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@Big Earl, do you know the software version of your car at the time you did the test? It appears at first glance that our cars are operating very differently. After taking a closer look at the photos you posted, it would seem impossible for you to arrive at your car in the morning with cold battery status icons if it was plugged in overnight. Just trying to think of all the possible reasons, do you think it could have anything to do with the level the battery was discharged to? I noticed that your test was done when the battery SOC was below 50%. I am not typically getting down that low before plugging in again. I don't have any software that will let me monitor the current draw from the wall, but I can basically do the same thing by confirming that the cold battery status icons disappear while a small amount of range is added after it is plugged in and the scheduled charge time is delayed.
Thanks again for your post.
my experieces this winter at -30c
warming interior to 20c - the car redirects heating away from interior, resulting in a cold interior unless i reduce speed to 60 km/hr
warming interior to 'high' for 30 min before leaving and i have no issues . snow flake is no longer and regen returns sooner
note - one morning a message appeared, 'temporary reduced engine power' i assume to keep me ang battery warm. ok by me and didnt notice reduction anyway.
also, charger restarted some mornings.
Tesla seems to be experimenting to solve the issue. they're getting close.
is loss of regen during cold really an issue? not for me.
i hope they eventually have an app option for "extra cold weather" because it effects us hwy drivers very different. the wind chill requires high energy to keep every thing warm until everything gets to normal operating temp
Model 3 is kind of like the S & X in range mode: when preconditioning, the battery is only heated to a level that provides full propulsion as opposed to being heated to a point that allows a certain amount of regen. When plugged in and charging, it will heat to a level that allows for charging.
I don’t think this is accurate. My experience has been that while charging, the battery isn’t heated at all. After a short slow drive to a 120kw supercharger with a <40% charged cold-soaked battery, the charge rate was low and immediately started gradually decreasing as the battery got colder. Having the heat on in the car seemed to make no real difference either way.
A day later I did the same thing but accelerated and regen braked frequently over a slightly longer drive, until regen dots were gone, to a 72kw supercharger, and it charged substantially faster and didn’t slow down until the charge got higher.
I then read that the Model 3 doesn’t have a dedicated battery heater, and can only warm the battery via the motor while actually driving. Do you have information suggesting this is not the case?
Doing away with a dedicated battery heater like in the S and X was apparently a cost saving measure in the Model 3.
@Big Earl I think you misunderstood me. I was comparing your test to my experience. In other words, based on what you are showing, I wouldn't expect that you would ever arrive to your car and see cold battery status icons while it is plugged in, even when your scheduled charge time is delayed for later. But that is what happened in my case. As I said, my car was plugged in the late afternoon and was set to charge immediately to 90% SOC. The charge probably finished about 2.5 hours later at 20:30. The car then sat plugged in fully charged until I used it the next morning. The average overnight temp was -27C. Returning to the car without preheating, I noticed all cold battery status icons were visible. The only explanation I can think of is that battery heating doesn't activate if the battery is full, or in my case at a 90% SOC. What I understand from reviewing the pictures you provide is that the Model 3 will activate battery heating when needed if it is plugged in. That is not what happened in my case. I will try and duplicate your scenario by cold soaking the batteries until the cold status icons appear. I will then plug in and set the charge time to start several hours later. If my car reacts according to the images you show, the cold status icons should disappear within 15 minutes and I should see a small gain in range before the next scheduled charge time.
I don’t think this is accurate. My experience has been that while charging, the battery isn’t heated at all. After a short slow drive to a 120kw supercharger with a <40% charged cold-soaked battery, the charge rate was low and immediately started gradually decreasing as the battery got colder. Having the heat on in the car seemed to make no real difference either way.
A day later I did the same thing but accelerated and regen braked frequently over a slightly longer drive, until regen dots were gone, to a 72kw supercharger, and it charged substantially faster and didn’t slow down until the charge got higher.
I then read that the Model 3 doesn’t have a dedicated battery heater, and can only warm the battery via the motor while actually driving. Do you have information suggesting this is not the case?
I don't think comparing Model 3s batteryheating to range mode on S and X is accurate. One of the major differences is that the battery in 3 seems to tolerate cold weather better than S and X. Several owners tslk about having some regen after the car has been parked in -5C for many hours without charging or preheating. That never happends in S and X. After a couple of hours in the cold regen dissapears in S and X. If temp is 0C or below, all regen goes away after a few hours. The Nissan Leaf and Kia Soul can do some regen even if temps are below 0C.
My point is that the 3 gets away with different behaviour than 3 due to different chemistry. At -10C batteryheater will start with range mode in Model S. If charger outputs more than 6kW then batteryheater will always start if temp/regen is below 15kW. Modelv3 does seem to makemotor heat battery sometimes at a certain temp when charging is done or even when charging is slow. I have only seen this once in my Model S when temp was -20C. S and X needs the batteryheater due to bad chemistry in cold weather.I think that has more to do with chemistry and/or control programming and less to do with heating strategy.
S & X will actively heat the battery up to a higher setpoint than the 3.
Model 3 is kind of like the S & X in range mode: when preconditioning, the battery is only heated to a level that provides full propulsion as opposed to being heated to a point that allows a certain amount of regen. When plugged in and charging, it will heat to a level that allows for charging.