Can you preheat the battery?

[Scandinavian]

Excellent! Thanks.

It is also the same on the Connect app when charging

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[Yves_0016]

Tried this yesterday. Seems to work! Car was sitting in garage (which is heated to approx. 15-17°C) and as usual at 85%SOC. I had not driven the car for 2 days so it was "cold".

I plugged the car in about 1.5 hours before I had to leave, set it to charging and airco at 22°C.

When I left battery was up to 95%SOC and battery temp was up to... 24°C! So not the 30° like DrT, but I was not yet at 100% either.

Impact on consumption and range (!!) was immediate. I was at 21.6 KWH after a 62 km motorway journey. Thas is (almost) at "summer level" and way better then I would get when just driving of with the car "cold". Then I would struggle to get below 25 to 26 KWH in winter.

Will try to connect it a little sooner next time or put it on timer to be at 100%SOC when I leave, curious to see how far above 24°C and how close to 30°C battery temp I can get.

But charging JUST BEFORE you leave seems to indeed have (very) positive effect on battery temp and hence also range.

 

[Pozuelo]

I did something similar this week but only indicated preheat/precool as the car was at 85% since the previous day. The car preheated the battery to 25º from 11º in 20 minutes, yet battery charge remained unaltered at 85%. The car was connected to the PMCC.

 

[Fish Fingers]

I tried it yesterday too. Did seem to work.

Car was charged hours earlier to 80% with no Preheat and was still plugged in.
Outdoor temp was about 6c and battery is usually about the same.

I was due to nip to the office shortly - so put the car (on the app) to direct charge and Preheat ready for the journey.

On getting into the car 45 mins later, the battery was up to 84% and battery temp was at 17c.

I forgot to check on efficiency during the journey though.

 

[Bobby]

No preheat set for interior temp?

WINGE - Since I have joined the site, you have been undoubtedly the most knowledgeable and well informed contributor. Thank you. I am thoroughly confused about the battery heating conversation. I used to have a Tesla Model X - dreadful car in almost every way but it had a clear and simple battery heating process. Basically, if you were going to charge up whilst on a drive, it would start preheating the battery (some 20 minutes) before arriving at the charger in order to optimise the charging effectiveness. You could also set this preheating when charging at home. I would love to be able to the same with my Taycan - I don't need to preheat the cabin - just the battery. Any simple tips will be gratefully received.

 

[W1NGE]

WINGE - Since I have joined the site, you have been undoubtedly the most knowledgeable and well informed contributor. Thank you. I am thoroughly confused about the battery heating conversation. I used to have a Tesla Model X - dreadful car in almost every way but it had a clear and simple battery heating process. Basically, if you were going to charge up whilst on a drive, it would start preheating the battery (some 20 minutes) before arriving at the charger in order to optimise the charging effectiveness. You could also set this preheating when charging at home. I would love to be able to the same with my Taycan - I don't need to preheat the cabin - just the battery. Any simple tips will be gratefully received.

Thanks for your kind words but there are many more knowledgeable people on the forum than me.

The short answer here is that it is not simple nor intuitive but there are a couple of things to bear in mind.

1. Preheating while on the road and heading for a charging location (en route or as a destination)

In this scenario the most effective way to achieve this is to use your Nav function and either add the charging location as your destination or as a stopover en route to your final destination.

Charging Planner (standard spec also) will provide the logic and calculations needed for Nav to manage the entire process.

If you enter your end destination into Nav ensure that you have the Porsche Charging Planner enabled (Nav - Route Options) which is generally a one time setting and is remembered for next use.

Once the destination is entered the Charging Planner will calculate whether you need to make a charging stop or not in order to ensure you have sufficient charge (to re-charge) at the end of your destination. This can be determined automatically by the charging planner or to a value that you have entered manually (in this example 25%). If I start my journey with 50% charge (SOC) and require 35% to get to my final destination Nav will plot a route indicating where I should charge and how long for to ensure I get to my end destination and that I arrive with 25% SOC.

Charging planner will look for DC charging locations that offer >= 50kW and will only use those locations which the Nav database provides i.e. there may be other locations (in fact most times there will always be) which Nav isn't aware of to add to your route. This can be an annoyance as you would expect each and every charging location to be listed so just be aware of that (these do get updated automatically from time to time).

If an alternative routing is selected then the Charging Planner will automatically adjust the drive mode to the route and will enable Normal or Range as it sees fit. This will be made obvious to you in the NAV screen. For each alternative route available each known charging location is listed along with the times needed to stop and charge. Once selected the 'magic of pre-heat / pre-conditioning' takes place and your battery will be optimised for charging at the nominated charging location to minimise the charge time and to keep within the predicted charging duration.

Additionally, if you select 'Edit Route' you can view details of each charging location listed where details such as the name, battery charge condition when reaching that location, arrival time at that location, distance to that location, charge duration and battery charge condition when reaching your final location.

Finally, you can add your own charging location by adding a Stopover which will appear as a blue flag (white flags for automatically added ones) on the route. These ones can be added from the provided search list or if you use Google to search for one. On the assumption that the Charging Planner recognises the destination as a charging station / location then the 'magic' of pre-heat / pre-conditioning will also occur.

Bear in mind that if you are just starting your journey and your charging location is only a few miles away then the pre-heat / pre-conditioning will likely not have time to complete. Obviously you can still charge but it may take longer depending on temp etc.

