Long trip / cold start

[MyA]

Will be driving back home on Monday morning
1100+ Km
Polar cold with expected temps around -15’C
No level 2 charging option from where I will depart (there are 65 kW and Tesla SC 5 km away….)
I will charge up to 80-90% with those the night before.

Therefore I will have to leave cold turkey!

I read that an option would be to :
- Start the car
- program a DC (distant) station in the NAV system and let the car sit, idle, while keeping it started.
- Wait as HV battery temp should rise as the car preconditions the battery (recommandation 30 minutes)
- Leave and drive with a more efficient and warmer battery. The energy spent heating up the battery would be compensated by higher range with increased efficiency….

Would you agree?
Have better scenarios? (yeah, just start and drive and charge on the way (when needed) as there are DC charging options at 100 km and then almost every 50 km thereafter)

Thanking you in advance for your usual mindful insights!
MyA

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[SergeyIndy]

This all makes sense and this is exactly what I would do. Cold battery will kill the Range instantly, plus, as you move through cold air that is already dense plus any rain/snow that will impact Range even further, with windchill cooling the battery even further as it hits the car under.

The only additional idea I have, is to use a Level 1 charger by keeping it plugged in as your car is standing. I know this is highly discouraged, but I would do it as you have no other options as it may help with a few extra kW that can be used to warm up the interior before the trip.

 

[rcomeau]

This all makes sense and this is exactly what I would do. Cold battery will kill the Range instantly, plus, as you move through cold air that is already dense plus any rain/snow that will impact Range even further, with windchill cooling the battery even further as it hits the car under.

The only additional idea I have, is to use a Level 1 charger by keeping it plugged in as your car is standing. I know this is highly discouraged, but I would do it as you have no other options as it may help with a few extra kW that can be used to warm up the interior before the trip.

Is there any study that shows to is more efficient to spend energy (from that finite reserve of the cold battery) to warm up the battery before drawing a higher current to move the car (which would warm it up somewhat)? If the wind chill prevents the battery from warming up while driving (if one had not pre-conditioned it), would it not also cool down the battery once driving (and waste the effort to warm it up in the first place).

 

[Petzi]

why not doing as recommended by porsche?
charge to 100%
set a departure time and precondition the car.
let the porsche charging planer handle the charging stops.
the charging planer will precondition the battery for charging. the heatpump will increase the battery temp 1c / min.

 

[MyA]

why not doing as recommended by porsche?
charge to 100%
set a departure time and precondition the car.
let the porsche charging planer handle the charging stops.
the charging planer will precondition the battery for charging. the heatpump will increase the battery temp 1c / min.

Please rad again
The car will not be plugged to any charging infrastructure upon departure.

It will be max DC charged the night before.

preconditioning the cabin while the car is unplugged has NO effect on battery temp.

 

[Petzi]

Please rad again
The car will not be plugged to any charging infrastructure upon departure.

It will be max DC charged the night before.

preconditioning the cabin while the car is unplugged has NO effect on battery temp.

forget batt. temp. it does not matter for consumption!
there are numerous tests. even —5c battery temp has no significant effect on range. (no matter what some people say)

the cold temps have effect on range because of higher air density.

may be you will not have full power with very cold / hot battery. (thats why sport+ starts the battery conditioning right away) but you will be fast enough by far for US highways.

but battery temp. is crucial for fast charging. a cold battery does not want to charge fast. therefore you have to use the charging planer. the car will heat / cool the battery for optimal charging.

„The Porsche Charging Planner, a function integrated into the navigation system, can bring the battery to the optimal temperature prior to charging, taking into account a variety of aspects such as route profile, the vehicle’s current level of consumption, and the expected performance of the charging stations.“

https://christophorus.porsche.com/en/2024/410/dossier-macan-charging.html

 

[MyA]

„The Porsche Charging Planner, a function integrated into the navigation system, can bring the battery to the optimal temperature prior to charging, taking into account a variety of aspects such as route profile, the vehicle’s current level of consumption, and the expected performance of the charging stations.“

https://christophorus.porsche.com/en/2024/410/dossier-macan-charging.html

That is when the car is planned (via NAV) to be plugged at a charging station.
Unplugged, heating the cabin has a very limited effect on battery temp.

