Battery temperature?

[Giveittomebaby]

When I had a car with an engine, you would know that fuel economy would improve in line with oil and water temp. You could also monitor the temps on the dashboard.


In my M3 LR, the early part of my journey tends to be really high kW/mile which levels out over time, I’m assuming this is as the battery heats up?

Question is why can’t I see the battery temp to help me understand how long the battery takes to get to temperature?

Or am I missing the point?

Apols if this has been discussed elsewhere, am sure it has but I couldn’t find it

 

[Soul Surfer]

Yes, that is often the case. If your car is parked outside, it is recommended to precondition, just by turning on the heat. Many post even on the Tesla site about that. No need to apologize.

 

[Giveittomebaby]

Yes, that is often the case. If your car is parked outside, it is recommended to precondition, just by turning on the heat. Many post even on the Tesla site about that. No need to apologize.

Preconditioning sucks the life out of my battery.

Why don’t Tesla show battery temp?

 

[Supcom]

Preconditioning sucks the life out of my battery.

Why don’t Tesla show battery temp?

Few people are really interested in monitoring their battery temperature and it's not necessary. But, if you would like to do so, you can install a bluetooth ODB adapter, get the ScanMyTesla app for your phone and monitor any number of low level vehicle parameters.

 

[E90alex]

There’s nothing you can really do as the user with the information about battery temp so it’s irrelevant information as far as Tesla is concerned.

The high energy usage at the beginning of a drive is typically due to HVAC getting the cabin up to temp. The battery is not actively heated unless it’s sub freezing. It naturally warms as the car is driven and there’s nothing you can do to warm it (or cool it) other than driving it.

The “optimal” temperature is a very wide range. As long as it can provide full acceleration and full regen then the battery is warm enough for maximum efficiency. That’s anywhere from above freezing to over 100°F. I believe it goes up to mid 80°F before it starts cooling it, but it’s very happy sitting far below that and doesn’t try to bring it up to that temp (unless it’s preconditioning for Supercharging — not regular preconditioning through the app).

 

[beatle]

It's nice to know the battery temperature as regen is notably affected by temps lower than 67F. Still nothing you can do other than adjust your charging habits. In the winter I now only charge on the days I plan to leave. That keeps the battery temp above 67F and I get "full" regen.

That said, I also notice that even if I don't have the yellow dashes in the energy meter, regen is still stronger once I've been driving a bit - this is at a SoC of 80% or lower. Having the battery temperature and max regen kw would be nice to see. This was not important before 2019 or so when regen was more severely limited in colder temperatures.

 

[keysinpocket]

Either low temps or high temps isn't ideal for your battery, but note that this doesn't actually mean that your battery would be dead within the near future or so nor does it mean that your efficiency would be extremely bad.

Regenerative braking is poor when your battery is cold and it doesn't take too long for it to warm up either. Performance can be poor when it is too cold, or too hot for that matter. I'd say that this isn't something that should be worrying you. Tesla accounts for all these and definitely would've thought of these.

 

[Giveittomebaby]

Either low temps or high temps isn't ideal for your battery, but note that this doesn't actually mean that your battery would be dead within the near future or so nor does it mean that your efficiency would be extremely bad.

Regenerative braking is poor when your battery is cold and it doesn't take too long for it to warm up either. Performance can be poor when it is too cold, or too hot for that matter. I'd say that this isn't something that should be worrying you. Tesla accounts for all these and definitely would've thought of these.

But that’s the thing isn’t it. On an ICE you could see the temperature of the oil to know when your car is running more efficiently.

On a Tesla it’s just a case of it will warm up in time, but how much time, I know it depends on the weather etc, but it would be good to know what the current (scuse the pun)battery temperature is

 

[Usher]

But that’s the thing isn’t it. On an ICE you could see the temperature of the oil to know when your car is running more efficiently.

On a Tesla it’s just a case of it will warm up in time, but how much time, I know it depends on the weather etc, but it would be good to know what the current (scuse the pun)battery temperature is

Why would it be good to know the battery temperature? What specifically would you do differently as a driver if you know the battery temperature is say 10ºC vs 20ºC?

