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Would you use battery heating if it were available?

Would you use battery heating if it were available?

  • No. I have no interest in battery heating and I don't see why anyone would.

    Votes: 11 4.5%
  • No. But I see the value in it for others, and think Tesla should make it available.

    Votes: 21 8.7%
  • Yes, sometimes. This would be pretty useful to me.

    Votes: 73 30.2%
  • Yes, very often. I would love this significant improvement!

    Votes: 137 56.6%

  • Total voters
    242
  • Poll closed .
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I think that there are several ways to implement the kind of control that Andy is suggesting without there literally being a button that says pre-warm battery (although that would probably still be more acceptable to my wife). I think the key is that battery warming is explicitly part of any functionality to prepare the car rather than a seemingly accidental side effect of pre-heating the cockpit, that for unknown reasons doesn't work if the range control is on (even when on shore power). The current situation doesn't really make sense and now that more of us will use range mode (to improve P85D range management) we are more likely to end up driving with a cold battery which presumably reduces range anyway and of course reduces regen, making driving characteristics abnormal.

Well said, Greg! Thanks for the support!

From reading posts in various threads we know that many people who never or rarely used range mode before are using it regularly now. And I've got to say, remembering to turn range mode on and off is just as much of an annoyance as I expected it to be! I hate that when my wife returns home from work instead of asking her how her day was, the first thing I usually ask her now is, "Did you remember to turn off range mode?" I know that sounds ridiculous, but if I'm thinking about it at the time, I figure I better check with her immediately, because we're not going to think of it later, and if she forgot, she's not going to have any regen when she leaves for work in the morning.

I'm really hoping that when Tesla sees how many people think this is an important issue they will significantly improve the current setup.
 
Yes, I would definitely want to be able to pre-heat the battery, even if the car is in range mode.
In my experience, pre-heating the battery is a net positive on range if it's below about 40F outside. I live on a hill and the first part of any trip is quite a bit of downhill. When I forgot to take my S60 out of range mode I was always frustrated on really cold mornings that I had to use my breaks and let all that energy go to waste...
 
Weird. I usually pre-heat for about 15 to 20 minutes in the morning and find that is plenty. I still have a bit of re-gen limit, but nothing that I really notice in day to day driving.

mknox, do you have range mode on? Because I do, and pre-heating the cabin doesn's seem to heat the battery much. I have limited regen to 30 kw and above...
 
No. Range Mode will disable (partially or completely) pack heating. If you want to pre-heat the battery, you must have Range Mode OFF.

I always have range mode off, but I noticed there is a difference if you are plugged into shore power, it does a better job of preheating the pack (ie regen enabled), vs returning from office with no plugin, and still preheating but practically zero regen. To me the regen should immediately be used to heat the pack instead of just coasting, I dont like the different driving profiles of cold vs warm. It is like saying your brakes on your ICE car work 90% less efficient when the weather is cold.
 
I've justed turned range mode off, precisely to see the difference in battery heating and regen, but have not noticed any improvement this morning (with outside temp of 2 C).

Any tips on how to best pre-heat battery, so I can see the difference between having range mode on or off?
 
I've justed turned range mode off, precisely to see the difference in battery heating and regen, but have not noticed any improvement this morning (with outside temp of 2 C).

Any tips on how to best pre-heat battery, so I can see the difference between having range mode on or off?
In my experience, with range mode off, if I turn on the heat for the car about 30 minutes before I want to leave (or 45 minutes if it's /really/ cold) then I have reasonably decent regen, even at below 0°C/32F.
With range mode on, otherwise identical situation, regen is extremely limited (and one morning I had absolutely none and a big warning that there was no regen, even though it was only about -4°C/25F)
 
In my experience, with range mode off, if I turn on the heat for the car about 30 minutes before I want to leave (or 45 minutes if it's /really/ cold) then I have reasonably decent regen, even at below 0°C/32F.
With range mode on, otherwise identical situation, regen is extremely limited (and one morning I had absolutely none and a big warning that there was no regen, even though it was only about -4°C/25F)

Ok then. I will keep range mode off for now, and keep looking at regen status in the morning. I'll probably end up realising there is a difference indeed, since there are so many guys around saying there is one. I've just not been able to see anything noticeable yet.
 
Ok then. I will keep range mode off for now, and keep looking at regen status in the morning. I'll probably end up realising there is a difference indeed, since there are so many guys around saying there is one. I've just not been able to see anything noticeable yet.

You will also see your regen limit decrease faster when it is limited, as you start driving, when range mode is off.
 
we would be able to sufficiently heat the pack to so that we have regenerative braking available at the start of our trips.
this this this
and we would be more easily able to use shore power to get the battery up to temperature, which could mean more range available for driving.
this this this too

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Yes, I would definitely want to be able to pre-heat the battery, even if the car is in range mode.
In my experience, pre-heating the battery is a net positive on range if it's below about 40F outside.
Yeah. My current trick for getting range is to pop the door of the car open and leave it running for an hour in the garage heating the cabin (on shore power) before starting. :p This indirectly heats the battery by heating the whole garage. Quite wasteful, but the only way I know to preheat the battery.

And I never turn "range mode" on, at least until I've been druving for a good hour, because it's bad for range. :-(
I live on a hill and the first part of any trip is quite a bit of downhill. When I forgot to take my S60 out of range mode I was always frustrated on really cold mornings that I had to use my breaks and let all that energy go to waste...
Yeah. Even without range mode, regen is disabled and I still have to use my brakes because it is really really cold here. It's disconcerting to have to switch driving styles. Preheating the battery would solve this.

