[DBris]

Now that the cold weather is here I am using the pre-heating feature to warm our Volt before we use it.
I also have it set to only charge during our off peak electricity rates.
Am I correct in thinking that if we do our pre-heating in times that are not off peak, that:
1. The preheating will be done only by the battery and will not actually draw power from the charger and the house electrical system
2. Once pre-heating is done, the battery will not top up it's charge as it is not an off peak time.

Thanks
David

 

[acarney]

I don't have experience with this but I think you're mostly correct. It'll draw more power then the charger can apply so you will get some drain off the battery and I wouldn't be surprised for it NOT to charge back up when it's outside your selected charge times.

 

[Charge]

Does the GEN2 Volt precondition according to outside temperature or only revert to what was set when you shut off car? Wonder what the Bolt will do?

My GEN1 Volt reverts to the heat/cool setting when car was shut off, which is annoying. My X5 measures the outside temperature and then sets the pre-conditioning appropriately, which is much better IMO.

 

[quirkySquirt]

DBris,

1. The preheating does appear to use only battery, and as the battery drops, the EVSE will start charging it. Roughly, with ambient at 45F and my Volt set to lowest, manual fan speed, 74F ECO, baffled through windows only, 10 minutes of preconditioning equals 13 minutes of charging AFTER preconditioning finishes to top-off the battery using the OEM EVSE with an adapter for L2 charging (2.88 kWh charging). This scales so for a 20 min precon, you need 26 minutes to top off. I do have 3% loss given 50-ft run of 10AWG cable, however, so your results may vary.

2. Can't help you, unfortunately, as I don't have peak time billing.