preheat for supercharging without nav?

[tm1v2]

Is there any way to trigger HV battery preheating for supercharging on Model S without nav?

I wonder if preheating might help squeeze a bit higher charge rate into our thoroughly chargegated P85. These days it typically touches 70s kW at low SoC then very quickly ramps down to 50s and slower ramp into the 30s. If it's cold it might start as low as 30s.

 

[LoudMusic]

I don't understand - you're wanting to manually initiate preheating without using navigation to a Supercharger ... to speed up charging at a Supercharger? Is there a reason to not use navigation to the Supercharger?

 

[PatrickCH4313]

Is there any way to trigger HV battery preheating for supercharging on Model S without nav?

I wonder if preheating might help squeeze a bit higher charge rate into our thoroughly chargegated P85. These days it typically touches 70s kW at low SoC then very quickly ramps down to 50s and slower ramp into the 30s. If it's cold it might start as low as 30s.

Just preheat the cabine and you will see a little red icon (SSS) on the left side of the battery icon telling that the battery is warming up and you will get 100% regen.

 

[tm1v2]

I don't understand - you're wanting to manually initiate preheating without using navigation to a Supercharger ... to speed up charging at a Supercharger? Is there a reason to not use navigation to the Supercharger?

@LoudMusic "Without nav" meaning the car doesn't have navigation.

 

[tm1v2]

Just preheat the cabine and you will see a little red icon (SSS) on the left side of the battery icon telling that the battery is warming up.

View attachment 769661View attachment 769662

@PatrickCH4313 Good tip, but I've never seen that icon and I do preheat the cabin using the app occasionally. I just tried it now and didn't get that icon. Car is not plugged in right now if that matters. I believe it does warm the battery some when heating the cabin but not as much as preheating for supercharging feature on our new Model 3 (activated by navigating to a supercharger).

I do see the car has a new software update ready to install. I've just triggered it and I'll see if I notice anything new with it around battery heating behavior.

 

[PatrickCH4313]

@PatrickCH4313 Good tip, but I've never seen that icon and I do preheat the cabin using the app occasionally. I just tried it now and didn't get that icon. Car is not plugged in right now if that matters. I believe it does warm the battery some when heating the cabin but not as much as preheating for supercharging feature on our new Model 3 (activated by navigating to a supercharger).

I do see the car has a new software update ready to install. I've just triggered it and I'll see if I notice anything new with it around battery heating behavior.

I'm on firmware 2022.4.5.1 and the app is on 4.5.1
Not sure if the car needs to be plugged in.

 

[tm1v2]

I'm on firmware 2022.4.5.1 and the app is on 4.5.1

@PatrickCH4313 Ah you must have MCU2! I should clarify, still MCU1 in this car. It's running 2020.48.37.8 and is installing 2021.24.28 right now. My Tesla Android app is 4.5.1-864.

 

[PatrickCH4313]

@PatrickCH4313 Ah you must have MCU2! I should clarify, still MCU1 in this car. It's running 2020.48.37.8 and is installing 2021.24.28 right now. My Tesla Android app is 4.5.1-864.

Correct MCU2 .

 

[LoudMusic]

@LoudMusic "Without nav" meaning the car doesn't have navigation.

I didn't realize there were Teslas that didn't have navigation. This changes my whole world view.

 

[Rocky_H]

I didn't realize there were Teslas that didn't have navigation. This changes my whole world view.

It shocks a lot of people who weren't familiar with how many things were optional during the old 2012 to 2014 time frame. There was a big fundamental thing called the "Tech Package" that was about $4K or $4,500 or so, which included several things like Navigation, powered liftgate, powered and heated side mirrors, driver profiles, Homelink, etc. and was a pre-requisite for a few other things, like the parking sensors in the bumpers. I know someone here in the Boise area who got one of those without the tech package. I was considering not, but my wife brought this up:

"You know how car technology goes? How there are the new features that are optional at first in the high end cars, and then a few years later they work their way down to becoming standard in lower end models like the Neon and Focus? This is the first nice car we have ever gotten, and you're going to keep it for a long time, and you're not going to want to be grumbling about that several years later, so go ahead and get the nice features now."

 

[LoudMusic]

It shocks a lot of people who weren't familiar with how many things were optional during the old 2012 to 2014 time frame. There was a big fundamental thing called the "Tech Package" that was about $4K or $4,500 or so, which included several things like Navigation, powered liftgate, powered and heated side mirrors, driver profiles, Homelink, etc. and was a pre-requisite for a few other things, like the parking sensors in the bumpers. I know someone here in the Boise area who got one of those without the tech package. I was considering not, but my wife brought this up:

"You know how car technology goes? How there are the new features that are optional at first in the high end cars, and then a few years later they work their way down to becoming standard in lower end models like the Neon and Focus? This is the first nice car we have ever gotten, and you're going to keep it for a long time, and you're not going to want to be grumbling about that several years later, so go ahead and get the nice features now."

Smart lady.

 

[tm1v2]

Yes I should've gotten the tech package to make my wife happy.

At the time reasoning was I hated the S power liftgate (sooo slooowww), Google Maps was way better at actually routing for nav (still is), and the rest was kind of meh. Tesla didn't have parking sensors or power folding mirrors yet when our car was built, no matter what options were checked.

Wife ended up really wishing we had the power liftgate, and now I wish we could trigger supercharger preheating, which I had no idea was a thing back then. Live and learn.

