea.

What I did what "brake torque" the truck. Put the truck into D, foot fully on the brake pedal first, and then fully on the accelerator. That warmed everything up right quick. Rear motors went from 20* to 100* in about 45 seconds, the fronts went from 20* to 50* in the same amount of time. About the time I hit 1 minute mark, it may have been 90 seconds, the battery was up to 45*. And I was able to charge it no problem.

This would be nice to know if this is an approved warming method-

 

[NoDakEric]

Was you charger and truck out side? at these temps

The truck was outside (always outside based on my limited garage space and giving my wife the 1 spot for the I-pace). The charger is inside the garage with the cord running outside to the truck (about 3 feet).

 

[NoDakEric]

I have a quad large, and I actually had this problem this morning.

What I did what "brake torque" the truck. Put the truck into D, foot fully on the brake pedal first, and then fully on the accelerator. That warmed everything up right quick.

I like this idea as its much easier than driving around the block. From my 3 events, just a degree or two of heat will allow charging.

Side note: this occurred with both the Rivian portable charger and a 3rd party charger.

 

[MTBLeibo’s R1T]

Has anyone seen this issue? I have a Gen1 R1T, Max Pack that will not initiate L2 charging at home when the temperature is very cold, like below zero. This has happened three times this winter. The battery temp has been 15 degrees and the truck has been sitting undriven for a few hours. When plugged in, I get a charging initiation failure message and the light around the charger flashes red. Repeated unplug and plug in do not change the outcome. It will charge normally if I drive around the block (aggressive acceleration and deceleration to warm the battery 1 degree). Just 1/2 mile of driving allows me to charge normally. I did not encounter this last winter and assume it is part of the updates to protect the battery. But why is it not initiating a battery-heating sequence?
#minnesotaproblems

My truck is in the service center right now for a similar issue. In my case it would charge on L2 but would not work with a DCFC of any sort including Tesla, Electrify America, EVGo. Will post up a complete write up of the issue for everyone‘s benefit when I get my truck back. Short version is that in sub zero temps (fairly common in MN in the winter) would get a red ring on the charge port and a message saying to unplug and replug. Rivian could not reproduce until they had a sub zero temp morning when it happened for them as well. They are replacing my high voltage battery pack today and we are “lucky“ to have sub zero temps over the next few days so they can confirm all is working as expected after the swap. There is a module in there that accepts a ramp up voltage on DCFC that was not responding during cold weather which is why it gave errors every time I tried to fast charge. The night it failed involved a lot of drama from my perspective which I will detail when I do a separate post after getting the car back. Just wanted to confirm here that charging issues that are isolated to extreme cold conditions are a real thing.

 

[LL75]

a

This would be nice to know if this is an approved warming method-

and make sure you don't let go of the brake !!!

 

[Scottm]

Has anyone seen this issue? I have a Gen1 R1T, Max Pack that will not initiate L2 charging at home when the temperature is very cold, like below zero. This has happened three times this winter. The battery temp has been 15 degrees and the truck has been sitting undriven for a few hours. When plugged in, I get a charging initiation failure message and the light around the charger flashes red. Repeated unplug and plug in do not change the outcome. It will charge normally if I drive around the block (aggressive acceleration and deceleration to warm the battery 1 degree). Just 1/2 mile of driving allows me to charge normally. I did not encounter this last winter and assume it is part of the updates to protect the battery. But why is it not initiating a battery-heating sequence?
#minnesotaproblems

What EVSE were you using? Any adapters? My Teslatap mini had issues where it would randomly work and not work. The company thought it was due to moisture inside but it turned out to be a faulty safety mechanism in the unit.

 

[Rural1T]

I've had this issue with my truck parked outside at around -15°F.

The problem is the computer that controls L2 charging is cold. Blasting the cabin climate control on HI for about 10 minutes normally warms up the computer enough to start charging.

If I'm scheduling a L2 charge to start overnight, I also set a cabin climate schedule to warm the cabin before the charge is scheduled to start to prevent a charging fault.

I hope this helps!

 

[Spether]

Minnesota owner here and during this recent cold snap I had the exact same problem. Here's how I solved it:

I opened the navigation menu, then located a nearby level 3 charger and set that as my destination -- even though I had no intention of actually going there. The truck immediately began preconditioning the battery to prepare it for the supercharger. After about five minutes the battery temp had come up several degrees. I plugged in my L2 charger and it worked just as expected.

I had to remain seated in the truck to keep it going, but it was very safe because I left it in Park and never had to touch the accelerator.

 

[NoDakEric]

Oh, @TollKeeper , I need to apologize for myself and everyone missing the humor in your response. The brake torquing is a great idea, but is just doesn't work in a world of electronics. There is no power flowing to the motors while holding for a brake launch, so nothing actually heats up.

I bit, hook, line and sinker, and failed to give this the laugh emoji it so well deserves. Well Played.

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