Battery heater and 2017.50.x

[MorrisonHiker]

We noticed the same thing when charging at home on Monday. Before entering the car, I could see the red battery heat icon. I turned it off and got in the car and tried to turn on the heat via the app and it never showed the symbol during 20 minutes of waiting. We got out of the car and tried turning it on via the app again and the symbol showed back up. Seems a little (snow) flaky.

See what I mean:

 

[boaterva]

And that's the annoying/ confusing thing. Our X is charged inside a garage. Tried timing the charge to finish just as we were to leave and turning on the heat. While it was low 20F outside, the garage is +45F inside an the battery preheating didn't kick in but we still had the partial regen (yellow dotted line).
Now that the car is sitting outside our hotel in 5F temp (plugged in), I see the red snowflake battery icon when I turn on the heating.

This is my problem.. I thought the whole point was to make the battery ‘normal’. Well, not if it’s cold enough (the battery) to limit regen still. Arg....

One more vote for manual battery preheat. Or perhaps it just needs to be connected to whatever limits regen?!

 

[boaterva]

I noticed one new message on my center display. In small blue letters, below the on/off symbol for HVAC control, it stated "Keep Climate ON".

I have never seen this before. I had turned on my Climate Control (using the Tesla App) about 10 minutes before getting in the S while on shore power. This message is a new one for me. However, once the cabin was warmed I turned the HVAC off. Looking at the TeslaFi raw data for that trip, the battery heater was on for about the first 5 minutes of the drive then turned off just about the time I turned the HVAC off.

The reported outside temp was about 16F and the interior cabin temp prior to turning on Climate with the App was 36F.

Um, isn’t ‘Keep Climate On’ Camper Mode?!

Or am I completely confused now....

 

[David29]

Um, isn’t ‘Keep Climate On’ Camper Mode?!

Or am I completely confused now....

Yes, it is. Except that is what users call it, not what Tesla calls it.

 

[boaterva]

Yes, it is. Except that is what users call it, not what Tesla calls it.

Just making sure we weren’t off on another tangent.

 

[AWDtsla]

While it was low 20F outside, the garage is +45F inside an the battery preheating didn't kick in but we still had the partial regen (yellow dotted line).

Yeah, because this feature is a total dud.

 

[isjka]

Yesterday I tried this again. What is interesting is that when I checked the Charging section of the app, I didn't have a white snowflake on the battery icon. However, when I started to pre-heating, after a minute or so, the red snowflake appeared. Not sure why there was this difference. I assumed you needed to see white snowflake first, but perhaps that is not the case.

 

[Gt1948]

In garage outside temp 22 low was 15 overnite car plugged into 14-50

 

[Big Earl]

Yeah, because this feature is a total dud.

Battery heating has always been there. This "feature" only adds the status symbol to show when the battery heater is active.

The battery heater only heats the battery to 8°C/46°F, which is good for about 30 kW of regenerative braking. This is, of course, assuming that range mode is off.

 

[scaesare]

Battery heating has always been there. This "feature" only adds the status symbol to show when the battery heater is active.

There's some debate about this. I've seen reports of folks saying the battery heater variable have never indicated true when triggering the climate system previously.

 

[AWDtsla]

There's some debate about this. I've seen reports of folks saying the battery heater variable have never indicated true when triggering the climate system previously.

Yeah, that was just a bug in reporting, not turning the heater on. So at best, this a bug fix for the API.

 

[scaesare]

Ah ok... that makes sense with the power draws noted.

Thanks.

 

[murraypetera]

Has anyone confirmed this to work on 2013 models?
If it does then perhaps range mode (when parked and plugged in) must also be off because where I am today it is sure cold enough to activate this feature but the icon does not show for me.

Thanks

 

[Big Earl]

Has anyone confirmed this to work on 2013 models?
If it does then perhaps range mode (when parked and plugged in) must also be off because where I am today it is sure cold enough to activate this feature but the icon does not show for me.

Thanks

Range mode must be off for the battery heater to function normally.

 

[PatrickCH4313]

Has anyone confirmed this to work on 2013 models?
If it does then perhaps range mode (when parked and plugged in) must also be off because where I am today it is sure cold enough to activate this feature but the icon does not show for me.

Thanks

... and nobody in the car !

 

[PatrickCH4313]

See what I mean:

Look at the video at 3:05

 

[murraypetera]

I have confirmed that my 2013 S works. Thanks for the heads up about range mode.
Hopefully they will address this in upcoming releases since if you drive in range mode, clearly you would want to have the ability to precondition the car.

I’m looking forward to their updates for warming up my seat before I get in the car.. only wish I had the heated steering wheel...

 

[Big Earl]

It would be swell if Tesla would enable battery heating with range mode on while plugged in.

Or add a toggle specific for battery heating in the app and give users a little pop up information bubble explaining what it does and when to use it (or not to use it). I get why they want to minimize the options, though... average people get scared when presented with too many choices.

 

[ArtInCT]

Observations on the battery heater ICON in the iPhone Tesla App.
After setting climate on with the Tesla App, it can take perhaps 1 minute for the app to display the battery pre-heat icon.
The S appears to have the following pre-requisits in addition:

• Temperature of the battery is cold (how cold is unclear, but probably below 32F)
• S must be "off" and in Park but not asleep. (in other words you may not be able to be in the drivers seat to see the icon)
• S likely needs to be plugged in to shore power. Mine is usually on 40A so not sure if 110V would allow the battery heater to work.
• Range Mode is always OFF in my S so I would imagine if it were ON the battery heater would not work or be diminished.
• I have the "Sub-Zero Climate Package" I would assume it works with all Model S with or without the Climate Package.

Observation, TeslaFi captures raw data from the S and you can see this data via the TeslaFi website. One of the fields in the data is Battery Heater On which has either a True or False value. Typically with my S, the True is displayed when the outside Temp is below 32 and I begin Charging in the AM with a cold battery. Looking back at the last few days worth of data, the battery heater was TRUE for about the first 10 to 15 minutes of the charge session then turns itself to FALSE of off. So this means the battery heater is pretty efficient and is not needed to be on for too long.

Also with the battery heater on, I noticed that my charge rate of usual 29 Miles per hour is diminished somewhat. With the heater on I am gaining one mile per 5 minutes and with the heater off I am gaining one mile per 2 or 3 minutes. So the battery heater does detract from your effective charge rate in miles gained per hour. This behavior would probably be true at a SuperCharger if your battery was cold soaked.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

• S likely needs to be plugged in to shore power. Mine is usually on 40A so not sure if 110V would allow the battery heater to work.

The battery heater icon will show up even if the car is not plugged in.