Now our new 3 has all those features standard, including a power sedan trunk lid. (Which I'm actually happy with - it opens and closes much quicker than an old S power liftgate, and because it's just a short trunk lid there's little risk of it hitting something from opening too wide.)

 

[LoudMusic]

Yes I should've gotten the tech package to make my wife happy.

At the time reasoning was I hated the S power liftgate (sooo slooowww), Google Maps was way better at actually routing for nav (still is), and the rest was kind of meh. Tesla didn't have parking sensors or power folding mirrors yet when our car was built, no matter what options were checked.

Wife ended up really wishing we had the power liftgate, and now I wish we could trigger supercharger preheating, which I had no idea was a thing back then. Live and learn.

Now our new 3 has all those features standard, including a power sedan trunk lid. (Which I'm actually happy with - it opens and closes much quicker than an old S power liftgate, and because it's just a short trunk lid there's little risk of it hitting something from opening too wide.)

Honestly I'm not sure preconditioning was even a thing back then.

And I think a lot of people need to thank you for being essentially an early adopter of this company's products. Without a bunch of people buying those early Model Ses we would never have gotten to the Model Y and such an impressive charging network. It's proved the viability and benefits of electric vehicles and now there are dozens of options, with improved features and reduced prices.

 

[Rocky_H]

Honestly I'm not sure preconditioning was even a thing back then.

HAA! Uh, no, it definitely wasn't. But the point was, when they deployed that feature, it is triggered from NAVIGATING to that thing. If the car doesn't have the function of selecting a thing and navigating to it, then it just won't do that.

A few other funny things that may surprise some not early adopters:

Charging port door can't auto-close.
It also doesn't open from pressing on it.
Tesla released a software update later on in about 2015 that would enable a long-press of the back hatch on the key fob to open the charge port door.
Supercharging wasn't included with the original S60. It was a paid option.
It did not originally have the guiding backup lines in the camera view. Those were added in a later software update.
No heated steering wheel, even WITH the optional cold weather package. The cold weather package gave you heated back seats.
It did not have the Trip screen and no form of estimation of state of charge at arrival. We had to just do our own guesstimating of how many extra rated miles we would need versus the amount of real miles left to go. So you kind of developed your own ratios based on experience: "Am I a 1.2 kind of person or a 1.3 kind of person?"

"The Microwave": Before everyone started getting dual motor, the early rear wheel drive cars had a really big frunk, with an extra boxy opening going farther in at the back of it over the axle, since they didn't have to put a motor in there. You could get a little cargo net that strapped across that opening so you could keep stuff in there without is sliding out into the main frunk. People also found that this extra space at the back could enable a full sized spare tire to fit flat in the frunk if it were slightly deflated.

 

[father_of_6]

Yes I should've gotten the tech package to make my wife happy.

At the time reasoning was I hated the S power liftgate (sooo slooowww), Google Maps was way better at actually routing for nav (still is), and the rest was kind of meh. Tesla didn't have parking sensors or power folding mirrors yet when our car was built, no matter what options were checked.

Wife ended up really wishing we had the power liftgate, and now I wish we could trigger supercharger preheating, which I had no idea was a thing back then. Live and learn.

Now our new 3 has all those features standard, including a power sedan trunk lid. (Which I'm actually happy with - it opens and closes much quicker than an old S power liftgate, and because it's just a short trunk lid there's little risk of it hitting something from opening too wide.)

Sell that S while the used market is still upside-down and get another 3

 

[tm1v2]

@Rocky_H Yes the huge frunk is awesome! We load it up often. My kid's first 2 or 3 bikes even fit in there with both wheels on, would carry his bike around all the time and he got to do a lot of extra biking thanks to that. (Now he's well past those size bikes.)

@father_of_6 We load the S up way too much to replace it with a 3. I love how the 3 feels to drives more than S, X, or Y but the 3 only works as a second car for us.

A new(er) S could be a pretty sweet upgrade overall (with a few nice features gone missing though), but with all the materials hauling we're doing these days a pickup honestly makes more sense. So we're holding onto our R1T reservation and there's a good chance it'll replace our S someday. Not anytime soon with Rivian's slow production ramp, but that's fine for us, we're happy to wait another year or two before buy another car again!

 

[Big Earl]

This is a very interesting edge case.

Unless Tesla has a solution that we're all unaware of, I think your only option is to install a device that can send CAN commands to the car to trigger battery heating. For Models 3 and Y, Abstract Ocean makes a product called S3XY Buttons that you can program to send various CAN commands to the car. It might be worth reaching out to them to see if something similar can be done on your Model S.

S3XY Buttons

The button free interior of your Model 3 & Y is simple, clean, and, very occasionally, a tad annoying! There's so much you can do via the screen, but sometimes, don't you wish you actually had a glovebox button? Or a button to quickly turn on all your interior lights? Well, want no more....we...

abstractocean.com

 

[tm1v2]

Btw for those unfamiliar with non-nav Model S, you can still view, search for, and tap on superchargers or anything else on the map, same as nav cars. It pops up an info bubble but doesn't generate directions.

It would make sense if tapping on a supercharger triggered battery preheating but I haven't seen any sign that it works that way. On my 3 it shows a message when it's preheating for supercharging, and I can hear it. Neither is the case on my S.

 

[serendipitous]

You said P85, right? Do you have Insane+ or Ludicrous+ as an option in your driving modes? Those heat the battery all the way to 55C.

 

[tm1v2]

You said P85, right? Do you have Insane+ or Ludicrous+ as an option in your driving modes? Those heat the battery all the way to 55C.

Nope those modes were introduced on dual motor performance cars.