PRECONDITIONING PRIOR TO CHARGING
The intention of preconditioning is to raise the temperature of your Tesla’s battery to an appropriate temperature prior to charging. This application of preconditioning is seen in a number of scenarios such as charging your Tesla in extremely cold weather, or preparing your Tesla’s battery for Supercharging. For the purposes of this section we will look at how preconditioning is used in these colder winter months and how to get the most out of the preconditioning feature.
Why Would You Use Preconditioning?
If you’re looking to charge your Tesla in conditions around 32 degrees F, without selecting any preconditioning features, Tesla is going to limit a lot of features such as full power output, regenerative braking and top charge rate
link as well as charging speeds to preserve the safety of the cold battery. The reason for these precautions is due to some electro-chemical properties of batteries where charging a battery at near freezing can actually permanently damage or even render your Tesla’s Li-ion battery completely useless.
Now, to circumvent some of these limitations, Tesla owners can enable preconditioning that will actively warm the battery prior to charging.
How To Activate Preconditioning
If the temperature of your Tesla is around freezing, you will see an icon appear in the climate control section of your Tesla App, selecting this will activate preconditioning. Alternatively in the ‘Climate’ section by selecting to turn on preconditioning will turn on the preconditioning feature
link.
Best Practices and Considerations
If you are looking to optimize the driving range and efficiency of your Tesla in these winter months, consider leaving your Tesla plugged in when temperatures drop to around freezing. About an hour prior to charging, turn on preconditioning. This will effectively warm the battery to an appropriate level before charging.