DC Fast Charging W/Electrify America & Battery Conditioning

[dafish]

Sorry guys, it's been impossible to find a clear answer even though I've searched, read the owners manual, etc. Taking a 500 mile trip w/some ICE's next week, trying to stay within an hour or so of them. At present software level, for a '23 MYLR (Freemont):

1) Is there a minimum battery level needed for DC Fast Charge preconditioning to be available (I thought I'd read there was but can't find it now).
2) I'm going to be using a few EA fast chargers (I have the Tesla CCS adapter) with no Tesla Superchargers nearby. Anybody found a way to get battery pre-conditioning for supercharger on?
3) Anything I need to know about using EA's network (I've joined the network, have the CCS adapter, but have nothing nearby to test with).

Thanks for any suggestions / tips!

 

[jcanoe]

1) As when Supercharging you should plan to arrive at the charging station with 30% or less state of charge for fastest charging.
2) You should be able to change the settings in the Tesla Navigation software to include non-Supercharger charging locations. Then use the Navigation system when driving to the EA charging station, the Tesla Model Y should begin preconditioning for the DC fast charging session as it does when preparing to use a Supercharger station. (Even without preconditioning for Supercharging the Tesla Model Y can actively warm the battery using motor stator warming while Supercharging.)
3) Also create acccounts with Blink, EVgo and Chargepoint charging networks (at least have a credit card on file with these networks.)

 

[GtiMart]

The Ingenext bonus module as well as the S3XY buttons will let you manually start battery preconditioning. in case you cannot start it through the navigation.

 

[ewoodrick]

Sorry guys, it's been impossible to find a clear answer even though I've searched, read the owners manual, etc. Taking a 500 mile trip w/some ICE's next week, trying to stay within an hour or so of them. At present software level, for a '23 MYLR (Freemont):

1) Is there a minimum battery level needed for DC Fast Charge preconditioning to be available (I thought I'd read there was but can't find it now).
2) I'm going to be using a few EA fast chargers (I have the Tesla CCS adapter) with no Tesla Superchargers nearby. Anybody found a way to get battery pre-conditioning for supercharger on?
3) Anything I need to know about using EA's network (I've joined the network, have the CCS adapter, but have nothing nearby to test with).

Thanks for any suggestions / tips!

So where are you going? It's surprising that there are no Superchargers available along the route.
I don't think that preconditioning works below 10 or 20%, it often doesn't need to. Preconditioning is relatively new and is not required for charging.

Big thing, don't worry about it.

 

[MP3Mike]

1) As when Supercharging you should plan to arrive at the charging station with 30% or less state of charge for fastest charging.

You really want to be closer to, or below, 10% when you arrive at a DC fast charging station.

2) You should be able to change the settings in the Tesla Navigation software to include non-Supercharger charging locations. Then use the Navigation system when driving to the EA charging station, the Tesla Model Y should begin preconditioning for the DC fast charging session as it does when preparing to use a Supercharger station. (Even without preconditioning for Supercharging the Tesla Model Y can actively warm the battery using motor stator warming while Supercharging.)

Tesla doesn't list an EA charge sites in the navigation system. I think that currently the only non-Tesla DC fast chargers listed are the EVgo stations with the, slow, CHAdeMO adapter.

They have started listing 3rd-party CCS chargers in Europe as a pilot, but they haven't expanded that to North America yet.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Sorry guys, it's been impossible to find a clear answer even though I've searched, read the owners manual, etc. Taking a 500 mile trip w/some ICE's next week, trying to stay within an hour or so of them. At present software level, for a '23 MYLR (Freemont):

1) Is there a minimum battery level needed for DC Fast Charge preconditioning to be available (I thought I'd read there was but can't find it now).
2) I'm going to be using a few EA fast chargers (I have the Tesla CCS adapter) with no Tesla Superchargers nearby. Anybody found a way to get battery pre-conditioning for supercharger on?
3) Anything I need to know about using EA's network (I've joined the network, have the CCS adapter, but have nothing nearby to test with).

Thanks for any suggestions / tips!

Have a backup plan in case the EA charger doesn’t work. EA charge sites often have a mix of 250kW, 150 kW and 50 kW stations, so pick the highest one available. Check PlugShare.com to see if it has real time stats on which stations are available/up. And return the favor by posting a charging report on PlugShare.com.

 

[archae86]

1) Is there a minimum battery level needed for DC Fast Charge preconditioning to be available (I thought I'd read there was but can't find it now).

I took a 3-segment trip recently intending to arrive at the SuperCharger with a fully preconditioned battery with SoC in the mid-teens.
During the second segment I got continuous preconditioning, with the battery temperature warming up above 100F as reported by ScanMyTesla. But at the second top I took a longer way, as I was showing expected SoC at arrival higher than I wanted.

