Rivian software update spotlight: Cimate Schedules & the Battery Preconditioning

[R1Thor]

• The vehicle preconditions the battery when the climate is turned on if needed. Yes, it does this, and it did it on earlier software stacks as well.
• Yes, the vehicle does this by using the motor(s) windings as heating elements. It does not always use all the motors (on the DM), I have seen it just use my front motor to precondition the battery.
• No, the vehicle does not have to be moving to do this.
• Yes, it does all of this much more efficiently in the DM, rarely needing to heat the motor beyond 120 degrees to get sufficient heat for the battery.

These questions keep popping up, so since it is now winter, hopefully this helps with understanding why it is a good thing to precondition.

...Right.

My question was more along the lines of: If I simply turn on climate manually is that the same as setting the schedule (in my case, there is no real schedule, so I'd have to plan on a week-by-week or even day-by-day basis).

Asked another way: does setting the schedule for preconditioning have any intrinsic benefits (intentional battery conditioning?) over just turning on the heat for <some> amount of time prior to leaving?

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[zefram47]

...Right.

My question was more along the lines of: If I simply turn on climate manually is that the same as setting the schedule (in my case, there is no real schedule, so I'd have to plan on a week-by-week or even day-by-day basis).

Asked another way: does setting the schedule for preconditioning have any intrinsic benefits (intentional battery conditioning?) over just turning on the heat for <some> amount of time prior to leaving?

Doesn't seem to. As above, with 2023.46 I walked out to the preconditioning truck and found one of the motors was orange (warming the battery) while plugged in. I'd assume similar behavior would continue with 2023.50.

 

[Throwdown]

• The vehicle preconditions the battery when the climate is turned on if needed. Yes, it does this, and it did it on earlier software stacks as well.
• Yes, the vehicle does this by using the motor(s) windings as heating elements. It does not always use all the motors (on the DM), I have seen it just use my front motor to precondition the battery.
• No, the vehicle does not have to be moving to do this.
• Yes, it does all of this much more efficiently in the DM, rarely needing to heat the motor beyond 120 degrees to get sufficient heat for the battery.

These questions keep popping up, so since it is now winter, hopefully this helps with understanding why it is a good thing to precondition.

I hate this system to heat the battery, it's wildy inefficient when you have to have you car parked outside and not plugged in(while at work for me)and it seems to make the heat in the hvac system not as effective while it's taking place, also since it can do this they really need to add the function where this waste heat can also be pumped into the cabin like an ECO interior heat function like Mercedes uses.
Today was pretty cold when I left work and I got to watch it overheat my motors even though the battery was at 42 degrees(not freezing) just to get the battery to 53 degrees and I lost 30 miles of range covering 8 miles on flat ground.

 

[Hillbilly]

Is that what most of y'all look like?

 

[R.I.P.]

I hate this system to heat the battery, it's wildy inefficient when you have to have you car parked outside and not plugged in(while at work for me)and it seems to make the heat in the hvac system not as effective while it's taking place, also since it can do this they really need to add the function where this waste heat can also be pumped into the cabin like an ECO interior heat function like Mercedes uses.
Today was pretty cold when I left work and I got to watch it overheat my motors even though the battery was at 42 degrees(not freezing) just to get the battery to 53 degrees and I lost 30 miles of range covering 8 miles on flat ground.

Not much solace to QM drivers, but they did fix this issue in the DM, making it much more efficient.

 

[Herb]

I have never noticed any motor overheating with DM-P (Max) setup. (I am not sure Max battery chemistry requires a different temperature window). I usually also use 1/2 hr scheduled charging before I leave, because I believe it puts some temp in the battery (but have no good data to back that up).
A couple of observations re. scheduled cabin heating: This morning, I scheduled 1/2 cabin heating for exactly the same time slot as 1/2hr charging. The result was that the cabin was pre-heated, but there was no charging session recorded, apparently you can't have both simultaneously. I park in an insulated garage, so I will opt for charging in the morning and cabin pre-heat when I leave work, where I typically plug in.
Also worth noting that in the evening, with outside temp around 30', the cabin was toasty after about 10 minutes (was parked all day, no sun). This time will depend on many factors, of course.

 

[R.I.P.]

I have never noticed any motor overheating with DM-P (Max) setup. (I am not sure Max battery chemistry requires a different temperature window). I usually also use 1/2 hr scheduled charging before I leave, because I believe it puts some temp in the battery (but have no good data to back that up).
A couple of observations re. scheduled cabin heating: This morning, I scheduled 1/2 cabin heating for exactly the same time slot as 1/2hr as charging. The result was that the cabin was pre-heated, but there was no charging session recorded, apparently you can't have both simultaneously. I park in an insulated garage, so I will opt for charging in the morning and cabin pre-heat when I leave work, where I typically plug in.
Also worth noting that in the evening, with outside temp around 30', the cabin was toasty after about 10 minutes (was parked all day, no sun). This time will depend on many factors, of course.

DMs need to create far less heat to do the job, because the oil bath pulls it more efficiently off the coils. So whereas you will see them heat up a bit, you won't ever see the high heat the Bosch motors have to create just to export a little bit.

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