I could have sworn that I read sometime last year or so, that the app got updated with the ability to initiate preconditioning of the car&battery via the app. I have yet to see this functionality. Was it ever rolled out for anyone?
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preconditioning via app
- Thread starter seenhear
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ATPMSD
Active Member
Also, if you just want to turn it on (car heat and preconditioning) as opposed to scheduling, just click here
But isn't there a way to precondition the battery that doesn't involve heating/conditioning the cabin?
I don't see anything called "schedule" in my app (I have a 2017 Model S 75 so app is probably different).
ATPMSD
Active Member
Yes - indirectly. Select scheduled departure, set you departure time, leave precondition off, enable off-peak charge and set the off-peak end time to be the same as your departure time. The car will start charging, so it is charged to your request value, at your deparutre time. Charging tha battery warms it, so the battery will be warm (or warmish) when you depart.
ATPMSD
Active Member
Check to ensure your app is up to date, the current version is 4.5.1 (tap the icon at the top right, then scroll to the bottom to see the version number)
That's the version I have: 4.5.1-864
Perhaps I need to be plugged in to see the schedule option...
ATPMSD
Active Member
You do not need to be plugged in to see schedule, but your car may not support these settings from the app. See if you can do it in the car.
But…in order to do what I suggested, you need to be plugged in because it is the act of charging the car that warms the battery using the method I outlined.
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The purpose is to precondition the battery not using the battery as energy to do this. Your battery will condition and warm as you drive. Just as in a normal car, don't push it to hard until the battery has had time to warm a bit. Best to have it plugged in. As ATPMSD says, you can precondition by enabling the interior heating on without plugging in if you are worried about getting snowflake warning.
@DerbyDave, you don't need to refrain from pushing the car hard on an EV, or at least on a Tesla. The car throttles the available power for you. It's pretty clear when you look at ScanMyTesla. With a very cold battery (-16C) I've seen my max output power at 86kW, which is around 100hp maximum. The car was sluggish as hell even with my foot to the floor. That power value went up as I drove. As a reference, it can get to 400kW (or more?) on my LR AWD with boost.
ATPMSD
Active Member
This is an excellent point by @DerbyDave, you really should not worry about preconditioning / warming the battery. Your car will do just fine without it and it will protect the battery until it warms.
I am sure the car will protect itself, but I time my charging at the cold part of the night, so the charging can help warm the battery. I am very cautious. I still think it is best not to go all out on a really cold morning, having the car protect itself from your punishment. Best to let it warm up some to not push any components or the battery, but I am trying to be very protective for longevity.
I thought the main idea of preconditioning is to improve the car's capabilities on a cold morning. In particular, regenerative braking is essentially nil anytime the battery has been exposed to temperatures below a certain point for several hours (during a workday or overnight, e.g.). Reduced regen braking is not only inefficient, but can be dangerous, especially if the driver is not expecting reduced regen.
In addition, the car will not charge properly if the battery is cold. My car's battery heater had failed, probably sometime in the fall, so I was unable to charge as fast as usual as the weather cooled. I was not sure there was a problem and did not appreciate the seriousness of the problem until it got very cold in December, when the car sat for literally 2 or 3 days in a row, plugged in and set to charge, but drawing only 1 or 2 amps and accomplishing nothing. The only way I could get the car to charge was to get on the highway and drive it for a few miles until the battery warmed up enough to drop one or two of the yellow bars in the energy graph that indicated regen restrictions. Then it could charge. Navigating to a Supercharger is supposed to activate the battery heater to precondition the car, but when I did a test, that did not work, which convinced me there was a problem, so I made a service appointment. (It turned out that not only did I need a battery coolant heater but the coolant pump was also failing.)
I would certainly recommend that anyone living in a cold climate use the "scheduled departure" feature so that the battery gets preconditioned as well as charged, if your departure time is regular enough to make use of that feature. That way both the cabin and the battery are warm, improving your comfort and increasing the available regenerative braking.
(Afterthought -- I realize the OP was asking about the app. Apparently my car is also too old (2015) for the app feature for preconditioning to work, because I also do not see that option in my app.)
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