John's definition of "pre…
John's definition of "pre-conditioning" is mis-informed or just wrong. Plugging in to a charger to warm the battery is more like "post-conditioning".
Pre-conditioning is warming the battery BEFORE you arrive at the charger by using heat from the motors, inverters, heat pump, or resistive elements. This will help the charging session reach a higher/faster peak more quickly. In a Tesla you trigger the BMS to this by choosing a charger as your destination and begin driving. In a Mach-E there is a "button" on the screen.
As for the Chicago story: Obviously the cars operate in the cold or else they could not have driven to the chargers, therefore pre-conditioning was possible for these drivers. Had they have known to do so, at least they could have charged more quickly on the chargers that worked.