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Precondition at home

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1Lucid1

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Are there any benefits with battery preconditioning when charging at home (Level 2, 9-10 kW).

ChatGPT thinks so, but she does know Lucid. Plus her arguments aren’t too convincing, like her claim of more efficient. I hadn’t notice any efficiency or speed differences with home garage charging with varying ambient temperatures.

Getting the car battery to a comfortable temperature, which ChatGPT says is <80F in the summer (what would be the winter threshold?), may be an argument. But is it worth the energy and thought expenditure? I am interested in maximizing battery lifespan, without wasting energy.

I started to let the battery rest for 30-60min after coming home before charging. Is that a energy-free alternative to preconditioning?
 
At L2 speeds, as far as I know, there is no reason to worry about any of that. Just plug in and take the juice. The car will deal with itself if it needs to.
 
No need to precondition for L2.
 
I actually read this differently, there is a benefit to pre-conditioning or getting the battery temp up at home if its right before you leave for a long trip. You'll be more efficient with the battery if its at optimal temp vs being too cold.

For L2 charging, the rate is slow enough it won't really help.
 
I could see the use of preconditioning from the app if you were on a trip and needed to do a fast charge soon after you departed. Otherwise not useful
 
What about charging overnight in the winter closer to the time of departure? (To start your trip with a warm, more efficient ride?). Would the act of charging warm the battery? In effect, is it better to charge closer to a 7am departure, rather than just after midnight? Here’s what ChatGPT though. Comments?


Yes, charging an electric vehicle (EV) on a Level 2 charger can help warm up the battery, especially if the vehicle has a battery thermal management system (like your Lucid Air does). Here’s how it works and what you need to know:

What happens when you charge a cold EV battery:
  • Most modern EVs use waste heat from the charging process to help warm the battery.
  • Some EVs (including Lucid) actively heat the battery during charging if it’s cold enough to affect performance.
Charging to warm the battery:
  • Yes, plugging into a Level 2 charger before leaving can help.
  • Typically, 30–60 minutes of Level 2 charging is enough to warm the battery up significantly, though this varies by temperature and vehicle.

Interesting. Thoughts?
 
My experience with charging in a garage during the Maine winter (when the garage and resting cabin temperature was usually somewhere in the 20s or 30s, even when colder outside), the Lucid app would show a message saying that it was warming the battery to achieve optimal charging efficiency….. though the actual rate of the charge did not seem to vary much at all as it warmed. Nonetheless, as the AI suggested, it usually took 45 to 60 minutes for that message to disappear while the charging continued.

At that point, I presume I was heading out with a relatively happy battery. However, after a winter day trip, when I arrived home and plugged in again I would always again get the message that the battery was warming itself as it began the new charge. So running it doesn’t keep the battery in its happy place necessarily, at least on chilly days.
 
jedwin said:
My experience with charging in a garage during the Maine winter (when the garage and resting cabin temperature was usually somewhere in the 20s or 30s, even when colder outside), the Lucid app would show a message saying that it was warming the battery to achieve optimal charging efficiency….. though the actual rate of the charge did not seem to vary much at all as it warmed. Nonetheless, as the AI suggested, it usually took 45 to 60 minutes for that message to disappear while the charging continued.

At that point, I presume I was heading out with a relatively happy battery. However, after a winter day trip, when I arrived home and plugged in again I would always again get the message that the battery was warming itself as it began the new charge. So running it doesn’t keep the battery in its happy place necessarily, at least on chilly days.
Click to expand...
Did you find your mi/kWH seemed improved from the start of your trip, rather than improving as the car warmed?
 
Hard to really say, since most trips (until this week’s upcoming “spring tinge” tour on Maine’s back roads!) were on days a tad below freezing….and the early part of all trips includes either more stop and start driving in towns before hitting the more open rural stretches, or 20-40 miles of highway driving more or less right away….

But I think it’s a bit better that way.
 
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