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Confused about charging in off-peak hours

N2deep

Member
Dec 3, 2020
17
6
89166
If you do some searching on the forum, this has been explained. When you plug in, it will charge a bit to see what power is available. Then it will shut down and calculate when to start charging based on finishing at 6am. That number is set in stone for some reason and can’t be changed no matter what you enter.

Scheduled Departure
Ok after a few days it now doesn't start charging the minute I plug it in and starts about 11pm so I guess it needs to learn the charging capacity. Working as expected now. Thanks.
 

jaitch

Member
Apr 26, 2019
184
208
Bedfordshire, UK
Glad it’s not just me - my off peak rate is between 00:30 and 04:30. I was hoping the upgrade for off-peak charging would enable me to schedule a start and finish time. Is there another way to do this?

I am on the same tariff. The other issue I had the other day was the lowest charge limit you can set is 50%. To get to 50% required me to charge more than 4 hours so I obviously overran the off peak tariff window. A technological and environmentally advanced car does not allow me to be technical and environmental. I jest but you get the point - could be so much easier.

We also have a MINI electric and that does allow you spec the off peak window. No idea why but you have to specify a departure time on the MINI. What has leaving got to do with charging? Sometimes I want to charge and not leave because of our 4 hour off peak window!
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: Gasaraki

jaitch

Member
Apr 26, 2019
184
208
Bedfordshire, UK
............
If you have time, please log in to your Tesla Support/Contact page and request an option for user inputting start and stop time to avoid sharing during the peak time.

I tried doing that but the option of sending a message from within your account has disappeared. Or if it hasn't my head was about to fall off before I could find it in the myriad of options. I am sure it used to be straightforward.

James
 

Tam

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2012
8,261
7,114
Visalia, CA
...the option of sending a message from within your account has disappeared...

Correct. We can't send a message anymore. Only chat available after you pick all the dropdown menu:

Vehicle & App Features->Software & Firmware->Describe your question->Chat With Us.
 

jaitch

Member
Apr 26, 2019
184
208
Bedfordshire, UK
Correct. We can't send a message anymore. Only chat available after you pick all the dropdown menu:

Vehicle & App Features->Software & Firmware->Describe your question->Chat With Us.

Ok thanks. I still can't follow that at all. This is where things fall down. I can't get to your first item in my online Tesla account. Just don't see it. There is no option to chat anywhere or any search option. I am in the UK if that makes any difference.
 

Tam

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2012
8,261
7,114
Visalia, CA
...I am in the UK if that makes any difference.

I am sorry that I overlooked the UK website and I've been looking at the US site.

The UK support page should say:

"Can’t find what you are looking for?
If you still can't find what you're looking for in our support resources, contact customer support directly.

Local: 0162 845 0660"

You are lucky that the UK still has a phone number. The US page only leads to a chatting service with no phone number.
 

jaitch

Member
Apr 26, 2019
184
208
Bedfordshire, UK
I am sorry that I overlooked the UK website and I've been looking at the US site.

The UK support page should say:

"Can’t find what you are looking for?
If you still can't find what you're looking for in our support resources, contact customer support directly.

Local: 0162 845 0660"

You are lucky that the UK still has a phone number. The US page only leads to a chatting service with no phone number.

Ok thanks for looking. I guess I will wait and see if Tesla implement a defined off peak window and also lower the charge percent minimum for those of us who only have a four window of cheap off peak electricity. Unless you can do it for me!

Cheers
 

Venom

Member
May 29, 2019
298
158
Chicago, IL
On my car I set off peak rates to end at 6am. My scheduled departure is 7:45am. My limit is set to 90%.

How will it charge during the night?

My assumption was it would charge to 85% right before my off peak rates end at 6am and then it’d charge the remaining 5% so that it finishes at 7:45am (some charging during peak hours). Is that correct?