2. Setting Climate Control (departure timer)

Basic principle here is that you can set a pre-departure timer (either when on charge or not) and a pre-heated (or cooled interior) cabin.

This will raise the temperature of the battery simply because the battery (when not on charge) is being used to power the heat pump which naturally will heat the battery to a degree.

In my experience this doesn't make huge differences to the battery temp but is better if you leave on charge, set a departure timer and then use the car once the process is complete (otherwise the battery will start to cool down).

3. Drive like you stole it

This is a preferred method for some drivers and can be particularly effective in warmer climates and when in Sport or Sport Plus mode. Using the car in this way will clearly use a lot of energy resulting in a higher battery temperature.

4. The elephant in the room

This is the one thing that is fundamentally missing to make all of the above less of science experiment. There is no 'heat my battery now' button for reasons that we can only guess at but presumably for normal use the options above will achieve the desired result within reason and will be dependent on various other external factors beyond your control.

If you've not tried the Charging Planner method(s) mentioned above give them a whirl and this might just work out fine for you.

There will be variations to the above but in principle (and to my knowledge) this is how to pre-heat / pre-condition. I wouldn't get too uptight about it and just plan your journeys and trust the technology to get you to where you need to go (and back again). Living in UK will typically lead to 'not so warm a battery' given the ambient temperatures and time of year which means we can expect less range and longer stops at public charging locations.

 

[Fish Fingers]

Found this on YT...

 

[W1NGE]

Found this on YT...

Thx, this is the climate option (option 2 above) - not really the best way as the cabin gets to it's temp long before the battery is warm / toasty. Will save some initial miles for sure but if it's cold outside the battery will cool again and so it becomes a bit of a balancing act. The presence of the heat pump (std in UK) is a more efficient heating mechanism for the car and I think this is why the battery really never heats up when this is in play as the cabin takes precedence.

What we want is to get the battery to say 25C - 30C so that we keep as much range on tap as possible (assuming 100% SOC). It just doesn't seem possible on a single phase 7.4kW supply but perhaps the temps on 22kW supplies to a 22kW AC onboard charger when preheated at home gets a commensurately higher battery temp if not, then we are essentially limited to 13C - 19C this time of year. Once on the road and the AC is on ~ 10% is gone before you blink!

 

[R88]

I suppose you could put a local charging station into your nav while the car is sat in your driveway and it'll start pre-heating the battery (as it is assuming you are going to drive to that charging station)?

 

[W1NGE]

It would be nice if you could do that with your home EVSE but I don't think it will work.

Not clear if the pre-heat / conditioning is fixed on >= 50kW DC EVSEs for any public method or if it will accept AC units - suspect not much point in doing so given the slower speed.

Try it and find out.

 

[Scandinavian]

It would be nice if you could do that with your home EVSE but I don't think it will work.

Not clear if the pre-heat / conditioning is fixed on >= 50kW DC EVSEs for any public method or if it will accept AC units - suspect not much point in doing so given the slower speed.

Try it and find out.

I think you need to have at least 60 kW station at home then.
Here is Wht the Good to Know app says..

Charging Planner (available in some countries)
If a destination is entered that is out of range, the driver will be informed by a sound and a notice. The Charging Planner will then automatically add necessary charging stations to the route. Charging stations with a charging power of min. 50 kW are selected, taking into account driving and charging times.

If an alternative route is selected, the Charging Planner automatically adjusts the drive mode to the route (NORMAL or RANGE), and a corresponding notice appears on the monitor.

Alternative routes
The charging stations and the associated charging time are displayed in the route monitor.

The high-voltage battery is preconditioned to achieve optimum charging power.

The Charging Planner can also be displayed in the Porsche Connect app, and the data can then be transferred from the mobile phone to the PCM.

 

[McgR]

I think you need to have at least 60 kW station at home then.
Here is Wht the Good to Know app says..

Charging Planner (available in some countries)
If a destination is entered that is out of range, the driver will be informed by a sound and a notice. The Charging Planner will then automatically add necessary charging stations to the route. Charging stations with a charging power of min. 50 kW are selected, taking into account driving and charging times.

If an alternative route is selected, the Charging Planner automatically adjusts the drive mode to the route (NORMAL or RANGE), and a corresponding notice appears on the monitor.

Alternative routes
The charging stations and the associated charging time are displayed in the route monitor.

The high-voltage battery is preconditioned to achieve optimum charging power.

The Charging Planner can also be displayed in the Porsche Connect app, and the data can then be transferred from the mobile phone to the PCM.

I think what R88 is suggesting is to put a close by fast charger as destination in order to start preconditioning the battery. And not actually navigating there. So not the actual home evse.

 

[R88]

I think what R88 is suggesting is to put a close by fast charger as destination in order to start preconditioning the battery. And not actually navigating there. So not the actual home evse.

Yeah that's what I meant. I did that once on my Tesla and it started the preconditioning. Away from home for a couple of weeks so can't try on the Taycan. Curious though.

 

[R88]

I'd guess with no one in the car it'll power off before long so not much would be gained, but possibly with preheating/charging also on it might keep going,

 

[W1NGE]

I'd guess with no one in the car it'll power off before long so not much would be gained, but possibly with preheating/charging also on it might keep going,

Understand now.

I don't think this would work too well - pre-conditioning will be calculated based on distance etc so it may not be far enough to have any real effect.

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