Pre-conditioning for short trips

[David_ffg]

Happy new owner of LR M3.

Looking for ideas about setting a schedule to pre-condition for short trips, we work from home and often only use the car once a day for 5-10 miles, different times of day. Apart from the somewhat inconvenience of setting a schedule and then remembering to cancel it before the next day, is it worthwhile pre-conditioning for this?
The car is garaged and may or may not be plugged into charger, so may or may not use battery to do this. I can totally see the point if we're making a trip starting with 100% SoC, but for short trips?

How much energy does the car consume (battery or mains) in the process?

 

[MrT3]

Not worth it at all. Unless it is very cold then you lose more than you gain if pre-conditioning from the battery. Even if plugged in, unless range is a concern there little benefit.

 

[rincewind]

For short trips (which I do daily for the kids), I don't see the need to precondition the battery, I would only do that on road trips to maximise range. However, I do see the need to pre-heat the interior when it's chilly outside. If the car is plugged in, it will draw the power from that, if not it will draw from the battery, which will to some extent warm the battery up. I'm not sure about energy consumption, but for pre-conditioning I think its a fair bit i.e. a few KW.

 

[yessuz]

for 10 miles - no, not worth it.

it consumes ~7 kw when you start climatisation while plugged in

 

[Kansalis]

Do you mean you want to heat/cool the cabin before you go somewhere? Preconditioning is not the same as pre-heating. If you are wanting to get into a comfortable car before going somewhere, just turn on the climate control from the app 5-10 minutes before you leave. It very quickly gets to the desired temperature inside the car.

I often do this both from home and when out & about on my way back to the car if weather is cold or very warm. Quite often, even just a quick burst of AC makes the world of difference.

 

[David_ffg]

Do you mean you want to heat/cool the cabin before you go somewhere? Preconditioning is not the same as pre-heating. If you are wanting to get into a comfortable car before going somewhere, just turn on the climate control from the app 5-10 minutes before you leave. It very quickly gets to the desired temperature inside the car.

I often do this both from home and when out & about on my way back to the car if weather is cold or very warm. Quite often, even just a quick burst of AC makes the world of difference.

No, not worried about cabin temperature at this time of year, I suppose my question is really, do I use less battery energy on a short trip if the battery is pre-conditioned?

 

[yessuz]

No, not worried about cabin temperature at this time of year, I suppose my question is really, do I use less battery energy on a short trip if the battery is pre-conditioned?

you will not save/gain much for 10 mile trip really :/

 

[MrBadger]

Pre condition when you need the range and you are plugged into mains power.

Otherwise don't bother unless you need to defrost the car.

You will otherwise end up consuming grid electricity when carbon emissions are probably higher, outside any off peak electricity window and making things more complicated than they need be. Just jump in the car and drive, or, if you want to use a bit of energy (which if you are still plugged into a live charge point will consume energy at the prevailing grid rate rather than what was put in the battery possibly at much cheaper rate) early to take the chill off the cabin and demist the windows, a couple of minutes of cabin aircon - that is not preconditioning.

Pre conditioning is nothing special. All it does is move the energy that will be consumed by the car in the early stages of the drive to before the drive and I suspect in many cases to a non optimal timeframe.

You may lose a bit of regen in the earlier stages of the drive, but its something that should be naturally compensated with by use of the right foot. The lost regen will only partially offset the extra energy consumed in pre conditioning.

 

[David_ffg]

Thanks! Very helpful!
I'm probably guilty of over-thinking it

 

[WannabeOwner]

I'm probably guilty of over-thinking it

You're not alone!

 

[DaSwede]

Preconditioning is great if you are planning a longer road trip and want to maximise the range. So, setting charging to 100% and preconditioning while still plugged in gives your car the best range for a longer trip.

 

[Adopado]

Thanks! Very helpful!
I'm probably guilty of over-thinking it

Cabin: Tapping the heating icon is only a benefit if the car is uncomfortably cold (but remember the car heater in an EV comes on much quicker than in an ICE) so rarely something you need as the seasons move on.

Battery: Of course preconditioning of the pack will automatically kick in if/when you put the cabin heating and will optimise your initial consumption ... but ... though you will improve range you will instead spend some more on shore power (and if it's on peak rate it could be a lot more). In the depths of winter this is worthwhile for cabin comfort and range but for shortish journeys where you are not pushing your total range limits anyway it's cheaper just to live with a higher consumption rate, particularly at this time of the year when it's less difference.

 

[roblab]

I've never pre-conditioned my car for any reason; long trips, short trips, trips to the local car wash, nothing. The car was designed to take care of itself, and I've put roughly 260,000 miles on my Teslas over a good decade with never a thought about the battery. So, there's that side of the equation.

 

[Adopado]

I've never pre-conditioned my car for any reason; long trips, short trips, trips to the local car wash, nothing. The car was designed to take care of itself, and I've put roughly 260,000 miles on my Teslas over a good decade with never a thought about the battery. So, there's that side of the equation.

I note you live in California ... not quite the same climate!

 

[M1tch]

I did pre-heat in the winter when it was really cold, but sometimes for as little as 2-3 mins while I put my she’s on. So far not used it as it’s started to get warmer, even for my routine long trips.