And I politely disagree on your comment about battery temp having no effect on range.

 

[Petzi]

That is when the car is planned (via NAV) to be plugged at a charging station.
Unplugged, heating the cabin has a very limited effect on battery temp.

And I politely disagree on your comment about battery temp having no effect on range.

never said that precondition of cabin would have an effect on batt. temp. (just suggested to preheat the cabin). you will have plenty range. the consumption at 70mi / h and 40f will be 30kw for 60mi.

there is no need to precondition the battery for driving. porsche would do it if the gain of range would be higher than the loss. (the heatpump needs energy too)
the minimal effect of a cold battery on range is tested and proven. not a matter of believe.

don’t understand why people in this forum ask for advice and when one gives advice it’s rejected. when you know everything why asking?

 

[MyA]

I have put up a suggested scenario where one tries to increase battery temps upon departure when the car is unplugged and weather is cold.
- start the car, set a fast charger in NAV and wait, standing still for 30 minutes, to get the heat pump warm the HV battery, to increase range.

My question was asking if this scenario would be efficient or if one has another advice.

The only part I disagree with you is about battery temp not affecting range.

Otherwise, I listen to your advice to charge up to 100%, leave the car unplugged and pre-condition before departure. Let the car manage itself. I do not reject your advice.

This is just a discussion (mostly a dialogue now!) but we are just debating.

 

[Petzi]

sorry. did not intend to be harsch.
the philosophy at porsche is that the car will manage all this as perfectly as possible. if it would be efficient to preheat the battery the car would do it.
when you use the planner, the car will start preheating the battery in due time to be ready for fast charging. it takes even the capacity of the fast charger into consideration.

ps: i have this information directly from porsche austria. „we considered preheating for driving, but it was not efficient.“

 

[dbsb3233]

Just be prepared for seriously low efficiency and range. Last road trip I did wasn't quite that cold, but close (10F) leaving a hotel in Jackpot NV early morning and driving thru ID/UT on the way home to CO. That morning leg I got 1.9 MPK for much of it (normal about 2.8 in warm temps). I set the nav for home so it would treat that first EA stop as a needing preconditioning. It did start warming the battery about half hour prior to arrival.

You'll probably need to DCFC again around the 150 km point.

 

[Petzi]

An important aspect of the charging planner is setting the “SOC at destination” value right. In Europe, where there is a fast charger every 10 km, I set this value to 3%.
If this value is set too high, the car may decide not to preheat the battery, as reaching the destination and maintaining the specified SOC at the destination are priorities.

 

[dbsb3233]

If the car is at 80-90% SOC, my understanding is that it won't precondition the battery if you just start it, set the nav, and let it sit. I think the car is looking to be within roughly half hour range of the station before it starts preconditioning. If you started at like 40%, maybe you'd be in that window but not at 80-90%. (Not that you wanna do that, of course - definitely fill the battery the night before.)

At least that's my understanding. I could be wrong on that. Never actually tried it.

 

[Petzi]

If the car is at 80-90% SOC, my understanding is that it won't precondition the battery if you just start it, set the nav, and let it sit. I think the car is looking to be within roughly half hour range of the station before it starts preconditioning. If you started at like 40%, maybe you'd be in that window but not at 80-90%. (Not that you wanna do that, of course - definitely fill the battery the night before.)

At least that's my understanding. I could be wrong on that.

spot on

 

[FHZoelly]

While Porsche wants to take care of all of the HV battery management and reconditioning, a recent comparison from the ADAC did not give the MACAN good grades. Its consumption was too high. And while preconditioning was not active and charging was done in this Cold Weather simulation - it is disappointing to see it does not compare with other models, nor the Taycan.
I am currently having 23-24 KWh/100km in around 0 degree surrounding cold weather with Macan4S.

https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrze...ktroauto-reichweite-im-winter-adac-test-2026/
(test is in German)

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