Yikes! Overheating motors.

[Dark-Fx]

We have been enjoying February in October for the past few days and it was a balmy 14 degrees this morning during my 20 mile highway drive to work. I was actually watching those numbers and while they did warm up over the course of the drive, they were only about 160 by the time I arrived.

How long is your commute and what temp was your battery? Park in a garage overnight? Kinda looking like below 50F/10C at the start of a cycle might be the trigger for the behavior.

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[emoore]

We have been enjoying February in October for the past few days and it was a balmy 14 degrees this morning during my 20 mile highway drive to work. I was actually watching those numbers and while they did warm up over the course of the drive, they were only about 160 by the time I arrived.

Just saw mine hit 250F on my way into work today. It was about 12F outside.

 

[COdogman]

How long is your commute and what temp was your battery? Park in a garage overnight? Kinda looking like below 50F/10C at the start of a cycle might be the trigger for the behavior.

Garage parked overnight (unheated). Started the HVAC about 5 minutes before I left. Battery was about 50 degrees and all 4 motors were around 60 degrees when I started on the 20 mile all highway drive at 75-80 mph. Closer to work the battery was at 60 degrees and the motors were at 150-160 degrees.

 

[COdogman]

Just saw mine hit 250F on my way into work today. It was about 12F outside.

Did it hit the red indicator? I see the graphics for the motor temps moving quite a bit but not necessarily relative to the amount the temp went up or down.

 

[emoore]

Did it hit the red indicator? I see the graphics for the motor temps moving quite a bit but not necessarily relative to the amount the temp went up or down.

Didn't quite hit the red line but did turn the motor color orange. Then it started cooling down so I assume the cooling system kicked in.

 

[HimuraMOdo]

I believed this behavior is expected.
I've notice this when navigating to a DC fast charger and preconditioning started. The system will increase the power to the motor's stators to create heat (will lower the power once the motor temperature is near the red line) and motor cooling loop will move the heat to the main cooling radiator where it would interface with the battery cooling loop to heat up the cold battery.
The battery has a very large thermal capacity so it will take a long time to heat it up to the optimal temperature. And I fully expect it uses the same method to heat up the battery if the truck is parked outside and the battery is cold.

 

[R.I.P.]

I don't think that's what this behavior is at all. On drives where the battery is "warmer" I haven't seen anything above maybe 160F from doing repeated hard take offs and full regen at the next stop light. Easy driving today and limited regen and still saw every motor get to 250F before cooling off.

Will be interesting to see what the difference is when it's actually legitimately cold out (like -10F and below)

... I think it is pretty obvious that they are running the motors "lossy" when it is cold to help heat the battery?

When I jumped into the Jeep this morning, the thermostat stayed closed, and the fuel-injection systems shifted to settings to aid in the warm-up (i.e. richer mixture etc) until the vehicle was up to normal operation temperature.

When I jump into the Rivian or the Tesla, the motors are run lossy to help get some heat in the system, and the cooling circuits do not operate (routing the coolant through the radiator to shed heat) until needed.

You don't see this as quite similar behavior...?
?

 

[Dark-Fx]

When I jump into the Rivian or the Tesla, the motors are run lossy to help get some heat in the system, and the cooling circuits do not operate (routing the coolant through the radiator to shed heat) until needed.

You don't see this as quite similar behavior...?
?

It's not about motor efficiency in the Rivian.

 

[R.I.P.]

It's not about motor efficiency in the Rivian.

It's not? How are they generating the heat then?

 

[scottf200]

There goes our information, I'm sure there will be enough calls to tech support to make them eliminate the graph.

Hopefully they understand it is just a EV learning curve. Maybe Rivian can put out one of those communications things explaining this stuff so people know what to expect. Like others have said...if it was an issue....the truck would have bricked itself in the middle of an Interstate or something. Since no error lights or messages come up, it must be in the acceptable range of operation.

It would seem like a better UI response would be to put to put up a short message in those 'cards' to say warming battery when that scenario is happening.

 

[R.I.P.]

It would seem like a better UI response would be to put to put up a short message in those 'cards' to say warming battery when that scenario is happening.

Yikes! That would be copying how Tesla does it, can't do that!

/s

 

[scottf200]

Yikes! That would be copying how Tesla does it, can't do that! /s

It took Tesla *forever* to go down that path -- assuming you are referring to FSD msgs. ala creeping forward for better viewing ... aka my cameras are on the b-pillar behind your head and I can't see as well as even you so I'm going to put your nose out in traffic /s

To me it is just a basic common sense way to head off questions/calls, if it is a legitimate and intended action.

 

[Mike2325]

I've come to the realization that commonsense is anything but common.

 

[R1Tom]

It would seem like a better UI response would be to put to put up a short message in those 'cards' to say warming battery when that scenario is happening.

Very true!

 

[R.I.P.]

It took Tesla *forever* to go down that path -- assuming you are referring to FSD msgs. ala creeping forward for better viewing ... aka my cameras are on the b-pillar behind your head and I can't see as well as even you so I'm going to put your nose out in traffic /s

To me it is just a basic common sense way to head off questions/calls, if it is a legitimate and intended action.

No, not referring to FSD. I am referring to the message "Battery Conditioning" or "Warming battery for best performance" that pops up when the vehicle is using motors (& other sources) to heat the battery.

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