Preheat Battery Timings

[Paul V Smith]

I have just learnt how to preheat my MG4 Trophy using the app, but how long should I preheat and is there any real benefit? When do I need to do this?

 

[the briggie]

Battery heating should not really be needed above 5c, some may argue otherwise. My car switches battery heater off at >10 but doesn't kick in unless below 0c. It will increase efficiency somewhat and If you are still on an active charger it should take power from that not the batteries so it does help with efficiency and will not steal range. If not on an active charger it draws power from the battery reducing range which will not be recovered easily from efficiency. It should switch off when up to cars preset battery temp automatically but I assume on the app you can switch off manually.

When should it be used...really really cold mornings. It also helps to speed up charge rate especially on dc chargers again when really cold. You could use it on a cold morning in conjunction with your charging regime (mostly 00:30 to 04:30 on some cheap tariffs)
Most of the time you don't need that function in the UK bar our northern friends and Nordic countries etc, but its there anyway. Some ev's will allow you to preheat batteries on the move to a known dc charger (merc, tesla) on the basis there is enough charge left in the batteries. I doubt the MG4 is that smart but who knows

As per the quote below it seems the car app will help make the decision about schedule and temperature


Saintsman said:
in the iSmart app, go to Charging Management page. select scheduled charging at the bottom of the app.

here you can schedule a battery heating or start it straight away.
it also notifies if it is not necessary to preheat battery.

 

[Paul V Smith]

Thanks for the info, I didn’t have this function on my first EV, ID.3, so this info helps a lot as its new to me. Paul

 

[Kithmo]

Gas mark 5 for 25 minutes should do it.

 

[the briggie]

Gas mark 5 for 25 minutes should do it.

Yip that would warm up the "electrons" just nicely making the gravy flow more easily in and out