Battery Heating

[ngogas]

Some folks keep insisting that the model 3 don’t have the battery heating element like other model from Tesla. This morning it was cold and I start the interior heater and I see the battery heater comes on in my app. Did I miss something? Is the heating element that comes on uses the motor to warm itself up?

Either way it is pretty cool.

 

[voip-ninja]

Some folks keep insisting that the model 3 don’t have the battery heating element like other model from Tesla. This morning it was cold and I start the interior heater and I see the battery heater comes on in my app. Did I miss something? Is the heating element that comes on uses the motor to warm itself up?

Either way it is pretty cool.

That's not a "battery heater". That is your climate control being on and showing you it is warming the passenger cabin.

 

[ngogas]

Never seen that middle console heater lines before. That has to be the battery.

 

[voip-ninja]

Never seen that middle console heater lines before. That has to be the battery.

That is the icon for your heated seats... one of them is apparently turned on from the last time you drove the car.

 

[ngogas]

No that is not a heated seats. Mine isn’t on. Just checked.

 

[ngogas]

And now it’s gone. Battery must be warm now.

 

[ngogas]

@voip-ninja thanks for messaging me and calling me a troll when I didn’t quote you on this post during my reply. You don’t know the answer to this so instead you call a user a troll.

 

[voip-ninja]

@voip-ninja thanks for messaging me and calling me a troll when I didn’t quote you on this post during my reply. You don’t know the answer to this so instead you call a user a troll.

Then report my post. Oh wait, I realized I shouldn't call someone out in this thread and deleted my post within 15 seconds of posting it, but you just can't let it go, can you?

The Model 3 does not have a battery heater that works while the car is parked.

Go look at the parts catalog for the Model 3 and let us know where this mystery part is at so we can all learn more about it.

 

[ratsbew]

That's the seat heater icon.

 

[ngogas]

Does anyone know what the symbol above I see mean beside @voip-ninja?

 

[ngogas]

That's the seat heater icon.

I don’t have the heated seats on. Unless it’s a software glitch.
It went away after 10 minutes as you can see from my second pic.

 

[bbell]

I don’t have the heated seats on. Unless it’s a software glitch.
It went away after 10 minutes as you can see from my second pic.

When I preheat the car - even with the heated seat controls set off - when I get into the car the seat _seems_ warmer than it should be, basically lukewarm, however I seriously doubt the heat has been in the car long enough to warm up the cold leather.

Maybe part of the preheat sequence is to warm up the seats? I know it also runs the rear defroster because I can see the heat affecting/clearing the frost, and I definitely don't tell it to do that.

 

[ngogas]

When I preheat the car - even with the heated seat controls set off - when I get into the car the seat _seems_ warmer than it should be, basically lukewarm, however I seriously doubt the heat has been in the car long enough to warm up the cold leather.

Maybe part of the preheat sequence is to warm up the seats? I know it also runs the rear defroster because I can see the heat affecting/clearing the frost, and I definitely don't tell it to do that.

That is a good point. I never noticed that about the seats or the defroster. I just know that on other models, the same icon appears for the battery warming element. I was surprise to see it on my model 3 and was curious what it really means.

 

[ngogas]

This is incorrect. The Model 3 does have battery heating, but not by way of a bespoke heater like the Model S & X. The 3 can heat the battery coolant loop by commanding the drive inverter to generate an inefficient wave form to the motor. This creates heat (up to 4 kW worth) but no propulsion. Battery heating will be enabled during pre-conditioning just like the S & X, according to the manual.

In another thread, i think @Big Earl answer all the question. Looks like model 3 has battery heating.

Battery heating is only started below a certain threshold (I don't know the exact temperature on the Model 3), which is lower than when regen starts to get limited. Pre-heating will not completely restore regen that has been limited due to cold battery temperature.

I think - but can't confirm, as it hasn't gotten cold enough here - that battery heating will warm the battery enough to get rid of the blue battery limitation.

That sounds right, my garage this morning was below 40 degree F. And right, pre-heating did not completely restore my region when i left this morning. Yes, i think it does heat just enough to get rid of the blue battery indicator but my it wasn't cold enough for my blue indicator to come on. But preheating/preconditioning is good for a model 3 that is cold as i saw this morning.

 

[mongo]

Then report my post. Oh wait, I realized I shouldn't call someone out in this thread and deleted my post within 15 seconds of posting it, but you just can't let it go, can you?

The Model 3 does not have a battery heater that works while the car is parked.

Go look at the parts catalog for the Model 3 and let us know where this mystery part is at so we can all learn more about it.

The drive unit is used as a heater via altered drive waveforms or such.
If the 3 had no battery heater that worked when parked, a cold pack could never be charged...

Even when parked, Tesla’s software can send a request to the powertrain inverter to start powering up and pass the appropriate currents to the motor in order to produce enough heat to warm the cells – all while not producing any torque so the Model 3 doesn’t move.

https://electrek.co/2017/08/24/tesla-model-3-exclusive-battery-pack-architecture/

 

[voip-ninja]

The drive unit is used as a heater via altered drive waveforms or such.
If the 3 had no battery heater that worked when parked, a cold pack could never be charged...

Tesla Model 3: Exclusive first look at Tesla’s new battery pack architecture

This is where the confusion comes in;

For example, it got rid of the external battery pack heater and instead, it heats the pack only using heat provided by the powertrain even when the car is parked.

It had widely been reported that the Model-3 did not have an auxillary heater for warming up the battery when it was parked. I understood that the pack could "self-heat" by way of some pack discharge but it's never been clear that it utilized the power-train to do this even when the car was parked. I knew that when the pack was discharging it could recoup waste heat to further warm the battery.

If the Tesla app visually denotes this is happening then it's relatively new, and I've never seen it, even when the car is parked in a 30F garage.

 

[Big Earl]

That is a good point. I never noticed that about the seats or the defroster. I just know that on other models, the same icon appears for the battery warming element. I was surprise to see it on my model 3 and was curious what it really means.

The battery heating icon looks like a small red battery with a snowflake in the middle of it.

 

[bbell]

That is a good point. I never noticed that about the seats or the defroster. I just know that on other models, the same icon appears for the battery warming element. I was surprise to see it on my model 3 and was curious what it really means.

As a test I just attempted a preheat. The outside temperature is just above freezing.

I notice the defrost is indicated, as well as the wavy lines.

 

[mongo]

The battery heating icon looks like a small red battery with a snowflake in the middle of it.

Unless the 3 imagery is different.

@voip-ninja the battery ESR is so low discharge would need to be crazy high to heat it (and you would need some place for all that heat/energy to go)
Likely running motor one coil at a time and relying on winding resistance for heat instead (maybe high frequency switching losses also). There is also a large resistor array in the drive inverter, but it didn't look like a heat source.

 

[voip-ninja]

The battery heating icon looks like a small red battery with a snowflake in the middle of it.

But does that icon ever show up for a Model 3? From my understanding of the way the Model 3 heats the battery it never will.