Am I charging incorrectly?

[hcdavis3]

Get rid of TeslaFi and just enjoy your car.

You read my mind Tex. If I had frequented the forums before I bought my Model 3 I would have gone looking on cars.com for a used Yugo.
Seriously I’m trying to reduce my electric bill. I’m at 25 cents per kWh all in. Teslafi is great at putting my car to sleep and if this saves money I
will probably keep it. I’m currently at 83 bucks a month for my EV part of my bill. A little lower than the amount I’d pay to fuel my ICE car.

 

[tlr1000]

Living in the Westcoast of Canada, I buy a lot of consumer goods through the US as it's almost always less expensive. However, seems I am quite lucky with what electricity costs locally. On a two-month billing cycle, first 1350 kWh is 7.08 cents USD and everything after is 10.63 cents. This makes a 75kwh charge between $5.31 to $7.97. Gas locally is about $4.54 per gallon (for regular) so definitely EV is much less expensive than ICE.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Thanks J for clarifying my total word salad. I’m really sorry I confused everyone about the number of times I charged. I thought I was clear about that. I got some great help here deciphering my electric bill. I’m at 25 cents per kWh all in. I think because I don’t drive very much these days my gas bill for my Toyota Avalon at 22 mpg would be 100 bucks or maybe less per month. I’m paying 83 bucks for my EV portion of my bill. So I’m doing pretty good. A 40 mpg Toyota Avalon is most likely a hybrid. I even posted my Teslafi charge summary and it said 164 charges total at the time. I should have taken a screenshot of that and uploaded it. The copy and paste didn’t transfer at all well.

I noticed people discussing the 164 charges in a month earlier which averages out to over 5 charges per day. Do you run a lot of errands, returning home to charge after each one? If so, that could use more battery than if you just ran all of the errands at once and then charged once after returning home. As someone else suggested, you can do scheduled charging to charge once per day instead of having the car charge for a few minutes between each drive.

 

[hcdavis3]

I noticed people discussing the 164 charges in a month earlier which averages out to over 5 charges per day. Do you run a lot of errands, returning home to charge after each one? If so, that could use more battery than if you just ran all of the errands at once and then charged once after returning home. As someone else suggested, you can do scheduled charging to charge once per day instead of having the car charge for a few minutes between each drive.

Thanks Morrison. That’s exactly how I’ve been driving. Usually around 4 or 5 errands etc. driving about 25 to 30 miles a day. I just set a
charging schedule and will be using that from now on. I just plugged in every time I came home having read that it’s suggested to plug the car in always. I’m really hoping to save money on my electric bill..we have some of the highest rates in the country.

 

[ai4px]

I got a KWH meter from ebay.. this one is a little different than what I got but the concept is the same. 100A AC Digital Power KWh Watt Meter Volt Amp Voltmeter Ammeter Open Close CT 711463667401 | eBay

 

[hcdavis3]

I got a KWH meter from ebay.. this one is a little different than what I got but the concept is the same. 100A AC Digital Power KWh Watt Meter Volt Amp Voltmeter Ammeter Open Close CT 711463667401 | eBay

That’s very cool ai. It looks like it uses induction to measure power. I’ll check it out.

 

[jerry33]

I noticed people discussing the 164 charges in a month earlier which averages out to over 5 charges per day. Do you run a lot of errands, returning home to charge after each one? If so, that could use more battery than if you just ran all of the errands at once and then charged once after returning home. As someone else suggested, you can do scheduled charging to charge once per day instead of having the car charge for a few minutes between each drive.

I don't believe that's what happens. My thought is that TeslaFi keeps waking up the car, the battery drains, and then it charges when it reaches the "I'm gonna charge now" threshold.

We know that if left alone but plugged in, the car will charge about once ever two days (Lots of confirming posts about this). Five times a day means something is causing many additional charges.

 

[hcdavis3]

I don't believe that's what happens. My thought is that TeslaFi keeps waking up the car, the battery drains, and then it charges when it reaches the "I'm gonna charge now" threshold.