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My question when I don't readily see an answer for is, "Why do I care?" Yes, regeneration, but I'm not going to regenerate as much as warming the battery consumes.
You have to warm the battery anyway. If you start driving, you are warming the battery while driving from the battery, not from shore power. :p

Remember, some of us in Ithaca are leaving the house when the outdoor temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and we're leaving for long enough trips that eventually the battery will be warmed up. It should be preheated from shore power.
 
I just want to add my voice to the conversation (beyond voting in the poll). I think the solution to this could be as simple as a checkbox or button on the climate tab in the app to enable pack heating. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think any time you would want to heat the pack, you would also want to heat the cabin, so it makes sense to associate the two.

I'm one of the folks Andy mentioned from other threads who recently started using Range Mode. I like that it's not using energy from the battery to heat the battery (and thus inflating my Wh/mi stats), however, I miss having full regen capability when it's cold. I'd love to be able to manually control when the pack gets heated without it being tied to Range Mode.

Not to get off topic, but I'd also love it if you could have the same level of control from the app when logging into My Tesla. I'm not able to use my phone at work, so every time I go to lunch or leave after work, my car is cold soaked no matter what. :(
 
I just want to add my voice to the conversation (beyond voting in the poll). I think the solution to this could be as simple as a checkbox or button on the climate tab in the app to enable pack heating. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think any time you would want to heat the pack, you would also want to heat the cabin, so it makes sense to associate the two.

Actually you're wrong. :)

If you read the letter I sent to Tesla, which is linked in the first post, I actually pointed out that I'm often heating the pack when I wouldn't be heating the cabin at all. For starters, the pack takes a lot longer to heat. Also there are times when I wouldn't necessarily preheat the cabin at all, but I still need the pack heated. Others in this thread have said essentially the same thing.
 
I'm often heating the pack when I wouldn't be heating the cabin at all. For starters, the pack takes a lot longer to heat. Also there are times when I wouldn't necessarily preheat the cabin at all, but I still need the pack heated. Others in this thread have said essentially the same thing.

My mistake. However, it still seems it could be solved with the addition of a single button. Where the "Turn On/Turn Off" toggle is, just change it to "Cabin On/Cabin Off", and then on the opposite side have a similar toggle for "Battery On/Battery Off". The temp control can still apply to the cabin, as we don't need a specific temp control for the battery, right? The two don't have to be linked, but when I said associated, I was referring to being on the same tab in the app. My point is that it doesn't have to be a new "Advanced" tab.
 
My mistake. However, it still seems it could be solved with the addition of a single button. Where the "Turn On/Turn Off" toggle is, just change it to "Cabin On/Cabin Off", and then on the opposite side have a similar toggle for "Battery On/Battery Off". The temp control can still apply to the cabin, as we don't need a specific temp control for the battery, right? The two don't have to be linked, but when I said associated, I was referring to being on the same tab in the app. My point is that it doesn't have to be a new "Advanced" tab.

Yes, there are certainly many ways this could be implemented very easily.

It could just be a heating tab with check marks for battery and cabin, and if cabin is checked, then the temperature option comes into play, but if cabin is not checked, they don't. It doesn't have to be complicated at all.
 
I'd like to point out that some of us don't use the app (for security reasons, or because we have dumbphones).

It would be nice to be able to go to the main touchscreen of the car and punch the "preheat battery" button... rather than my current tactic of leaving the car door open and heating the entire garage.
 
I'd like to point out that some of us don't use the app (for security reasons, or because we have dumbphones).

It would be nice to be able to go to the main touchscreen of the car and punch the "preheat battery" button... rather than my current tactic of leaving the car door open and heating the entire garage.

If it's for security reasons, there's not much to say, other than I hop Tesla gives us a battery preheating option, and that when they do, they make it available directly on the touchscreen, as well as through the app. But as for the lack of a smartphone, if that's the only issue, you do know about Visible Tesla, right? For many of us new users it's not an option because of the fact that we're on the new servers, but I'm guessing you'd probably still be on the old servers, so Visible Tesla might be an option for you.
 
It seems kind of silly that this feature doesn't exist. If I'm on shore power and remotely start the car climate control heating, it seems like a pretty simple and very useful addition the have a way to preheat the battery irrespective of having the car set to Range Mode (driving, not charging). Even this morning, after warming up the car it was limited to 30kW regen for the entire time I was out doing a local errand.

Tesla should definitely fix this.
 
It seems kind of silly that this feature doesn't exist. If I'm on shore power and remotely start the car climate control heating, it seems like a pretty simple and very useful addition the have a way to preheat the battery irrespective of having the car set to Range Mode (driving, not charging). Even this morning, after warming up the car it was limited to 30kW regen for the entire time I was out doing a local errand.

Tesla should definitely fix this.

I agree, RDoc.

The best thing those of us that care about this can do to insure it happens sooner rather than later is to write Tesla and make our concerns known.
 
Clearly a well articulated idea and very important poll!
All of us dealing with cold weather would benefit from heating up the battery while plugged in!...

I would be using this all winter long to make sure regen behaviour is always consistent.
The benefit of extra-range in cold weather conditions is obvious and is cleary worth the extra thought process of having to deal with a specific switch in the Apps/Console.