Can someone please explain pre-conditioning and why it’s important?
I see the term all the time. My MYLR is ordered but I sincerely hope to have a clue by the time it gets here! Someone please explain in non-Tesla language when to do it, how to do it, and why do I do it?
Pre-conditioning a Tesla is about preparing the battery to operate at an optimal temperature for increased efficiency, especially before charging or driving in extreme temperatures. It's important because it helps maintain the battery's health, extends its life, and maximizes range and performance. You can pre-condition your Tesla through the mobile app or the car's schedule. It's typically recommended to pre-condition for a few minutes before you start driving or reach a Supercharger, especially in very cold or hot weather.
There’s also the added benefit of conditioning the cabin of the car, which is equally as awesome as getting the battery to temp; preconditioning even blows cold air on the seat on hot days to cool it down (regardless of your vent settings).
Excellent response, but conditioning for super charging can take more than a few minutes.
Materials scientist here. The reason we want to heat the battery (precondition) before supercharging is to allow the easiest diffusion of lithium ions from the cathode back to the anode. The hotter the battery, the more easily Li ions can flow. Easier flow means faster charging speeds available to you.
Does this also translate to better battery longevity? Wondering if the faster charging rate would equate to more degradation
https://electrek.co/2023/08/29/tesla-battery-longevity-not-affected-frequent-supercharging-study/
What if i don’t care about faster charging? Sometimes I want s longer break like on a road trip and I want to eat lunch.
U could. I Also turn on sentry and keep hvac on since i need more time.
Then don't use the in car navigation when driving to a supercharger. You'll save energy that way because the car won't have to heat the battery. It will heat up on its own while supercharging but it will take longer to charge.
You can set the max amperage input from within the car if you want slower charging. If it’s a busy charging area though that wouldn’t be the courteous thing to do.
Don’t think you can do this on a supercharger
I believe it also helps your battery health slightly. This I’m not so sure about, but intuitively I think that easier flow of Li ions will also induce less stress on the anode lattice, and keep it intact. Should help you with battery degradation. All in all, if the battery scientists at Tesla recommend you should precondition, you should precondition
Foreplay. You can skip it. But works much better if you embrace it.
This person preconditions.
I see what you did there.
THIS video by Engineering Explained is fantastic. Among many other things, it explains why battery conditioning is important.
Does turning the heat on 20 mins before leaving precondition the car a little? I’ve seen the three orange stripes next to the SOC on the app. I realize this isn’t the same as preconditioning. Some days I don’t take my Tesla so scheduling precondition doesn’t work for me.
If it’s plugged in, yes
Do you pre condition when it's hot out or only really cold?
Think of it as foreplay outdoors in the middle of winter.
When? When your car is cold soaked & plugged into a charger/wall outlet (level 2 charger of level 3 fast charger)
How? Start climate control in the app (or set planned departure in the car)
Why? Each drive the 500kg cold soaked battery & cabin need to be warmed to operating temperatures. The energy to do so can be taken out of your battery which means you lose energy/range (which is already a lot lower in cold weather). The energy to do so can also be taken from a wall charger, now the amount you can drive off without losing that startup energy/range.
How exactly do you pre-condition from the app? Do you put the climate on, press “start” button…or both?
Think about it like pre-coming
It all makes sense now.
When driving to a fast charger the car will automatically precondition the battery. This means getting the battery up to a temperature that allows optimal charging speed. Of course the charger needs to be set as a destination in the nav for this to work. The car isn't psychic.
Technically: The electrolyte in the batteries becomes more viscous as the battery gets cold. This increases internal resistance (which increases losses/limits charging speed). Preconditioning counteracts this.
The battery will also be preconditioned for driving when you activate climate controls from your app to bring the interior to your desired temperature. However to precondition the battery takes a lot longer than just getting the interior comfortable (which takes 1-2 minutes at most. I've seen people activate the climate controls 20 minutes in advance which is just an insane waste of energy.).
For day-to-day driving it rarely makes sense to wait until the battery is up to temperature. You usually don't need the full range for your commute/shopping trips so driving with a cold battery is fine (cold - while reducing range - does not damage the battery in any way).
Preconditioning is something you might want to do when it's really cold outside and you are setting off on a really long road trip (and you have the car plugged in, of course, so that it takes the energy for the preconditioning from the grid. If you're not plugged in it makes no difference).
Other than that, let the car decide when it needs/wants to precondition. It's smart that way.
RTFM
It like hard first before sticking it in
electrons dont like too cold or too hot, so precondition keeps your battery pack at optimum temperature so eletrons can move in most efficiently and quickly.
Batteries charge better when they’re warmer, and worse when they’re colder.