Incidentally, if you really want to see this stuff, you can just buy an aftermarket device and monitor it on your phone. I have the Commander from enhauto.com installed in my car and it works really well for seeing how the different systems in the car work.

 

[Giveittomebaby]

Why would it be good to know the battery temperature? What specifically would you do differently as a driver if you know the battery temperature is say 10ºC vs 20ºC?

Incidentally, if you really want to see this stuff, you can just buy an aftermarket device and monitor it on your phone. I have the Commander from enhauto.com installed in my car and it works really well for seeing how the different systems in the car work.

Because it might help explain higher consumption vs lower consumption!!

For example. I’ve just been on a 4 mile trip. Outbound 200 w per mile. The trip back was just over 300 w per mile. How does that work????

Same route both ways, minimal traffic and elevation.
In fact I was using chill mode on the way back which is the only my discernible difference.

I just think it would be good to see that matrix displayed somewhere. Won’t be losing sleep over it

 

[Usher]

That's what the energy app is for, assuming your car is new enough to have the updated version. On the newer cars it will tell you specifically which of the car's subsystems are using extra energy and how much. It will also break down how much extra is used due to ambient temperatures, wind, hills, etc.

 

[E90alex]

Because it might help explain higher consumption vs lower consumption!!

For example. I’ve just been on a 4 mile trip. Outbound 200 w per mile. The trip back was just over 300 w per mile. How does that work????

Same route both ways, minimal traffic and elevation.
In fact I was using chill mode on the way back which is the only my discernible difference.

I just think it would be good to see that matrix displayed somewhere. Won’t be losing sleep over it

HVAC

 

[Giveittomebaby]

That's what the energy app is for, assuming your car is new enough to have the updated version. On the newer cars it will tell you specifically which of the car's subsystems are using extra energy and how much. It will also break down how much extra is used due to ambient temperatures, wind, hills, etc.

I checked the energy app and it said I’d used 0.5% less energy on the way back.
Admittedly I didn’t check on the way out.

And no, there was only 30 minutes between journeys so the weather was more or less the same

 

[zoomer0056]

You can use the Tessie app to monitor battery temp and other battery metrics. Tesla has recently changed how data is accessed and Tessie now takes advantage of the new direct telemetry.

 

[Usher]

I checked the energy app and it said I’d used 0.5% less energy on the way back.
Admittedly I didn’t check on the way out.

And no, there was only 30 minutes between journeys so the weather was more or less the same

Were you looking at "Trip" or "Rated"? Were you parked in a garage at home for the first trip and outside before the return trip? A 4 mile trip is very short, so the difference is almost certainly due higher HVAC use for cabin heating on the return trip if the energy app didn't say anything about wind or elevation. On a trip that short, catching a late stoplight change at 55mph and having to use the friction brakes to stop could explain most of the difference.

 

[Supcom]

Because it might help explain higher consumption vs lower consumption!!

For example. I’ve just been on a 4 mile trip. Outbound 200 w per mile. The trip back was just over 300 w per mile. How does that work????

Same route both ways, minimal traffic and elevation.
In fact I was using chill mode on the way back which is the only my discernible difference.

I just think it would be good to see that matrix displayed somewhere. Won’t be losing sleep over it

A 4 mile trip is not a good case for evaluating energy usage. However, using much more energy on the return than the outgoing leg would generally point to something other than battery temperature. That is, unless you drove the first leg in the warm afternoon and returned in the early morning hours.

The discrepancy could be due to any combination of traffic, elevation, acceleration profile, chosen speed, wind, etc.

As I mentioned earlier, you can easily see your battery temperature by purchasing a blutetooth ODB adapter, a simple adapter cable, and downloading the scanmytesla app for your phone. Installation takes less than 10 minutes and you can see much more than just battery temperature.

 

[zoomer0056]

As I mentioned earlier, you can easily see your battery temperature by purchasing a blutetooth ODB adapter, a simple adapter cable, and downloading the scanmytesla app for your phone. Installation takes less than 10 minutes and you can see much more than just battery temperature.

With the Tessie app, that data is available from Tesla/Tessie without adapters or cables.