Tesla to pre-heat batteries for EVs in cold climates
Tesla is developing a pre-heating function for powerpacks so that its models may maximise their capacity in freezing weather.
Those numerous Tesla owners in the Nordic countries and in other cold regions of the globe may rejoice as the EV maker is currently building a feature that will warm the battery in order to keep its capacity. Put differently, the pre-heating serves to minimise the loss that occurs in freezing temperatures.
Cold climate affects battery performance and cells need to be kept at moderate temperatures to fully perform, that is for the ions to flow freely. With a Tesla, the dashboard even shows the loss of range due to icy weather in blue.
However, with the release of the 2017.50 software update and an upcoming mobile app update, Model S and X owners will be able to activate a ‘battery preheating’ feature if the electric car is plugged in. Otherwise the pre-heating would use up energy itself obviously.
The latest update already enabled unrestricted pre-heating of the car, again, given it is connected to the grid, whereas before Tesla had set a time limit in order save “fuel”.
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