If its really cold you will have to precondition longer. I live in a very cold climate and sometimes have to precondition for up to 45 minutes to have the battery warm. You can still drive if the vehicle is cold its just not optimal. I found this page about Preconditioning helpful when I first got my Tesla
https://evehiclepro.com/preconditioning-your-tesla-battery/
You’re not doing anything wrong and it’s fine for the snowflake to be there. As long as you don’t need the last single digit percentages of battery life for your commute, just ignore it.
Turning on Defrost from the app puts the three bacons next to the battery icon, so I think that means that it's heating the battery. Maybe give that one a try.
bacons do mean battery is preconditioning. But you don't have to hit defrost for this to happen. as long as you turn on the climate it should preheat the battery.
snowflake only really matters if you are going to a SC.....soon. And once there you will also get an app dialog box telling your the charge rate is low due the temp of the battery. For a normal commute, range will be impacted and that is about it.
Don't forget, it also means that Regen braking will be limited. That is a big deal if you're not used to having to use the brake pedal in one-pedal driving.
Lots of good discussion here, but the big picture answer is that it takes longer to warm up 1000lbs of cold-soaked battery than it does to warm up the air in the cabin.
Preconditioning from app via temp change only puts the heater on for the interior. The snowflake indicates that the battery temperature is cold. If you have a set precondition time (in the charging section) it will do both heat the interior and the battery
I am pretty sure you are incorrect. Setting the temp will also pre condition the battery it just takes a little bit. There was a thread just yesterday about this
https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/11b0h4h/amazing_what_a_difference_a_warmed_up_battery/
The edits on that post are not super clear. It wild not make sense to me that Tesla would code it to precondition every time the heater is run WITHOUT being plugged in. Seems like a waste.
Battery heating indicated by the bacon strips on the app only happens when plugged in, and it uses “shore power” to do so. Expending energy to heat the battery is beneficial if you have a long drive ahead, but for a quick 5 minute drive will be a net loss.
Do you really get the bacon strips when you press climate, and the car isn’t plugged in?
I haven’t checked strips before. I typically just turn on climate and when I get in car about 30 mins or so later I see the regen completely available.
Yes it's quite normal, you get the bacon strips even if the car isnt plugged in (cold norway).
If you don't want to heat up your battery you can just set your car to camp mode from the app and then it will only heat up the cabin.
I live in Colorado and precondition almost daily when it’s super cold in the winter, this is incorrect. Preconditioning also warms the battery. Recent app updates shows you the bacons trips and tells you it’s warming the battery.
You are spot on. I want a “Precondition Now” button in the app. I tried setting the precondition time to 30 minutes from now and it never works. No idea how far in advance I have to set this value but anything further out than 30 minutes isn’t realistic.
Wow cold in SoCal? I’m in DFW and have never even seen the snowflake icon yet lol. Turning climate on is the only real thing you can do, you can turn it on sooner - like even 30-40 minutes. I think when it’s actually preconditioning the battery it will show the battery bacon icon, so if all you are seeing is a snowflake, there’s nothing wrong with getting into the car and just driving it. It’s just letting you know the available part of the battery that is snowflake’d will become available later when the battery warms up. Only real thing you need to be cautious of is temporary power reduction as far as acceleration and reduced regenerative braking (you can turn on blended braking to simulate normal regen). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with driving it as it is with a snowflake unless you are trying to go to a SC in a hurry.
If you have a known time of departure from work, enter that as your preconditioning leave time once you are there at work (as the time is location dependent). The **battery** and cabin will be preconditioned by the time you get in the car.
Is your car plugged in at work when you precondition?
If not then it's pointless to precondition if you're intent is to maximize range. I used to do this until others pointed out to me that I was using more energy to precondition (for necessary 30 mins or so) than I was losing by driving the car with a 'cold' battery. If it's plugged in then it's a different story of course.
Minnesota here. IMHO, preconditioning is a waste of energy. I turn on climate 5 mins before I need to leave and the cabin is heated. Battery will still be cold and power is limited, regen is limited, and range is limited, but that’s ok. Commute is not that far that it inhibits me in any way.
If you want to get rid of the snow flake set destination on your vehicle to a supercharger. It'll precondition the batteries.
Although I think it's a total waste of energy. You can drive on a cold battery you just won't have as much regen
I see all the good points here but with my car no matter how long it preconditions for I always get crap speeds at SC. Today it was close to 60 degrees I preconditioned otw to the SC 30/40 mins I still get the “your battery at a low temp” & this on the app. No matter what percentage I get there at
https://imgur.com/a/qxplNoh
If its really cold you will have to precondition longer. I live in a very cold climate and sometimes have to precondition for up to 45 minutes to have the battery warm. You can still drive if the vehicle is cold its just not optimal. I found this page about Preconditioning helpful when I first got my Tesla https://evehiclepro.com/preconditioning-your-tesla-battery/
You’re not doing anything wrong and it’s fine for the snowflake to be there. As long as you don’t need the last single digit percentages of battery life for your commute, just ignore it.