Preconditioning promptly stopped, and I arrived at SoC 14% with battery temp down a few degrees. I got a message almost immediately after supercharging began that my rate of charging was being limited by "low" battery temperature, and that the car was taking measures to warm the battery.

Someone else posted in response that there is a rule that it will not precondition if the predicted arrival at SuperCharger SoC is below 20%. Perhaps they are correct. It fit my single observation.

My car is a model year 2023 Model 3 RWD with the LFP battery, which might matter.

 

[ewoodrick]

Someone else posted in response that there is a rule that it will not precondition if the predicted arrival at SuperCharger SoC is below 20%. Perhaps they are correct. It fit my single observation.

Do you really want your battery to precondition itself to empty?

 

[GtiMart]

I don't believe the car stops conditioning under 20%. I am pretty sure I've seen it condition under that, but I don't have proof. The car's intelligent enough to know at what SOC it will arrive and should adjust conditioning depending on the prevision. Obviously it would stop conditioning if it believes you'll arrive empty.
In the example above you were supposed to arrive in X miles / x minutes and you changed your mind and took a detour. I would expect the car to change its plan at that time, not wanting to keep the battery hot for too long without charging.

 

[archae86]

Do you really want your battery to precondition itself to empty?

No, but you knew that. What is your point?

 

[archae86]

I don't believe the car stops conditioning under 20%. I am pretty sure I've seen it condition under that, but I don't have proof. The car's intelligent enough to know at what SOC it will arrive and should adjust conditioning depending on the prevision. Obviously it would stop conditioning if it believes you'll arrive empty.
In the example above you were supposed to arrive in X miles / x minutes and you changed your mind and took a detour. I would expect the car to change its plan at that time, not wanting to keep the battery hot for too long without charging.

After the change in route it consistently predicted arrival at the Supercharger SOC as 13-14%. Even when it got very close, so the estimation error should be deemed small, and with the battery temperature well below target, it did not resume preconditioning.

Clearly the battery was not too hot. So in the absence of other theories, the one on the table that fits the data is that predicted arrival SOC below 20% blocks preconditioning. I'd be happy to see evidence one way or the other.

 

[ewoodrick]

No, but you knew that. What is your point?

That there probably indeed is a limit

 

[dafish]

I think this is the first time I've seen a lack of a quality an answer here. A compliment to the forum members more than it may sound. In no particular order:

1) I still believe I've seen a clear statement that battery pre-cond stop below XYZ%. And yes, that makes perfect sense. I just don't know what that level is. Knowing same is pretty important if you want to minimize recharge time. If not obvious, the ideal is to arrive at as low a level as is practical/reasonable and still attain max charge rate.

2) I'm signed up w/Shell, EA, and Chargepoint. There are no other vendors of interest in the area.

3) Chi to Nashville. My preferred leg length and route makes the EA site at Paduca Ky ideal, and there isn't a TSC there. Yes, I can make it farther to a TSC, or stop sooner. I'd just prefer not to if I could,

4) I too don't see any non Tesla sites listed as supercharger charger sites on the nav app.

5) Yep, I've backup sites selected and reserve power allocated for each planned stop. Good advice though!

6) Ingenex is not on my radar, while S3xy is. Sadly, I'm waiting on the new release of buttons, controller, etc.. I may just have to suffer along for a while.

I've opened a service ticket w/Tesla asking. Guess we'll see. Will advise if I get an actual answer.

 

[ewoodrick]

No, but you knew that. What is your point?

That there probably indeed is a limit

I think this is the first time I've seen a lack of a quality an answer here. A compliment to the forum members more than it may sound. In no particular order:

3) Chi to Nashville. My preferred leg length and route makes the EA site at Paduca Ky ideal, and there isn't a TSC there. Yes, I can make it farther to a TSC, or stop sooner. I'd just prefer not to if I could,

4) I too don't see any non Tesla sites listed as supercharger charger sites on the nav app.

There are a number of Superchargers on the way from Chicago to Nashville. Looking at ABRP, you'd only need 37 minutes of charging time, which can easily be absorbed into a meal or bio stop. You ALWAYS want to go as far as you can when traveling. It effectively takes as long to charge from 5% to 70% as it does to charge from 30% to 70%. At a 250kW stop, going from 5% to 30% takes very little time, as you should be charging over 1000mph. At around 30-40%, it will drop to 500mph and above about 70% it will drop to 200mph.
ABRP indicates charging below Indianapolis and at Elizabethtown at 14% and 11% respectively, which is easily doable.
And looking at the CCS, I'm not sure where there are any and not a SuperCharger within 10 miles.

There aren't any non-Tesla chargers in the app, but there are in the car. When you search for Superchargers, there are 3 lightning bolts on the top of the box, Click them on (may only need to be the middle one though).