[DougM]

Battery preconditioning only really makes sense for ultra-rapid charging. Preconditioning lets my Tesla pull 235kW almost immediately, and I may stay as little as 5-6 minutes before moving on. I read somewhere that the average time for a Tesla on a Supercharger is around 12 minutes, such a rapid turnover explains why each site is able to serve such a large number of cars every day. Preconditioning helps maximise that turnover (alongside the per-minute overstay fees).

Whereas reducing the time to increase the charge rate by a couple of minutes makes little practical difference for a 45+ minute charge session, and that preconditioning isn’t free — that’s more energy that must be recovered during the charge.

 

[DougM]

So, in a Tesla, where does that preconditioning energy come from?

Mostly from the battery (although the Octovalve aims to recover and use waste heat), but my point is more that with ultra-rapid charging that energy is replenished so quickly that it doesn’t appreciably affect charge time.

FWIW, I have a Kona EV and a Tesla. I prefer driving the Kona but use the Tesla for long distance purely because of ultra-rapids that always perform.