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Remote start to warm battery?

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Hello everyone,

I'm beginning to notice how my MS's energy consumption rises in cooler weather, particularly at the beginning of a trip, as the battery gradually warms up and becomes more efficient.


Does starting the car remotely, as opposed to *just* pre-heating the car, warm the battery pack? In other words, if I want the car to have a warm and efficient battery ASAP in cold weather, will pre-starting it be more useful than using the remote app to pre-heat the cabin? Timing the charge so it's active just before driving seems like more of a hassle than just remotely starting the car.


I understood remote start to be a useful feature if you have forgotten or lost your key fob, but if it also serves as a way to warm the battery in a way that climate control heating does not, then that would be good to know.


Thanks
 
If you can arrange to turn on the climate control 20-30 minutes ahead and finish charging
just before you unplug, both the battery pack and car interior will be warmed using shore power. It makes a big difference to the energy usage in the first few miles.
 
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Like Stevezzzz say, use the App to turn on climate control. Set the heat up to quite high (26C or so). Also set the timer so that the charging ends just before you start to drive. Also it helps if you turn off range mode (from the Settings screen) when you plug in the car. (I wish that you could adjust range mode from the App so that you could turn it off if you forgot.)
 
Ever since release 5.9 (according to the change log) remotely turning on climate control while the car is plugged in preheats the battery. This has worked for me with the recent cooler weather we've been having. I'm not certain, but I may have left the car in ”range mode” and it still worked.
 
Ever since release 5.9 (according to the change log) remotely turning on climate control while the car is plugged in preheats the battery. This has worked for me with the recent cooler weather we've been having. I'm not certain, but I may have left the car in ”range mode” and it still worked.

It does, but it works slower--sometimes much slower. My wish is that range mode would be disabled whenever the car is plugged in.
 
I've found that preheating the cabin to 20° (car plugged in but not charging) does almost nothing for the battery. Also, in the cold but not very cold weather, the cabin reaches that fairly quickly and the preheating turns itself off long before 30 minutes, definitely leaving the battery too cold.

In preheating the cabin for battery purposes, to keep the process from shutting off too soon, should the fan be set low?

I'll consider 26° but assume any cabin preheating is superfluous if I can arrange that the car charge its last bit just before driving off.
 
Stevezzzz remembered my tricks well.

By finishing the charge within an hour of departure, and preheating the cabin to 80˚F, 26˚C, during that last hour (you have to turn on the climate control multiple times), I have been able to drive almost 30 minutes with climate control off in the car and use only the seat heaters for the last 15 minutes with outside temps at 30˚F, -1˚C. Starting with a warm cabin and a warm battery heated on shore power are essential for maximizing range when it's cold.

See Realistic Range Expectations in Crummy Winter Weather - Hypermiling in the Winter...Brrr for one of my winter adventures in the Model S last year.
 
Would plugging into 110V help to warm the battery? (after full charge received). My 220 is only active between 11 PM and 7 AM, but I could plug into a regular outlet, wondering if that would help.

Yes, it would help. Actually, in cold weather warming the battery is just about all the 110V plug can do.
 
I wish the Tesla app would just let us input a "departure time" and adjust everything else appropriately. Pre-heat or pre-cool the car as needed and coordinate charging and whatever else so that the car is just ready to go by the time I set.

At a public meeting in Europe with Elon, someone suggested that and Elon nodded and he said 'I agree'.