Preconditioning required?

[Kimmi]

The My 2021 LR will parked in Yosemite Valley for four nights without being driven. Night time temperatures will be mid 20s Fahrenheit. It will be parked with 40% SoC. Should I precondition the battery before I leave or when I leave can I just drive slow until it warms up?

 

[Benito1283]

You can definitely just drive and it will warm up on its own. No advantage in preconditioning the battery if it’s not plugged in, besides making the cabin comfortable.

 

[RayK]

Not sure I understand what your concern is. Preconditioning the battery is normally for getting a faster DC charge. That means some of the energy in the battery is being used to warm itself, instead of going to the motor and propelling you forward.

If you are worried about getting to a Supercharger, there's a site at the West end of the park along Highway 140 in El Portal at Yosemite View Lodge (14 miles from Yosemite Village). Going South on Highway 41, there's Superchargers at Fish Camp (34 miles). If you are going out of the park via Highway 120, there's Superchargers located in Groveland (48 miles). There should be a couple of J1772 chargers next to the Ahwahnee Lodge but you would be lucky to have access to one.

Assuming that you want to leave the park by going out via Highway 41 to West Covina and you don't think you'll have the range to make Fish Camp, I'd change my exit strategy and leave along Highway 140, charge at Yosemite View Lodge and take Highway 49 back towards Oakhurst and Highway 41. It's a longer route but you should be able to make El Portal from anywhere within the park as long as you have around 20-25% SoC.

 

[Kimmi]

Thanx for the replies. Not worried about range, been to Yosemite many times, just never in below freezing temperatures for such a long time.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

The battery doesn't "freeze" until somewhere below 0F but when it's cold it will deliver less power and less range. The energy is still there, it's just not as accessible. So drive it like you stole it, or at least try to - there's no harm. Note that it will display a much lower range estimate in the morning chill, but your effective range will end up being whatever it was today, once it warms up.

Preconditioning is a convenience feature which allows you to "burn" some extra power before/during your drive, in exchange for a much faster supercharging session. It's well-implemented and a worthwhile trade in many cases, but not what you're asking about today. If you want to warm the cabin in the morning, just tap the fan icon on your app a few minutes before departure, that'll tun on whatever climate settings you had, but not heat the battery.

 

[GtiMart]

You can leave your car in -25C weather and just drive it without doing any conditioning, as I've done a few times and many people around here do often in the winter. The car protects the battery, it greatly reduces the available power until the battery warms, but you can drive the car safely.