Preconditioning Vs. Climate on: Whats the difference?

[merc65fd]

I understand the purpose and benefits of preconditioning; warming the car, better range, faster charging..... What I would like like a little deeper dive on is this.

There are many ways to precondition the car. Scheduled departure, Navigation, turning climate on. Tesla states to turn the climate on to Precondition. Tesla Also says to turn on navigation so it will precondition before super charging which it does and says its doing so on the screen prior to the super charger arrival. So whats the difference between turning on climate preconditioning and the preconditioning that happens prior to supercharging in navigation? I mean climate is already on when you've been driving most likely. So if turning on climate is how you precondition at home, I don't understand whats happening with the preconditioning when it starts from navigation? Anyone have real facts on what the difference is, whats actually happening in the car? Also, if its 80 degrees out and it preconditions in Nav, is it making the battery even warmer?

 

[Tom76]

If I am not charging overnight , is it ok to Precondition in the morning and set the climate from my app? Everything I am reading seems to indicate that preconditioning should be done only while charging. Right or wrong??

 

[Eto Demerzel]

If I am not charging overnight , is it ok to Precondition in the morning and set the climate from my app? Everything I am reading seems to indicate that preconditioning should be done only while charging. Right or wrong??

I have scheduled climate in my app for the mornings. I don't have the charger plugged in and it really doesn't matter if you do.

For example, this morning 42f. It warmed up per scheduled climate preconditioning (no charger) and I get full regen right away.
Without preconditioning, partial regen.

 

[jcanoe]

If I am not charging overnight , is it ok to Precondition in the morning and set the climate from my app? Everything I am reading seems to indicate that preconditioning should be done only while charging. Right or wrong??

You can precondition at any time whether or not the Tesla Model Y is plugged in. In cold weather the Tesla Model Y will warm the battery as required (you will see a red icon representing a heating grid with 3 vertical strips (looks like sizzl'n bacon.) Starting in 2021 Tesla revised the degree of battery warming that is performed during preconditioning, now less power is used, preconditioning completes faster. Expect to precondition with the climate control set to Auto and your preferred cabin temperature for around 10 minutes. The Tesla app will notify you when your desired cabin temperature has been reached. If you precondition while plugged in, assuming you have 240V charging then the power being drawn from the battery will be quickly replaced using power from the grid and the battery state of charge (SOC) should not change. If unplugged expect preconditioning to use 1 to 2% of the battery in colder temperatures. (Most days, 3 out of the 4 times per day that I typically drive my Tesla Model Y (I use the Tesla app to precondition before driving) each time while my Tesla Model Y is not plugged in.)

A benefit of preconditioning in the A.M. before driving while the Tesla Model Y is plugged in, having just recently completed a charging session is that the battery pack will be partially warm from charging. This shortens the time needed to precondition the passenger cabin and if needed to warm the battery and uses less energy. Over time this can add up to measurable, beneficial cost savings.

You can set the front seat heaters to Auto setting and the steering wheel heater too so these will be active when your Tesla Model Y is preconditioning. If the Tesla vehicle is parked outdoors you may need to defrost the windshield, cameras and other windows. You can initiate defrosting from within the Climate Control settings of the Tesla app. If you tap the defrost button one time the icon will turn blue (for defogging). Tap the icon a second time to activate maximum defrosting of the windshield (icon will turn red.) The side mirrors will automatically be defrosted when you defrost the windshield and also when you turn on the rear hatch window defogger/defroster (the rear window defogger/defroster heating grid can be set to be either on or off.

Note that with the current/recent Tesla software you can turn on blended friction braking. This will automatically add friction braking to be active whenever regenerative braking is reduced or unavailable due to the battery state of charge being high or the battery being cold (or both.) This works seamlessly, there is no longer any reason to have to drive with reduced regenerative braking (maybe if you are descending 1000 feet or more and don't want the friction brakes to always be engaged as you descend.)

 

[Tom76]

I have scheduled climate in my app for the mornings. I don't have the charger plugged in and it really doesn't matter if you do.

