[Fryballin]

Anyone know if the lightning does battery preconditioning when routing to a DC fast charger?

 

[GDN]

Do we even know what capabilities it has to delivery heat to the battery? Heat from the motors? From a dedicated heater?

 

[918Nate]

Didn’t even know this was a thing. There are coolant lines for the max tow. Perhaps the same system could be used to run heat to the battery?

 

[Voltz]

I've asked this question on just about every Ford Livestream, next one is tomorrow night. They've acknowledged the question, but never answered it. I have to think that the answer is 'not at this time'.

July 7, 2022, 9:00 PM, EDT
FORD F-150 LIGHTNING™ TRUCK: CHARGING ON-THE-GO
Tune in for a Discover Your Ford livestream all about charging your F-150 Lightning when you're on the go. We'll cover the BlueOval™ Charge Network, how to plan a long trip with Power My Trip, and much more.

https://www.ford.com/support/vehicle/f150-lightning/2022/discover-your-ford/livestream/

 

[SmartElectric]

"out of spec" youtube answered this, the Ford does not precondition for DC charging.
However, all of the videos I've seen so far show the Lightning charging above the 150 kW rate Ford lists, so frankly, the news is good so far.

 

[Leaf to Lightning : )]

unless you are in freezing conditions, I doubt anyone 'needs' any DC Fast Charging 'pre-conditioning' since it's likely you're ALREADY driving and creating heat within the battery... I saw this on my Model 3 long-range that I drove from GA to TX to the Ford Lightning Drive event, but I'm not sure why it would need it, even if it actually 'did' anything to 'precondition' the battery, whatever that even means. The battery would already be VERY warm, if not HOT, and the 100degree temps would certainly not require anything to 'precondition' for any battery heat...

 

[VTbuckeye]

Some of us will be on freezing conditions. I am FAR more likely to DCFC when it is 5F than when 100F, though when that cold, given the choice I would probably be in an ice powered vehicle (waste heat keeps the passengers warm). We rarely get into the 90s around here, but winter is cold.

 

[GDN]

Didn’t even know this was a thing. There are coolant lines for the max tow. Perhaps the same system could be used to run heat to the battery?

The S and X have (maybe had - not sure about the latest redesigns) dedicated battery heaters. The 3/Y capture heat from the motor. While acknowledged it is wasteful, Tesla can generate heat from the motor without it turning to help warm the battery.

I've seen Tesla preheat/condition the battery for Supercharging all the way up to about 80 degrees outside temp. You'll want something in the winter for sure.

 

[SmartElectric]

Some of us will be on freezing conditions. I am FAR more likely to DCFC when it is 5F than when 100F, though when that cold

There is a workaround that I used in our 2013 Tesla before preconditioning feature was added (yes, Tesla even provided this feature update for very old old cars like ours a few years ago!).

1. Full regen brake from speed, use brake pedal until the regen bar on dash display is maxed out, don't brake harder than necessary to get bar to full regen
2. Accelerate hard for several seconds (whereupon you'll be far exceeding speed limit obviously with ~500HP!)
3. Repeat

Passengers hate the SH^T out of this method, but it absolutely works in cold weather.

The key here is that normal highway driving only consumes ~30 kW of power, but full acceleration at 400 kW or regenerative braking at 80 kW warms the battery far more effectively due to short duration high current in/out/draw/load. I cannot stress this enough, even 70 mph highway driving will have very very slow effect on warming battery.

 

[taxmanhog]

Passengers hate the SH^T out of this method, but it absolutely works in cold weather.

Brings visions of my wife and her death grip when I punch it..... LOL

 

[btreece]

Brings visions of my wife and her death grip when I punch it..... LOL

My wife almost puked when I floored the truck last night (First time in the new lightning). Not hearing the engine noise messed her up.

 

[ChasingCoral]

My wife almost puked when I floored the truck last night (First time in the new lightning). Not hearing the engine noise messed her up.

Some people have reported the artificial engine sound cuts down on the car-sickness issues for passengers in Mustang Mach Es by providing them with some input on acceleration/decelleration.