[aaaaaaaaaz]

Had a small experiment to understand pre-conditioning (cooling) energy use.

Methodology: X5 50e plugged in L2 charger under sun, 100% charged. Run remote pre-condition (from app), each session is 30min. Read additional energy delivered to car from Chargepoint app.

Temperature: ~73-75F, a typical sunny California day.

(under sun for 4+h, car should be very hot, pre-condition cools the car from very hot condition)
Session 1: 1.6 kwh delivered to car
(after 2 hour, car is hot again, replicate experiment above)
Session 2: 1.7 kwh delivered to car
(after session 2 end, immediately start session 3, car is cool, maintain temperature)
Session 3: 0.6kwh delivered to car

[nZtiZia]

converting these figures reveals a loss of ~1-3 electric miles during preconditioning for the US 45e. this is consistent with what i've observed anecdotally

[jad03060]

The 50e can better manage the battery since it has double the potential input power versus the 45e. Ideally, you’d leave with a full battery when plugged in, but that may not happen with the 45e, or if you’re using the 10A EVSE at 120vac input levels. The places that have 220-240vac inputs as the default have a better chance of keeping the battery full.

On the i3 that I had, when it was cold out, it also warmed up the battery with a 1Kw electrical resistance heater to help with maximum range with a departure time set (as it could take up to 3-hours for that battery heater to reach full capacity). The PHEVs don’t (currently) utilize a battery heater when cold nor do they have a heat pump that can help in the cold, too.

[Aussiejem]

That's going to be idealic where I am located. We get temp extremes here from -5 deg up to 40 Deg. 50e will be garaged but with the 240v outlet the preconditioning will be such a bonus (especially with the Comfort Pack). Great post thanks!

[aaaaaaaaaz]

One implication: if you are on L1 charging, your energy consumption when pre-conditioning could exceed the power L1 charger can supply.

For L2 charging, at least from the chargepoint chart the peak energy intake when pre-condition on with a full battery is ~4.5kw.

[eelnoraa]

4.5kW peak will exceed the on board charger of 45e as well. Going by average, 1.65kWh/0.5hr => average consumption of 3.3kW. I would guess HVB acts as a buffer for the peak, at the end of precondition session, HVB will still be full. But in a grand scheme, it is quite a bit of kWh with respect to the HVB usage capability, it is 10% of 45e’s, which matches my observation as well.

[eluded]

Originally Posted by aaaaaaaaaz

Temperature: ~73-75F, a typical sunny California day.