Tesla Not Preconditioning Battery! [Solved]

To charge the car at a Supercharger, the car will automatically preheat its battery. But, sometimes it stops working and folks can’t detect the reasons behind it.

It usually occurs as the battery gets hot or is less than 20%, so it doesn’t need to warm up. Also, the car won’t warm up the battery if there’s a software problem, the Supercharger (SC) is too far or too close, or due to navigation issues.

To fix the issue, you’ll need to cool down the battery, charge it, install the new software, reset the location of SC, or debug the nav system.

Keep on reading to know the causes and fixes in detail!

Fix Tesla Not Preconditioning Battery!

To resolve the Tesla not preconditioning battery bug, you should first figure out the root causes. Here are some reasons why it’s happening and what you can do to make it work again:

Cause #1: Battery Temperature Is Higher

The precondition is required only when the car’s battery temp is lower to charge at a Supercharger. In most cases, the ideal temp for this is higher than 40 °C (104 °F). Just wait for a little while to get the message.

How to Resolve?

You’ll need to wait for the car’s battery to reach the needed temp to precondition it. Meanwhile, you can continue driving to reach the Supercharger as the car will send a message when it’s ready to precondition.

For that, keep your eye on the instrumental panel (for Model X and S) or the touchscreen (for Model Y and 3).

Note that it may require you to drive for a long while if the ambient temp is super cold which soaks the battery with a cool sensation. In that case, the precondition process will take more than a lot of time.

Cause #2: Software Bug

If your car is on an old software version, then it can show issues to precondition the battery at the right time. You’ll need to reset the car and then download the recent software to debug this issue.

How to Resolve?

• Reset the Car: Use the left and right scroll buttons of the steering wheel or yoke for 10 seconds. After the screen comes back, go to Controls > Safety > Power Off and wait for 2 minutes before waking it up (press brake pedal).
• Update the Software on the Car’s Screen: Press on Controls and then touch on the orange clock sign at the top section. Then, select a time if you want to do it later and then click on Schedule. Or, hit on Install Now to download it now.
• Install Software on Mobile App: Open the Tesla App on your phone and hit Software Update > Install/Yes. Then, the car will prepare for the download process and you’ll get 2 minutes to cancel it. After this period, it’ll start installing the software.

Cause #3: Long or Short Distance from Supercharger

When you select a Supercharger that is either too far or too close to your location, it may cause the preconditioning process to pause. To fix it, you should cancel it and then again set the Supercharger to navigate.

How to Resolve?

In the car’s screen, locate the Navigate section and then you’ll find the spot which you’ve selected for Supercharge. Then, hit the Cancel button and again tap on the same Supercharger zone that you selected earlier.

After a few minutes, you’ll get the message which says Preconditioning battery for fast charging. And then, let it get do the work.

Cause #4: Battery Is Below 20%

Another reason why the Tesla preconditioning not working is due to the low battery power. If the car is below 20%, it won’t precondition due to the risk of running out of power. To troubleshoot it, simply charge the car halfway and then precondition it.

How to Resolve?

When you reach the nearest Supercharger, simply plug the charger into your car and let it get recharged halfway. Once it’s charged above 20%, then you should precondition the Tesla battery like this.

Ensure to look into this guide to know who supplies Tesla batteries along with its competitors.

Cause #5: Navigation Issue

Sometimes, the Navigation system can stop working which causes the batteries to not precondition properly. As it fails to detect the distance from the Supercharger, the car doesn’t start the preheating process of the batteries. In that case, you’ll need to fix the Nav bug.

How to Resolve?

To begin with, you’ll need to do the soft and hard reset, reboot the car, update software, or power it off.

Then, tighten out or change the GPS fuse or change the Nav SD card inside the MCU to resolve the issue. To know the procedure of each method in detail, learn how to fix the Nav issue on Tesla here!

If your Tesla not charging at 48 amps, ensure to fix this issue first before trying the above ones.

Frequently Asked Questions!

1. How do you force a Tesla precondition?

To precondition your car’s battery, you’ll need to enter a charger location on the Nav system. For that, click on the map’s search bar and hit on Charging locations. Then, select a Supercharger spot and it’ll precondition the battery instantly.

2. How Long Does It Take to Precondition Tesla Battery?

Tesla takes around 30 – 45 minutes to preheat or precondition the battery if you are using Trip Planner. In some cases, it can take longer than an hour to preheat the HV battery to ensure it gets ready for charging at the Supercharger.

3. Is it good to precondition the Tesla battery?

To charge the car fast, precondition or preheat the Tesla battery will help. Apart from this, it has no good or bad sides!

Wrapped Up

It’s that easy to troubleshoot Tesla not preconditioning battery! This simply takes no more than 5 – 10 minutes to do the above procedures to make it work again before going to the Supercharger.

Hope this guide is helpful to you in any way to get rid of all the problems related to preconditioning the batteries.

Now, if you are curious to know whether Sentry Mode drains the battery or not, look into this guide.