3 ms·

> Many of those who think their cars won’t charge are new to EVs and don’t know how to “precondition” their batteries, said Westlake, who has two Teslas. I am

> Many of those who think their cars won’t charge are new to EVs and don’t know how to “precondition” their batteries, said Westlake, who has two Teslas. I am a bit confused what’s that supposed to mean, because there is nothing a driver can do to “precondition” the battery manually. When you select a charging station on the navigation system, the car automatically displays a “preconditioning the battery for charging” notification once you start your route and starts preheating, and that’s it. I honestly cannot think of a way to make it more intuitive and uninvolved on the driver’s end. And if you attempt to charge it without preconditioning (which would happen if you drove to the charging station without using the navigation system), the car would display a large warning once you start charging, saying something like “hey, next time navigate to the charging station using the nav system, so that the battery is warmed up and preconditioned”. Outside of edge cases (like super cold temps that are outside of what almost anyone in the US will ever experience), preconditioning isn’t really necessary, it is just for faster and more efficient charging.

isityouyesitsme 3y ago
Question, not argument: what is the definition of "super cold?" Asking because in my area, which is not an area associated with bitter cold, we have been in sub-20F temperatures for a week, and overnights are down to sub-10F. My PHEV has not done well in this. This area sees these temperatures for a total of, I'd guess, 3 weeks (non-contiguous) annually. There's usually a couple days of around 0F each year (and if it goes lower than that, it sticks around for several days). Some years, we get 4-6 weeks of such cold. Basically everywhere from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and north of New York will see the same or worse. Sorry for the long explanation. I want to calibrate on what "very cold" means to an EV.
- jxcl 3y ago
  The latest Tesla heat pumps can extract heat from the air to heat the battery and cabin down to -10C. Past that, they have to use resistive heating which is much less efficient. I would say that’s where the “cold” line begins, and of course the colder it is the more battery you have to waste. Last weekend I took a 3 hour round trip (starting with 90% charge) in -30C and had to charge only for 5 minutes to complete the trip.
  - isityouyesitsme 3y ago
    Thank you for the reply!
- filoleg 3y ago
  > Question, not argument I love this, going to use it from now on. Thank you.
jxcl 3y ago
I agree that it’s pretty intuitive if you’re used to it, but we also all know how users won’t read basically any text pit in front of them. If you know where the supercharger station is in your neighborhood you might drive there without navigating, and when you get there you immediately start browsing your phone and don’t see anything your car puts in front of your face. Tesla is still the simplest EV to fast charge but there’s still a lot people have to learn about EVs to get the most out of them

isityouyesitsme 3y ago

Question, not argument: what is the definition of "super cold?" Asking because in my area, which is not an area associated with bitter cold, we have been in sub-20F temperatures for a week, and overnights are down to sub-10F. My PHEV has not done well in this. This area sees these temperatures for a total of, I'd guess, 3 weeks (non-contiguous) annually. There's usually a couple days of around 0F each year (and if it goes lower than that, it sticks around for several days). Some years, we get 4-6 weeks of such cold. Basically everywhere from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and north of New York will see the same or worse. Sorry for the long explanation. I want to calibrate on what "very cold" means to an EV.

jxcl 3y ago
The latest Tesla heat pumps can extract heat from the air to heat the battery and cabin down to -10C. Past that, they have to use resistive heating which is much less efficient. I would say that’s where the “cold” line begins, and of course the colder it is the more battery you have to waste. Last weekend I took a 3 hour round trip (starting with 90% charge) in -30C and had to charge only for 5 minutes to complete the trip.
- isityouyesitsme 3y ago
  Thank you for the reply!
filoleg 3y ago
> Question, not argument I love this, going to use it from now on. Thank you.

jxcl 3y ago

I agree that it’s pretty intuitive if you’re used to it, but we also all know how users won’t read basically any text pit in front of them. If you know where the supercharger station is in your neighborhood you might drive there without navigating, and when you get there you immediately start browsing your phone and don’t see anything your car puts in front of your face. Tesla is still the simplest EV to fast charge but there’s still a lot people have to learn about EVs to get the most out of them