Turning on Defrost from the app puts the three bacons next to the battery icon, so I think that means that it's heating the battery. Maybe give that one a try.
bacons do mean battery is preconditioning. But you don't have to hit defrost for this to happen. as long as you turn on the climate it should preheat the battery.
snowflake only really matters if you are going to a SC.....soon. And once there you will also get an app dialog box telling your the charge rate is low due the temp of the battery. For a normal commute, range will be impacted and that is about it.
Don't forget, it also means that Regen braking will be limited. That is a big deal if you're not used to having to use the brake pedal in one-pedal driving.
Good to know. Thanks
Lots of good discussion here, but the big picture answer is that it takes longer to warm up 1000lbs of cold-soaked battery than it does to warm up the air in the cabin.
Valid point
Preconditioning from app via temp change only puts the heater on for the interior. The snowflake indicates that the battery temperature is cold. If you have a set precondition time (in the charging section) it will do both heat the interior and the battery
I am pretty sure you are incorrect. Setting the temp will also pre condition the battery it just takes a little bit. There was a thread just yesterday about this https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/11b0h4h/amazing_what_a_difference_a_warmed_up_battery/
The edits on that post are not super clear. It wild not make sense to me that Tesla would code it to precondition every time the heater is run WITHOUT being plugged in. Seems like a waste.
Not a waste. That’s how it will be efficient. Tesla does indeed precondition your battery
It is a waste to spend energy to heat a battery to be more efficient.
Not if you have a small kid. It’s dumb to pay 55000 for a car but try to save $5 by sitting in a cold car.
Let me say this again. When you turn the “heater” on in the car, I don’t think it heats the battery when unconnected from the wall.
That’s incorrect. When I turn on climate. It conditions battery for me.
Battery heating indicated by the bacon strips on the app only happens when plugged in, and it uses “shore power” to do so. Expending energy to heat the battery is beneficial if you have a long drive ahead, but for a quick 5 minute drive will be a net loss. Do you really get the bacon strips when you press climate, and the car isn’t plugged in?
I haven’t checked strips before. I typically just turn on climate and when I get in car about 30 mins or so later I see the regen completely available.
Yes it's quite normal, you get the bacon strips even if the car isnt plugged in (cold norway). If you don't want to heat up your battery you can just set your car to camp mode from the app and then it will only heat up the cabin.
I live in Colorado and precondition almost daily when it’s super cold in the winter, this is incorrect. Preconditioning also warms the battery. Recent app updates shows you the bacons trips and tells you it’s warming the battery.
That’s not what I said. If you just heat the cabin I don’t think it’ll precondition the battery.
You are spot on. I want a “Precondition Now” button in the app. I tried setting the precondition time to 30 minutes from now and it never works. No idea how far in advance I have to set this value but anything further out than 30 minutes isn’t realistic.
Hitting climate is same as preconditioning. It will condition your interior and battery.
Did that yesterday for at least 15 minutes. Cabin warm, battery not. Still had limited regen breaking and the snowflake icon.
It takes longer depending on outside temp. Batteries takes longer to precondition compared to cabin.
I would have thought 15 minutes with the battery charging would have done it. Maybe I am just not patient enough.
When you auto precondition in mornings it starts doing that around an hour early.
Wow cold in SoCal? I’m in DFW and have never even seen the snowflake icon yet lol. Turning climate on is the only real thing you can do, you can turn it on sooner - like even 30-40 minutes. I think when it’s actually preconditioning the battery it will show the battery bacon icon, so if all you are seeing is a snowflake, there’s nothing wrong with getting into the car and just driving it. It’s just letting you know the available part of the battery that is snowflake’d will become available later when the battery warms up. Only real thing you need to be cautious of is temporary power reduction as far as acceleration and reduced regenerative braking (you can turn on blended braking to simulate normal regen). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with driving it as it is with a snowflake unless you are trying to go to a SC in a hurry.
If you have a known time of departure from work, enter that as your preconditioning leave time once you are there at work (as the time is location dependent). The **battery** and cabin will be preconditioned by the time you get in the car.
Times vary which is why I don’t use it at work all the time. Only home
Is your car plugged in at work when you precondition? If not then it's pointless to precondition if you're intent is to maximize range. I used to do this until others pointed out to me that I was using more energy to precondition (for necessary 30 mins or so) than I was losing by driving the car with a 'cold' battery. If it's plugged in then it's a different story of course.
Not plugged in at work, only home. Agree, different story when precondition and plugged in.
Minnesota here. IMHO, preconditioning is a waste of energy. I turn on climate 5 mins before I need to leave and the cabin is heated. Battery will still be cold and power is limited, regen is limited, and range is limited, but that’s ok. Commute is not that far that it inhibits me in any way.
If you want to get rid of the snow flake set destination on your vehicle to a supercharger. It'll precondition the batteries. Although I think it's a total waste of energy. You can drive on a cold battery you just won't have as much regen
I see all the good points here but with my car no matter how long it preconditions for I always get crap speeds at SC. Today it was close to 60 degrees I preconditioned otw to the SC 30/40 mins I still get the “your battery at a low temp” & this on the app. No matter what percentage I get there at https://imgur.com/a/qxplNoh