Pre-heating cabin in winter without charging

[gday]

I have found comments about earlier models but wondered if anyone has tried making the 2020 car warm using a connected charger cable but without charging. I do not need to charge every night and it would be nice to just leave it plugged every night to keep it "ready" for any cold season driving. Note: having posted I noticed the word charger becomes a link. This is automatic apparently and helps gain sales for the forum but I am not referring to any specific product.

[ksoul2084]

Not sure if it's the same on a 2020, but on my 2016 I can program charge times/days and pre-heat times/days separately.

So simply set the car to timed charging (default I think unless you press the button under your chargeport door) and program the days and times you want it to charge.

Then program the days/times you want it to preheat.

When you plug the car in it will only charge at the programmed times, and will pre-heat at the programmed times. They need not be the same.

I hope this is useful.

[gday]

Thanks ksoul2084. I will try it in the next few days

[gday]

So I can set charging times and climate times but I was hoping I could just select to keep the battery warm all the time. It seems the only way to it is to tell it to keep the whole car warm My goal was to keep only the battery warm so as to keep it healthy. I checked the temperature in the cells today and they went down to 2 C which I don't think is good for them - I had it plugged in but not charging. I am currently warming the car via climate control and hope to add an electricity monitor in the next few days to get some idea of costs involved in doing this way. I thought I read somewhere that the heater is 2kW but I am not sure if that is just the cabin heater.

[ksoul2084]

So I can set charging times and climate times but I was hoping I could just select to keep the battery warm all the time. It seems the only way to it is to tell it to keep the whole car warm My goal was to keep only the battery warm so as to keep it healthy. I checked the temperature in the cells today and they went down to 2 C which I don't think is good for them - I had it plugged in but not charging. I am currently warming the car via climate control and hope to add an electricity monitor in the next few days to get some idea of costs involved in doing this way. I thought I read somewhere that the heater is 2kW but I am not sure if that is just the cabin heater.

Actually, the optimal idle storage temp. for a Li-Ion battery is just above freezing, with approx. 50% charge.

2c is basically optimal I think.

Where the concern comes in from low temps is when trying to charge or use the battery. Then it is more limited in terms of the current it can accept or discharge until it warms to its nominal operating temperature range.

When I pre-heat my 2016 Soul EV in the morning it warms the battery pack to approx. 9-10c. If I drive on the hwy on a cold day the pack may reach 16-20c by the time I get home (35kms).

So not desirable/required to keep the pack warm all the time if not charging or driving. There may be some issues with extreme cold temperatures (-20c or less) but I'm not certain of that.

[gday]

Thanks for the posting ksoul2084

Actually, the optimal idle storage temp. for a Li-Ion battery is just above freezing, with approx. 50% charge.

2c is basically optimal I think.

Where the concern comes in from low temps is when trying to charge or use the battery. Then it is more limited in terms of the current it can accept or discharge until it warms to its nominal operating temperature range.

When I pre-heat my 2016 Soul EV in the morning it warms the battery pack to approx. 9-10c. If I drive on the hwy on a cold day the pack may reach 16-20c by the time I get home (35kms).

So not desirable/required to keep the pack warm all the time if not charging or driving. There may be some issues with extreme cold temperatures (-20c or less) but I'm not certain of that.

Interesting that it pre-warms your battery. I checked once and that was not the case maybe because it did not need to, but I will certainly try again when it gets below freezing. I looked around and ye you are rights, it seems it is mainly charging that does not like really cold temperatures. That is what Winter Mode is for probably - to help alleviate low temperatures in certain situations.

I think I will make a trip and run Soul EV Spy all the time because it collects lots of data including temperatures.

I found a Tesla site that explained it well I think: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads ... ter.59974/

More research and experiment fun ahead!

[SoulMan]

Winter mode setting (selected from the car's menu on its lcd screen) keeps the battery warm - think of it like a block heater. The car doesn't need to be charging.

My morning schedule isn't predictable, so instead of setting a timer, I turn on climate control to defrost windows, warm cabin etc. using the UVO app about 10 minutes before I'm ready to leave.

[gday]

Thanks Soulman.

I have set the car to Winter Mode and I read it only kicks in at -10 (I think) and the battery actually prefers cooler weather.

The main drop re. range seems to be the use of cabin heat. I sometimes pre-heat the car with it plugged in and the charging light comes on when I do so I assume it is technically using my home electricity to warm it up.

The one remaining mystery for me is why does the car not wait till the low rate hours I set if I plug it in early - it comes on when I plug it then I use UVO to turn it off. Still learning lots for sure!