We know that if left alone but plugged in, the car will charge about once ever two days (Lots of confirming posts about this). Five times a day means something is causing many additional charges.

With sleep mode and deep sleep mode enabled in my Teslafi my car sleeps well. I no longer will charge every time I go out for an errand.

 

[mrbulk]

There are a lot of numbers being thrown around here without being labeled well, so it's really hard to figure out what they are referring to.

What does that word salad mean? What is 322 kWh and what is 339 kWh? What are those two amounts of energy supposed to represent? Is that TeslaFi trying to split what energy it thinks the car used versus the rest of your house? If so, which is which?


What? So then what were the 322 and 339? Where does 1004 kWh come from?


So this can be used to do a sanity check to see if the numbers are at all in the realm of realistic. That is 1,316 miles driven. Taking a general average of around 285 wh per mile would be 3.5 miles per kWh of electricity just for simple math. So the 1,316 miles would be 376 kWh. If you're seeing three hundred and some, that would be about right. I still don't follow what the 322 and 339 numbers are and why TeslaFi says something about you charging at two locations.


At this point, I should throw in the charging efficiency. Between charging the battery and then using it to drive, you get about 90% of the amount you drew from the wall, which is what your electric bill would show. So that would be about 418 kWh to use 376 kWh for driving. 418 kWh at that 13 cents rate would be about $57. So if you're a bit more efficient than 285 wh per mile, then it should be closer to 50 bucks.

I’m with you on this. I got the distinct impression the OP only charged his car TWICE in his first paragraph. Then when I continued reading into the “word salad” (complete with gallons of dressing) I completely lost interest as he had, IMHO at the time, lost all credibility. OP apologizes later for the confusion but I’m too old and too invested in driving my Tesla to read much further.

 

[jjrandorin]

Thats a bit harsh, as OP apologized several times for that. I personally didnt see anything different in OPs questions that others have not asked.

It was basically a form of "I am not saving as much money as I thought I was going to, can someone help me figure this out?"... with an attempt to attach data for people to help him figure it out.

The answer boils down to " Op takes many many short trips which are the least efficient, both for EVs and for ICE cars, but maybe more so for EVs. "

Lets not fault OP for trying to include enough data for people to help him but not formatting it to everyones liking. At least he attempted to provide information so those so inclined / able to could assist, rather than " why car no get range?".

 

[mrbulk]

Then OP shoulda opened with your summation. The first words of Any communication are the most important.

 

[hcdavis3]

I’m with you on this. I got the distinct impression the OP only charged his car TWICE in his first paragraph. Then when I continued reading into the “word salad” (complete with gallons of dressing) I completely lost interest as he had, IMHO at the time, lost all credibility. OP apologizes later for the confusion but I’m too old and too invested in driving my Tesla to read much further.

Sorry Bulk. I tried copying and pasting the Teslafi data and it translated horribly. I should have taken a screenshot and posted that. Then there would be no confusion. See what I should have posted below.
I’m learning.

 

[surfrasch]

Sorry Bulk. I tried copying and pasting the Teslafi data and it translated horribly. I should have taken a screenshot and posted that. Then there would be no confusion. See what I should have posted below.
I’m learning.

Ahh don’t sweat the posters here, sometimes we post an innocent question and get torn apart. In the end everyone means well and there really are tons of knowledgeable people posting, I’ve learned a lot also, it’s all new.

The Teslafi data is interesting.....especially that at 80% charge your estimated range is pretty close to the new max on the LR....many posters have complained they are only getting around 315 or less at 100%? Cool!

 

[hcdavis3]

Ahh don’t sweat the posters here, sometimes we post an innocent question and get torn apart. In the end everyone means well and there really are tons of knowledgeable people posting, I’ve learned a lot also, it’s all new.

The Teslafi data is interesting.....especially that at 80% charge your estimated range is pretty close to the new max on the LR....many posters have complained they are only getting around 315 or less at 100%? Cool!

Thanks very much Surf. Some people are pretty mean on these forums. I’m doing the best I can and like I said I’m learning how to post data that will make sense to others and easier to answer questions. Have a great Sunday.

