[Art p]

Now that the weather has turned cold, every time I shut down the truck, I get a message on the screen that because of the outside temperature I should leave the truck plugged in.

My question is if I am not charging and have not set a destination time, what is the benefit, if any, to leaving the truck plugged in during cold weather?

 

[chillaban]

What I see on my Lightning using a JuiceBox EVSE is that overnight it will briefly draw a few kW for a minute or two every few hours from the wall, presumably to warm the battery pack a little.
I don’t know what happens if you’re unplugged but it’s either that it’ll use its own battery to do the same or it won’t try to warm the battery pack as much / at all.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I posted this notice from Ford last month:

 

[ChasingCoral]

My question is if I am not charging and have not set a destination time, what is the benefit, if any, to leaving the truck plugged in during cold weather?

• When you go to drive, you can pre-condition the cabin using "shore power" rather than the battery. This will increase your range and may be more economical as their are losses inherent in charging/discharging any battery.
• Keeping the truck plugged in will help keep the 12v topped up
• PowerUps require the truck to have sufficient charge in the 12v battery. Keeping the truck plugged in will help make sure PowerUps install.

 

[Phil.blog]

Now that the weather has turned cold, every time I shut down the truck, I get a message on the screen that because of the outside temperature I should leave the truck plugged in.

My question is if I am not charging and have not set a destination time, what is the benefit, if any, to leaving the truck plugged in during cold weather?

You're just going to lose range by not plugging it in.

The truck needs to maintain the battery at a certain temperature, so that will drain some (minimum) power overnight.
Then the next day when you go to drive, the truck needs to use energy to warm up (condition) the battery. That will use up more power (more than the overnight).

So if you have your truck plugged in, it can just draw power from the wall to do both of those things, instead of pulling from the battery.

I don't pick up my truck until Saturday. So I can't say how much impact those two factors have on the trucks range, but it definitely will have an impact. And the colder it is, the more the impact.

 

[MCM]

• When you go to drive, you can pre-condition the cabin using "shore power" rather than the battery. This will increase your range and may be more economical as their are losses inherent in charging/discharging any battery.
• Keeping the truck plugged in will help keep the 12v topped up
• PowerUps require the truck to have sufficient charge in the 12v battery. Keeping the truck plugged in will help make sure PowerUps install.

Does it help or hurt to precondition your cabin when you are not plugged in? You just finished your meal at a restaurant, and it is 20 degrees outside, and you want to drive away in a warm truck????

 

[quikag]

Does it help or hurt to precondition your cabin when you are not plugged in? You just finished your meal at a restaurant, and it is 20 degrees outside, and you want to drive away in a warm truck????

If your immediate comfort of stepping into a warm cabin is worth a relatively immaterial loss of range, then precondition to your hearts content.

 

[Art p]

• When you go to drive, you can pre-condition the cabin using "shore power" rather than the battery. This will increase your range and may be more economical as their are losses inherent in charging/discharging any battery.
• Keeping the truck plugged in will help keep the 12v topped up
• PowerUps require the truck to have sufficient charge in the 12v battery. Keeping the truck plugged in will help make sure PowerUps install.

Ok that all makes sense. I also hadn't thought about effect on the 12v battery from the cold.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Ok that all makes sense. I also hadn't thought about effect on the 12v battery from the cold.

If you had ever tried to start an ICE vehicle at -20° F you would understand what cold does to 12v batteries. 🥶

 

[chillaban]

Does it help or hurt to precondition your cabin when you are not plugged in? You just finished your meal at a restaurant, and it is 20 degrees outside, and you want to drive away in a warm truck????

In most cases it ultimately consumes more range to precondition off your battery pack versus just stepping into your cold truck and driving off. In fact the same is often true about Departure Time conditioning — you end up using more shore power than what you save in battery capacity.
The main exception I can think of is if your battery pack is discharged enough for regenerative braking and you have a steep downhill initial leg of your drive (think: ski vacation, leaving your hotel).

Otherwise it’s mostly about your comfort, how long you need the battery pack to last for your trip (like if you need to go 180 miles and a cold pack would only go 160 but a preconditioned one can go 220, it arguably saves you a charging stop).

For me, I don’t precondition using shore power in cold weather unless I need the max range. The reason is my winter off peak ends at 7AM and then electricity is 75% more expensive!

 

[Art p]

You're just going to lose range by not plugging it in.

The truck needs to maintain the battery at a certain temperature, so that will drain some (minimum) power overnight.
Then the next day when you go to drive, the truck needs to use energy to warm up (condition) the battery. That will use up more power (more than the overnight).

So if you have your truck plugged in, it can just draw power from the wall to do both of those things, instead of pulling from the battery.

I don't pick up my truck until Saturday. So I can't say how much impact those two factors have on the trucks range, but it definitely will have an impact. And the colder it is, the more the impact.

I did notice this week after three days of not driving I lost about 2 percent of the charge. Temps at night here are going into the mid 20s and I park outside because the truck won't fit into the garage.

 

[chillaban]

I did notice this week after three days of not driving I lost about 2 percent of the charge. Temps at night here are going into the mid 20s and I park outside because the truck won't fit into the garage.

