Rivian Preheating for Planned Drives - Does NOT Precondition The Battery (Update it does if plugged in?)

[babalegba]

I park in my garage at home and have been using the precondition feature with the setting to pull power off the charger (not the battery). My experience is a little different.

• Definitely preconditions all the time
• Not seeing much efficiency gains. I'm in WA though and battery stays relatively warm in the garage
• I charge to 70% daily. But battery is at 69% almost as soon as I hop in, and drops to 68% within 1-2 miles of driving

My experience seems the preconditioning is taking power from the battery pack. I think I will just turn it off for now.

EDIT: Although the app was set to pull energy from the charger, that setting did not translate into the car. I just turned it on manually in the car, and see over the next few days.

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[Herb]

Interesting... I don't have a charger at my apartment, so I can't attest to the charger/no charger variable, but without a charger connected when my vehicle was in -3 celcius overnight, it did its preconditioning for around 35 minutes prior to me setting out that morning. I didn't have any limitations that morning, so in my case it completed the objective, despite the battery still only being around +6 celcius when getting in.

I did however, turn off the preconditioning, because my regen etc limitations in that weather, aren't enough to justify robbing the battery for half an hour just for some minor performance boosts at the start. I'm likely still using a similar amount of power, or close to by just driving cold to the destination inefficiently, as I would preconditioning, then setting out.

I want to try it out at our house to see the difference while plugged in to the charger, but that experiment will have to wait a bit.

This makes sense to me. The other day I forgot to plug in and it still preconditioned, even though I had the slider set to "Pull from charger to maintain range."
But I agree it's seems buggy, I also had one instance when it did not pre-condition when scheduled while plugged in. Personally, I don't see much benefit of this pre-conditioning. I have 5 mile drive to work and in a 30'F garage, pre-conditioning requires easily more kWh than my drive, even starting the drive with a 30'F battery. I think the math changes if you have a 20 mile or more drive, plus you have the benefit of a warm cabin. All this math also depends if the vehicle is garaged and what the temperature is in the garage vs during the drive. I don't think there's one simple answer whether using scheduled pre-conditionong is sensible. If you need to know it down to the last kWh, it's a good math exercise based on your own observations over varying conditions. I think Dual Motor Trucks heat the battery quicker than QM. Anyways, lots of variables to this equation. I do appreciate Rivian giving us this option to pre-condition on a schedule and except for short drives, it usually is sensible to combine cabin with pre-conditioning the battery as you recoup most if not all of the investment. It is for sure helpful when you leave early on a cold morning and you need maximum range.

 

[RivAW]

It may just be me, but I was under the understanding that with the latest update it was preconditioning the battery and the cabin. It turns out that is NOT the case, I confirmed this with multiple Rivian service advisors today and it explains why my battery is at 37 degrees after completing a preheating session.

Maybe it's just me - hopefully y'all don't kill me if you guys already knew this - but I was generally curious. I recommended they be clearer in their communication - "to precondition the vehicle cabin and the high-voltage battery before planned drives" is pretty cut and dry the high-voltage battery is preconditioned. However it seems like that is NOT happening in this software update.

Hopefully this helps some of y'all if you're still wondering why the preheating isn't changing the temperature of the battery.

See the attachment for the full chat - I removed the names from the file.

When I schedule departure via the newest update, my cabin, steering well etc are heated as is the battery. (Up to 55) when it was 13 degrees outside overnight. When I heated the car from the app without scheduling unplugged and close to same outside temp), my R1T was comfortable but the battery was at 27 degrees….

if you are not plugged in and scheduled for departure (ie the car can figure out the rest), where do you expect the power to heat the battery to come from if it’s cold?

 

[Herb]

When I schedule departure via the newest update, my cabin, steering well etc are heated as is the battery. (Up to 55) when it was 13 degrees outside overnight. When I heated the car from the app without scheduling unplugged and close to same outside temp), my R1T was comfortable but the battery was at 27 degrees….

if you are not plugged in and scheduled for departure (ie the car can figure out the rest), where do you expect the power to heat the battery to come from if it’s cold?

By running battery power through the motor windings, the combined coolant loop moves heat to the battery.

 

[Autolycus]

By running battery power through the motor windings, the combined coolant loop moves heat to the battery.

This is true, but it's also almost unquestionably less efficient than waiting until you're moving to start warming the battery -- the motor windings can be used to generate waste heat while moving just like they can while stationary, but they also warm up some naturally as they're used to move the car, accelerate, decelerate, etc. If you're pulling "shore power", then you probably don't care about the overall efficiency. If you're using only battery, you probably do.

 

[Wing]

Ok I'm not seeing this work properly at all I've tried this twice with the same result. But I have more data this time.

Conditions. Truck sitting out side from 9am to 1pm not plugged in. Motor temps at 86F when parked. Ambient temp 17F

At 1pm I plug vehicle in motor temps 50F battery temp 45F.