For example, this morning 42f. It warmed up per scheduled climate preconditioning (no charger) and I get full regen right away.
Without preconditioning, partial regen.

Thanks… this helps with my question

 

[Steve1946]

Regen is not 100% efficient, it's like 70-80%, in that ballpark. I guess that higher regen means higher kW of energy, and thus higher losses due to heat everywhere among that path. Similar to higher acceleration resulting in higher losses in heat.

When I got my Y Performance I was concerned about elevation and as a nerd I spent a lot of time calculating my usage and was AMAZED to find regeneration is pretty close to 95%. Very little difference in driving 100 miles on the flat or with 6,000 feet elevation up and down. Big difference if the start and end points have a substantial elevation change. Speed and even temperature is a much bigger factor. The latest software update showing energy breakdowns confirms my calculations.

I live on the edge of Wyoming mountains. Nearest big box store is 190 mile round trip with a total of over 6,100' climbing and the same downhill not counting normal rises and dips. The steepest segment is 18 miles with 5,050' elevation change. Going up averages almost 800 wh/mi, coming down is -250 wh/mi regeneration - the average is 270 wh/mi which is the lowest of any segment probably due to average speed being about 50 - 55 mph.

Ultimately my rule of thumb is that elevation costs 1.8 wh/foot climbing and gains 1.7 wh/foot coming down.

From what I can see the regeneration from moderate acceleration and deceleration is similar, the overwhelming energy use is wind resistance and rolling resistance.

 

[DaveInLA]

How necessary is preconditioning in warmer weather? I'm on SoCal, where the coldest winter nights go down to about 40 deg. I keep the car garaged, so probably a few degrees warmer than that, at the lowest. That's for a couple months of the year, otherwise rarely goes below high 40s-50s.
I don't have a set departure time most days so I can't just enter a time and leave it like that. But if preconditioning is really important, I can put in a really early time-- for ex, 7 am departure, though I might drive to work at 7 am, 9 am, 10 am, etc.

 

[avs007]

How necessary is preconditioning in warmer weather? I'm on SoCal, where the coldest winter nights go down to about 40 deg. I keep the car garaged, so probably a few degrees warmer than that, at the lowest. That's for a couple months of the year, otherwise rarely goes below high 40s-50s

Depends if you have any hills... If its all flat, I wouldn't worry about it... I live on the top of a hill, and noticed I get reduced regen when its < 60 degrees outside, and get zero regen if its < 50 degrees outside.. In order to get usable regen going down the hill, I need to use scheduled departure.

 

[jcanoe]

How necessary is preconditioning in warmer weather? I'm on SoCal, where the coldest winter nights go down to about 40 deg. I keep the car garaged, so probably a few degrees warmer than that, at the lowest. That's for a couple months of the year, otherwise rarely goes below high 40s-50s.
I don't have a set departure time most days so I can't just enter a time and leave it like that. But if preconditioning is really important, I can put in a really early time-- for ex, 7 am departure, though I might drive to work at 7 am, 9 am, 10 am, etc.

If you don't have a set schedule then it is more efficient to use the Tesla app and turn on the climate control ~5 minutes before you leave. Leaving the climate control running longer than necessary to warm up the passenger cabin just wastes energy. Preconditioning is mostly for the comfort of the driver and passengers. The Tesla Model Y will warm the battery as needed but you can drive off without preconditioning with no harm to the Tesla Model Y's battery, etc.

You now have the ability to set the Tesla Model Y to apply the friction brakes when regenerative braking is reduced so the Tesla Model Y drives the same whether or not regenerative braking is available.

You may see a blue snowflake displayed next to the battery icon. This indicates that the battery is cold and available power is reduced. Unless you are at a racetrack or drag strip you won't notice any loss of power for normal driving.

 

[steph746]

Is there a way to not turn on the climate control when I choose to precondition the car prior to a departure? I find myself having to turn off the climate each time I precondition. Similarly, if I do want to have the climate on to get the car to a certain temperature, but don't want to have the seats and wheel heated, is there a way to set that?

Thanks in advance for any advice...