I also park outside and especially on days when it’s actively snowing, I leave it unplugged so that our driveway plowing service doesn’t accidentally run over the cable, etc. the drain is actually fairly minimal compared to our Teslas.

 

[greatbreweh]

I only plug in if travelling the next day any real distance but last 3 days I never plugged in and saw very very little reduction in battery percentage with 20km daily run arounds(-7 to-15C nights) and only pre started the truck for 15 min prior to leaving, all worked as always does. I do plug in for bigger trips where I will use 60-100 percent my range and pre program my departure for preconditioning which takes 1 hour.

 

[R.I.P.]

Keep in mind that leaving your vehicle plugged in when it is very hot or very cold allows the truck to prevent stress on the battery. Whereas the unplugged vehicle will still keep the battery temperatures out of the danger area, when you get in to go it still may be pretty cold. We can begin the argument of how much stress it puts to use the battery cold, however most experts agree that it does stress a lithium battery to use it cold.

Conversely, most modern EVS will use a little bit more power to keep the battery in the "happy" zone when it is plugged in. The "happy" zone is the threshold where the stress is zero or negligible when the vehicle is used at that temperature.

For the longest and happiest battery life, most manufacturers will tell you to keep the vehicle plugged in, especially in extreme temperatures.

 

[greatbreweh]

Keep in mind that leaving your vehicle plugged in when it is very hot or very cold allows the truck to prevent stress on the battery. Whereas the unplugged vehicle will still keep the battery temperatures out of the danger area, when you get in to go it still may be pretty cold. We can begin the argument of how much stress it puts to use the battery cold, however most experts agree that it does stress a lithium battery to use it cold.

Conversely, most modern EVS will use a little bit more power to keep the battery in the "happy" zone when it is plugged in. The "happy" zone is the threshold where the stress is zero or negligible when the vehicle is used at that temperature.

For the longest and happiest battery life, most manufacturers will tell you to keep the vehicle plugged in, especially in extreme temperatures.

More learning of EV's from here, will keep her plugged in

 

[Art p]

Keep in mind that leaving your vehicle plugged in when it is very hot or very cold allows the truck to prevent stress on the battery. Whereas the unplugged vehicle will still keep the battery temperatures out of the danger area, when you get in to go it still may be pretty cold. We can begin the argument of how much stress it puts to use the battery cold, however most experts agree that it does stress a lithium battery to use it cold.

Conversely, most modern EVS will use a little bit more power to keep the battery in the "happy" zone when it is plugged in. The "happy" zone is the threshold where the stress is zero or negligible when the vehicle is used at that temperature.

For the longest and happiest battery life, most manufacturers will tell you to keep the vehicle plugged in, especially in extreme temperatures.

Good info. Thanks.

 

[Nbc10homepro]

I actually purchased a second 20 amp cable just to keep it plugged in 24/7 but I saw that it used more kW/hrs on the charge to get just 5 to 10 miles added vs the 40 amp charger.
Almost half the power. My 40 amp charge is on the house and the garage is separate from it. I move the truck and plug in as needed only a couple times per week if that.
Will see when it stay cold here in NE, I may change my mind. Pre-Heating was the thought for the 20 amp charge cord. With the new 50% higher electricity cost I scraped that idea.

 

[quikag]

Probably overthinking, but I'm supposed to get my truck next week and then I'm leaving town for 4 days (without truck, so it will sit in driveway). Weather is supposed to be cold/semi-cold in DFW. Not sure I want to leave my truck plugged in for 4 days right after I get it and I'm not home in case something weird happens. That said, it's probably not an issue either way.

What would y'all do? Just charge it up before leaving town and let it sit in driveway for 4 days unplugged or leave it plugged in?

 

[R.I.P.]

Probably overthinking, but I'm supposed to get my truck next week and then I'm leaving town for 4 days (without truck, so it will sit in driveway). Weather is supposed to be cold/semi-cold in DFW. Not sure I want to leave my truck plugged in for 4 days right after I get it and I'm not home in case something weird happens. That said, it's probably not an issue either way.

What would y'all do? Just charge it up before leaving town and let it sit in driveway for 4 days unplugged or leave it plugged in?

I have multiple EVs, I am a collector lol. Any EV I am not currently using, sits plugged in, even if it's just to a 110 outlet. They can sit for months while I'm traveling in one of the other EVs. Leaving them plugged in, even if it's just to 110, keeps the 12 volt batteries happy, keeps the high voltage batteries conditioned, and is the way most of these vehicles are designed to sit unless it's going to be for over 6 months.

If it is going to be over 6 months, most of the manufacturers give you another path to go, to include getting the tires off the ground.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Probably overthinking, but I'm supposed to get my truck next week and then I'm leaving town for 4 days (without truck, so it will sit in driveway). Weather is supposed to be cold/semi-cold in DFW. Not sure I want to leave my truck plugged in for 4 days right after I get it and I'm not home in case something weird happens. That said, it's probably not an issue either way.

What would y'all do? Just charge it up before leaving town and let it sit in driveway for 4 days unplugged or leave it plugged in?

You are overthinking it. If you can plug it in, do so. If it’s not convenient, don’t bother. It’s only 4 days. You’ll probably lose no more than 2% off the battery.