I set a scheduled departure at 4:20pm, pull from shore power checked.

At 2:30pm I go out to the truck and the check motors and they are at 113F ok.... I guess it's warming up there battery maybe for departure or maybe to charge I don't know.

At 3:30pm I check the app cabin temperature has reached set 70F. Ok a little early.

I go out to my truck at 4:20pm.

Cabin temp is now 50F the heated seat and wheel are not on.

Motors are at 55F battery is at 50F.

Music is paused it was playing when I left the truck at 2:30.

It seems it warms up way too soon the gives up before the time I want to leave.

So I guess if I want to leave at 4:30 I tell it to be ready at 5:45?

Seems like it heats up an hour too early.

 

[tate16t]

This is the best description of how preconditioning “should” work.

 

[Motinindy]

On a side note, Duke energy sends me $50 a quarter as long as I only charge between 10PM and 6AM. I do get two "anytime charges" per month and will still comply with their rebate agreement. If I am plugged in and preheat my R1S during the day it registers as a charging session and I use up one of my two "anytime charges" $50 is $50.

 

[Sean4510]

Sort of related, but I notice my R1T is never preheated to the right set cabin temp (70) when I get into the car in the morning. I check the app 20-30 mins before I leave and can tell it’s working to heat up the cabin well before I leave, but it’s usually like 61 degrees or something when I get in. I use a daily (Mon-Fri) schedule with a departure time of 7:30am.

Alternatively, if I DON’T use the schedule and just manually preheat the truck to 70 using the app, it’ll easily reach 70 degrees within 15 mins or so.

Anyone else noticing this?

 

[Tejkalra]

Was your car plugged in to the charger? AFAIK, it’ll precondition only when plugged in, otherwise just does the climate part

Nope... Mine is plugged in. Cabin temp 48 at 3:50 am. Set temp to 74 while plugged in. After shower and get ready for work and all at 4:20 cabin temp is only 67. Not only that... Its pulling power from the battery instead of charger. Lost 1% in that session. After driving to work (1 hr and 5 minutes) my battery temp is still 58. Seems like no battery conditioning happening during driving or during cabin preconditioning. That's why my efficiency sucks. Best temperature to get efficiency is around 72. That's why efficency is better in summers. Problem is that if battery conditioning is not there then in summers when temperatures are hitting 100+. We don't want to see those battery temps reaching very high too. Don't understand why rivian is not looking into that. My gen1 after driving was showing some better temps like mid to low 70s. And that's y I think I was getting 2.41 from gen1.
Also I noticed that my motor temperature is reaching high like 125 which may be normal, but why not use that heat to heat the cabin and battery. That's what heat pumps are for. Doesn't seems like working. All it does is make noice and vibrate your steering wheel.

 

[Tejkalra]

Sort of related, but I notice my R1T is never preheated to the right set cabin temp (70) when I get into the car in the morning. I check the app 20-30 mins before I leave and can tell it’s working to heat up the cabin well before I leave, but it’s usually like 61 degrees or something when I get in. I use a daily (Mon-Fri) schedule with a departure time of 7:30am.

Alternatively, if I DON’T use the schedule and just manually preheat the truck to 70 using the app, it’ll easily reach 70 degrees within 15 mins or so.

Anyone else noticing this?

No I used my app. Not schedule. Still same for me. It does not heat to required temp. Also it's pulling power from battery instead of charger. How's that working for you. I know on schedule there is option but if use app is there option available for using charger instead of battery.

 

[RivAW]

It may just be me, but I was under the understanding that with the latest update it was preconditioning the battery and the cabin. It turns out that is NOT the case, I confirmed this with multiple Rivian service advisors today and it explains why my battery is at 37 degrees after completing a preheating session.

Maybe it's just me - hopefully y'all don't kill me if you guys already knew this - but I was generally curious. I recommended they be clearer in their communication - "to precondition the vehicle cabin and the high-voltage battery before planned drives" is pretty cut and dry the high-voltage battery is preconditioned. However it seems like that is NOT happening in this software update.

Hopefully this helps some of y'all if you're still wondering why the preheating isn't changing the temperature of the battery.

See the attachment for the full chat - I removed the names from the file.

When I preheat my R1T in the morning (when plugged in to my home charger) (very cold in MA lately), the battery seems to be heated too. I'm leaving after 15 minutes or so with a comfortably warm vehicle and the battery is over 50 degrees. When I do the same after the vehicle has been parked at the airport or elsewhere overnight (preheat for 15-20 minutes but NOT plugged into a charger), the cabin is comfortable but the battery remains around 25 degrees (sometimes less), and power is a little reduced...

 

[DAJA]

It is not clear to me how or when preconditioning kicks in when using navigation. To date, I do not see much improvement in battery temperature during cold weather navigation to an EV charger, but I speculate that I enter the navigation request too close to the charger (within 5 miles) to effect any "preconditioning".

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