The preconditioning myth

[jwanderson88]

It's winter in the mountains of Utah and it's cold. I would like to be able to precondition, i.e. warm up the main battery, while plugged in before leaving the house so that it gets maximum range. Why not? Maybe when it comes right down to it, it doesn't matter because I'm not going over 50 miles anyway. I've seen lots of discussion and anecdotal stories, but I haven't seen a definitive yes or no answer. Is there one? Can it be done? If it isn't available now, will it be available sometime and when?

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[Donald Stanfield]

The schedule climate temperature screen has a section for pulling power from the plug so you can precondition. It will also warm the battery too. Will it matter for range if you don’t need the range?(under 50 mile commute). Probably not but it will be nice and toasty warm when it’s time to leave.

 

[bfilippo]

Manual preconditioning is not available right now, but many of us have asked for it given the challenges with charging locations in navigation and cold weather in general. Hoping for it in an upcoming update!

 

[jwanderson88]

This would be a yes (?). I expect to see a no pretty soon. I know you can warm up the cabin. That isn't the same as warming up the main battery.

 

[Mathme]

You can precondition the cabin through the App and people have said it preconditions the battery. I've never tried though so not sure.

One thing that will generally warm the battery is to set a charging schedule so that it'll finish about the time you are ready to leave. Out here in the Bay Area it's been getting down into the mid-30s at night so the battery is in the lower 40s. It I charge for about an hour before I leave, the temp will come up to about 60.

 

[Phatman113]

This would be a yes (?). I expect to see a no pretty soon. I know you can warm up the cabin. That isn't the same as warming up the main battery.

*Editing for the clarity of what the official statement was...
I have been given the official statement of this after I asked:

When you use scheduled climate conditioning, have the "use charger power" checked, and are plugged in, it will warm the battery up. Even when not plugged in, it'll use a little power to warm the battery, but it'll default to saving power (for range usage...).

I don't know how much it will warm up, but some.
Yesterday it was 29 or 30 overnight, and my truck battery was 35. scheduled pre-conditioning and not plugged into the charger. I had limited regen (only about 50% available for most of the drive) and lost about 10% of the drive power for the drive.
This morning it was 28 overnight and my battery was 52, scheduled pre-conditioning and plugged into the charger. There was no regen or drive limitations due to battery temp.

I don't know how much effort goes into heating the battery so if it's colder you may not hit 50*, but it's not likely to get much colder for me so I can't really test.

 

[zefram47]

This would be a yes (?). I expect to see a no pretty soon. I know you can warm up the cabin. That isn't the same as warming up the main battery.

The climate schedule definitely warms the battery. We've been in the negative temps at night the past couple days and with a climate schedule set, I've been leaving the house in the morning with a battery around 50F. Leave the truck sit without the climate schedule and the battery gets much colder.

 

[ndmiller]

The climate schedule definitely warms the battery. We've been in the negative temps at night the past couple days and with a climate schedule set, I've been leaving the house in the morning with a battery around 50F. Leave the truck sit without the climate schedule and the battery gets much colder.

^^^^ THIS ^^^^

There is no myth, set a leave time with or without the truck plugged in and it will warm both the cabin and the battery by that time....And the motors as that's what warms the battery.

 

[ukyank]

It’s no myth; a warmer battery is more efficient, though if you’re travel distance is short it also doesn’t matter either way

 

[jwanderson88]

Some yes's and some no's and lots of guesses. What makes sense is to push a button on the app an hour before you leave and it starts heating up the battery using current from the charger. Scheduling a trip in advance seems like a lot of bother. I like easy. I had a "lowly" Chevy Volt years ago and you could tell it was preconditioning the battery (when it was plugged in) because you could hear it. That's what I like about GM software. It's sensible and has the features people want and need.

 

[SPITmadFIRE]

This would be a yes (?). I expect to see a no pretty soon. I know you can warm up the cabin. That isn't the same as warming up the main battery.

Pulling power from the plug preconditions the battery WHILE warming up the cabin. This has already been explained to you.

 

[SPITmadFIRE]

What makes sense is to push a button on the app an hour before you leave and it starts heating up the battery using current from the charger.

You asked for an answer to your original question, not for feature requests. We all agree with you.

 

[Phatman113]

Some yes's and some no's and lots of guesses. What makes sense is to push a button on the app an hour before you leave and it starts heating up the battery using current from the charger. Scheduling a trip in advance seems like a lot of bother. I like easy. I had a "lowly" Chevy Volt years ago and you could tell it was preconditioning the battery (when it was plugged in) because you could hear it. That's what I like about GM software. It's sensible and has the features people want and need.

Some yes's and some no's?!?

It sounds you just want to be grumpy about this. I too would like a button, but there's no "myth" of what you're stating. It works.

 

[jwanderson88]

It sounds like the answer is yes. The battery temperature is 28. I will turn on the heater and precondition the battery now. Thanks for your help.

 

[SPITmadFIRE]

It sounds like the answer is yes. The battery temperature is 28. I will turn on the heater and precondition the battery now. Thanks for your help.

Just to be clear, you cannot just turn on the heat to precondition. It has to be a scheduled drive, and using power from the charger to maintain range has to be enabled. Turning the heat on manually from the app is not enough.

Yes it sucks. Yes it's convoluted. Yes we all want a "precondition now" button. Currently, there are only two ways to trigger preconditioning:

• Navigate to a fast charger using the in-vehicle navigation app
• Schedule a drive with the vehicle plugged into an AC charger, and enable using power from the charger to maintain range

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