preconditioning for home charger cold weather

[Joe2765]

If I am driving my Model Y when it is 20 F and I arrive home to my garage which is about 60 F, is it OK to just plug it in and let it start charging or should I give the car some time to warm up to 60 F either by waiting to plug in or by scheduling a start time for charging?

Will the car warm up the battery before actually starting to charge?

Also, when I leave the garage into the cold is it OK to just jump in and go or is there some preparation I should do during the cold season?

Just so you know. The garage is under my house and is that warm as a side effect. I don't actually try to heat the garage.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Just plug in. The car will warm the battery if needed.

Just jump in and go if you like. I usually tell the HVAC system to turn on a couple(like one or three) minutes before I leave, to take the chill off the cabin.

 

[fholbert]

If I am driving my Model Y when it is 20 F and I arrive home to my garage which is about 60 F, is it OK to just plug it in and let it start charging or should I give the car some time to warm up to 60 F either by waiting to plug in or by scheduling a start time for charging?

Will the car warm up the battery before actually starting to charge?

Also, when I leave the garage into the cold is it OK to just jump in and go or is there some preparation I should do during your the cold season?

Just so you know. The garage is under my house and is that warm as a side effect. I don't actually try to heat the garage.

Your 1st question: If the batteries need to be warmed up it before charging, your Tesla will take care of that.

Your 2nd question: I don’t think any preparation is required but, we call 32* really cold. I’ll let others answer.

 

[E90alex]

Don’t need to worry about either situation.

You might want to precondition 10-15 minutes before you leave just for cabin comfort and better efficiency because the car will use house power to warm the cabin if plugged in.

 

[jcanoe]

The battery temperature would only be close to the outside air temperature if the Tesla Model Y had been sitting parked for some time. I.e. overnight in your 60F garage the battery temperature would after a time also be at or close to 60F. When driving the Tesla Model Y will warm the battery as required for optimal battery performance.

Just driving for a time will raise the battery temperature. When you arrive home the battery is warm from driving so you can plug in and immediately begin charging without the Tesla Model Y first warming the battery. The battery does not have to be very warm to charge, just a bit above 32F (0C), or about 4 degrees C. One reason not to charge immediately when you arrive home is if you have a time of use utility rate plan with an off-peak rate period that starts later in the evening or after midnight until 0600 or 0700 in the A.M. In that case you should set delayed charging to coincide with the off-peak rate window. The Tesla Model Y may have to warm the battery in cold weather prior to charging but you stated your garage is at 60F even in cold weather so no additional battery warming will be needed to be able to charge.

When you precondition via the Tesla app or using Scheduled Departure Preconditioning before driving the Tesla Model Y may warm the battery for optimal driving but even then the battery is only partially warmed to minimize the energy used. Tesla provides a setting under Pedals & Steering so you won't notice when regenerative braking is reduced (typically this happens when the battery is cold). This setting automatically blends the friction brakes with regenerative braking for a normal driving experience anytime regenerative braking is reduced.

 

[LoudMusic]

Just plug in. The car will warm the battery if needed.

Just jump in and go if you like. I usually tell the HVAC system to turn on a couple(like one or three) minutes before I leave, to take the chill off the cabin.

I usually do that 15 to 20 minutes ahead to make sure the seat heater has fully saturated the seat with heat

 

[cbdream99]

I will just plugin and not to worry about it, pre-condition the car before departure makes it more comfortable and more efficient. In the past few days during the past few days of arctic blast, it was in the teens outside and garage is just above freezing. I can see the efficiency drops significantly - 540 Wh/mile for last 30 miles, regen warning also came on - I didn't do any heating or preconditioning at all.

 

[ThunderBay3Y]

It's-35C here so that's what I label as really cold.

The car warms the battery before it starts to give it a charge so I set departure time and it generally warms and charges just before I have to depart.

That being said I have seen the car battery so cold that it couldn't get it warmed in time to be charged for the set time - but only on really cold days.

When it's this cold out I generally charge as soon as I get home so the battery is warm and it can accept a charge. Letting it sit over night at -35C and then trying to get it charged quick is a recipe for disaster - just look at Chicago (and not as cold as it is here)

 

[Joe2765]

Thanks for all the advice.