Scheduled preconditioning doesn’t pull from shore power first

[NineElectrics]

I’ve been using the new scheduled preconditioning feature and told it to pull from the wall. It looks like when the car is heating, power isn’t taken from the wall continuously. Sometimes the battery drops by about 2%. Looking at my ChargePoint, I see spikey charging.

I conclude that unlike most EVs, the Rivian lacks the capability to preferentially draw from shore power when heating. All heating power comes from the battery, and then the battery is periodically refreshed.

So, you’re not saving charge cycles by leaving the car plugged in, and depending on when you leave you may have 2% less charge than you want.

This is pretty dumb. What other basic hardware features did Rivian designers overlook, I wonder? Besides the heat pump?

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[Electrified Outdoors]

I’ve been using the new scheduled preconditioning feature and told it to pull from the wall. It looks like when the car is heating, power isn’t taken from the wall continuously. Sometimes the battery drops by about 2%. Looking at my ChargePoint, I see spikey charging.

I conclude that unlike most EVs, the Rivian lacks the capability to preferentially draw from shore power when heating. All heating power comes from the battery, and then the battery is periodically refreshed.

So, you’re not saving charge cycles by leaving the car plugged in, and depending on when you leave you may have 2% less charge than you want.

This is pretty dumb. What other basic hardware features did Rivian designers overlook, I wonder? Besides the heat pump?

could this be by design? Wouldn't cycling the battery heat it up more? I have to look closer at this...didn't notice any difference in battery on the recent road trip.

 

[NineElectrics]

could this be by design? Wouldn't cycling the battery heat it up more? I have to look closer at this...didn't notice any difference in battery on the recent road trip.

That could well be, but I would prefer not doing that as I want my battery to be as close to the limit that I set as possible before departure.

 

[atebit]

Not precondition-related, but it’s always annoyed me that the truck does not draw from shore power when connected & the HVAC’s operating (unless it was already charging). IIRC my Tesla’s would always draw from shore power in that situation. Seems like a table-stakes design feature to me. But then again, so does cruise control “resume”.

 

[mtberman]

Mine does. When at or above the threshold I’ve set, my charger kicks on if I activate the heater.

 

[zfischer]

I doubt it but could the evse matter? Like, works with Rivian boxes but not necessarily others?

 

[NineElectrics]

I doubt it but could the evse matter? Like, works with Rivian boxes but not necessarily others?

My ChargePoint does eventually show a power draw, but it’s only after the battery drops 2%.

 

[rivianunder7]

I’ve been using the new scheduled preconditioning feature and told it to pull from the wall. It looks like when the car is heating, power isn’t taken from the wall continuously. Sometimes the battery drops by about 2%. Looking at my ChargePoint, I see spikey charging.

I conclude that unlike most EVs, the Rivian lacks the capability to preferentially draw from shore power when heating. All heating power comes from the battery, and then the battery is periodically refreshed.

So, you’re not saving charge cycles by leaving the car plugged in, and depending on when you leave you may have 2% less charge than you want.

This is pretty dumb. What other basic hardware features did Rivian designers overlook, I wonder? Besides the heat pump?

Very interesting

 

[DTown3011]

I have tried the schedule preconditioning a handful of times and currently have my vehicle set to only charge between the hours of 9 PM and 6 AM due to time of use charging rates. The only time my battery has been preconditioned is if I leave before 6 AM, which tells me, it’s not pulling from Shore power or the charger if it’s outside of the scheduled hours in the setting. I think the time schedule over rules the precondition schedule. I’ll try it next time without drawing from the charger and see if that works outside of the scheduled hours.

 

[GA_Rivian]

I have tried the schedule preconditioning a handful of times and currently have my vehicle set to only charge between the hours of 9 PM and 6 AM due to time of use charging rates. The only time my battery has been preconditioned is if I leave before 6 AM, which tells me, it’s not pulling from Shore power or the charger if it’s outside of the scheduled hours in the setting. I think the time schedule over rules the precondition schedule. I’ll try it next time without drawing from the charger and see if that works outside of the scheduled hours.

I'm in a similar situation, but don't drive that often so it's a bit harder to check. I also sometimes have the cabin temp power turned off because I don't care about conditioning the cabin before leaving. But it appears that even though the cabin temp schedule is activated, with the power off and outside the charge window the battery isn't conditioned.

 

[WSea]

Used schedule yesterday morning and it worked exactly as it is supposed to if you toggle energy usage for it to pull from charger (EVSE) to maintain range

 

[tate16t]

I scheduled a pre-condition this morning and selected “pull from charger to maintain range”. It did not pull from the charger. My battery % dropped. Just before the session started I realized it did not require defrost so I edited the session to remove this and saved it. The pre-condition session appeared to start immediately after saving and did not pull from the charger. Maybe my action caused it not to pull from the charger?

 

[captainjp]

I scheduled a pre-condition this morning and selected “pull from charger to maintain range”. It did not pull from the charger. My battery % dropped. Just before the session started I realized it did not require defrost so I edited the session to remove this and saved it. The pre-condition session appeared to start immediately after saving and did not pull from the charger. Maybe my action caused it not to pull from the charger?

The vehicle uses its high voltage battery to power climate. When state of charge drops below your set point, the vehicle calls for charge to return to that level. I’m pretty sure this overrides any charging schedule you may have as well

 

[tate16t]

If I set my limit lower then the state of charge it will pull from the charger when I schedule a precondition?

 

[captainjp]

If I set my limit lower then the state of charge it will pull from the charger when I schedule a precondition?

Negative. It never will. All systems are powered by battery (high voltage or 12v) Charger only supplies power to charge high voltage battery. The language is misleading, however you’re achieving the same goal, which is to maintain your state of charge while conditioning your vehicle.

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