 

[hcdavis3]

Ahh don’t sweat the posters here, sometimes we post an innocent question and get torn apart. In the end everyone means well and there really are tons of knowledgeable people posting, I’ve learned a lot also, it’s all new.

The Teslafi data is interesting.....especially that at 80% charge your estimated range is pretty close to the new max on the LR....many posters have complained they are only getting around 315 or less at 100%? Cool!

Hi surf. I keep seeing Model 3 screens with some sort of battery app. I can’t find it anywhere on my screen. Is it an internet app on the browser?

 

[iaflyer]

Thanks Morrison. That’s exactly how I’ve been driving. Usually around 4 or 5 errands etc. driving about 25 to 30 miles a day. I just set a
charging schedule and will be using that from now on. I just plugged in every time I came home having read that it’s suggested to plug the car in always. I’m really hoping to save money on my electric bill..we have some of the highest rates in the country.

What might work better is to set your car for "Scheduled Charging" at say, 9pm. You can still plug your car in, keeps it happy, but it avoids all the small charges each time you plug in. I don't drive more than 6 miles a trip, maybe 20 a day - but I have a TOU plan, so I plug my car in when I get home, but it only charges once per day.

 

[eprosenx]

Just tuning into this really long thread and had two things to add:

1. If you are curious what is using power in your house I *highly* recommend installing a “Sense Energy Monitor”. It will greatly enlighten you to what draws what in your house.

2. The high number of charge cycles may be due to how the car firmware is functioning. Early on in my M3 ownership experience (July) my car had some bad BMS firmware and it was cycling my Wall Connector on and off constantly. A firmware update at the service center fixed that. I am guessing this has long been solved on all M3’s in the field. But recently a new update came out that seems to be more aggressive at re-topping off the battery every hour or two sometimes. I don’t know what the story is here. That might be intended or might be a bug. Perhaps that is driving your charge cycle count.

 

[mrbulk]

Sorry Bulk. I tried copying and pasting the Teslafi data and it translated horribly. I should have taken a screenshot and posted that. Then there would be no confusion. See what I should have posted below.
I’m learning.

Actually it shoulda been my apology to you hcdavis, in rereading everything I wrote I realized I am just old and must be suffering some sorta male menopause...all crystal clear to me now.

 

[hcdavis3]

Actually it shoulda been my apology to you hcdavis, in rereading everything I wrote I realized I am just old and must be suffering some sorta male menopause...all crystal clear to me now.

No worries, you’re very kind to respond.

 

[hcdavis3]

Just tuning into this really long thread and had two things to add:

1. If you are curious what is using power in your house I *highly* recommend installing a “Sense Energy Monitor”. It will greatly enlighten you to what draws what in your house.

2. The high number of charge cycles may be due to how the car firmware is functioning. Early on in my M3 ownership experience (July) my car had some bad BMS firmware and it was cycling my Wall Connector on and off constantly. A firmware update at the service center fixed that. I am guessing this has long been solved on all M3’s in the field. But recently a new update came out that seems to be more aggressive at re-topping off the battery every hour or two sometimes. I don’t know what the story is here. That might be intended or might be a bug. Perhaps that is driving your charge cycle count.

Thanks very much @eprosenx . So going forward, based upon how I drive, I expect no more than 31 charges per month, down from 160 or so.I have charging scheduled early in the morning around 3:00 A.M. I’ll plug it in depending on SOC, at the end of the day if I’m sure I won’t be going out. My firmware is in my signature. It’s been pretty solid and the backup cam issues seem to have been resolved. Kinda makes me afraid of an update. My 3, at the moment is not cycling on and off charging. I saw the aggressive charging thread, but so far no problems here. In the screenshot I attached (yeah finally figured that out) right now I’m at 68% and at 3:00 this morning It’ll start charging up to 75% Should help the battery for driving in the morning, no? Thanks again. Also I have a call into my electrician to put a Sense right on the
14-50 circuit. Curious if your 3 is a July build. Mine is.