Or does it charge to 90% right before off peak hours end, and then precondition the battery so that it’s ready at 7:45am? (No charging during peak hours. Electricity only used to precondition battery during peak hours)
 

jjrandorin

Moderator, Model 3, Tesla Energy Forums
Nov 28, 2018
7,197
7,979
Riverside Co. CA
Unless something has changed, scheduled departure wont charge past 6am. Dont bother with it. Just set your charging time to be during your off peak rates, whenever that is. Dont worry about "preconditioning the battery". Unless you are going on a long trip, its not necessary.

========================

(moderator note, moved post posts into a thread with the same question / subject)
 

Venom

Member
May 29, 2019
298
158
Chicago, IL
Unless something has changed, scheduled departure wont charge past 6am. Dont bother with it. Just set your charging time to be during your off peak rates, whenever that is. Dont worry about "preconditioning the battery". Unless you are going on a long trip, its not necessary.

========================

(moderator note, moved post posts into a thread with the same question / subject)
It’s really cold outside so I wanted my battery to be warmed up before I left. It’s the morning now (7:37am) and I just noticed it still has the snowflake on the battery, only on the stats app though and not the Tesla app
Edit: looks like the Stats app was slow at keeping up. It was showing 89% and a snowflake on the battery where the Tesla app showed 90% and no snowflake. Took about 15 mins for the stats app to catch up for some reason
 
Last edited:

jjrandorin

Moderator, Model 3, Tesla Energy Forums
Nov 28, 2018
7,197
7,979
Riverside Co. CA
It’s really cold outside so I wanted my battery to be warmed up before I left. It’s the morning now (7:37am) and I just noticed it still has the snowflake on the battery, only on the stats app though and not the Tesla app
Edit: looks like the Stats app was slow at keeping up. It was showing 89% and a snowflake on the battery where the Tesla app showed 90% and no snowflake. Took about 15 mins for the stats app to catch up for some reason

Why, exactly do you want the battery to be warmed up because its cold outside? I understand why you would want the CABIN warm, but why do you want the battery warm? Are you going on a trip that will use most of the range of your battery (I am guessing no, but obviously dont know). Having a cold battery locks out some of the maximum range (if the battery is too cold, and prevents supercharging at maximum speeds (if its too cold). Are you doing either one of those things on your drive this morning?
 

Venom

Member
May 29, 2019
298
158
Chicago, IL
Why, exactly do you want the battery to be warmed up because its cold outside? I understand why you would want the CABIN warm, but why do you want the battery warm? Are you going on a trip that will use most of the range of your battery (I am guessing no, but obviously dont know). Having a cold battery locks out some of the maximum range (if the battery is too cold, and prevents supercharging at maximum speeds (if its too cold). Are you doing either one of those things on your drive this morning?
Went on a trip that took my battery to 30%. I wanted a warmed up battery for increased efficiency, longer range and full regen as it’s 35f here. I take this trip weekly.
 

jjrandorin

Moderator, Model 3, Tesla Energy Forums
Nov 28, 2018
7,197
7,979
Riverside Co. CA
Went on a trip that took my battery to 30%. I wanted a warmed up battery for increased efficiency, longer range and full regen as it’s 35f here. I take this trip weekly.

Well, as I mentioned, unless something has changed, scheduled departure doesnt do any of those things you asked about. You likely just need to set a scheduled charging start time and ignore schedule departure, unless your departure on your trip is by 6am.

Scheduled departure is a bare bones thing at this time (as you can see from the threads on it) and I believe in all cases it stops charging by 6am.
 

Venom

Member
May 29, 2019
298
158
Chicago, IL
Well, as I mentioned, unless something has changed, scheduled departure doesnt do any of those things you asked about. You likely just need to set a scheduled charging start time and ignore schedule departure, unless your departure on your trip is by 6am.

Scheduled departure is a bare bones thing at this time (as you can see from the threads on it) and I believe in all cases it stops charging by 6am.
It stopped charging at 6am, but scheduled departure turned the climate on so that the battery and cabin were warmed up prior to my 7:45am departure. This is exactly how I wanted it to perform so this is perfect for me.
 

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