Economy 7 charging for the M3

[Martinb999]

Does anyone have experience of charging on economy 7 only as yet? I'm awaiting delivery of the baby (!) , the Tesla charger is fitted but I only want the car to charge on cheap electricity so am trying to work out how we do this. My electrican says he can put a timer as a spur on the new charging box but he wonders if there is easier way. I've read somewhere that you can control charging times on the model S and wondered if there was something on the M 3 of a similar ilk.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Bernard_S]

The Octopus Energy Go tariff is only 5p/kwHr overnight from 00:30 to 04:30. Their peak and gas tariff's are competitive too. I've recently switched to them. They seem very efficient with good reviews, worth a look. You will need a Smart meter to use it but they fit one for free.

 

[Martinb999]

Thanks for this Bernard.
We already have economy 7 with Solarplicity and have a good deal between 1am and 8am so we're not looking to change suppliers. I want to know how to set up so I can plug the car in, at say 8pm, but it won't start charging until the economy 7 hours kick in and will turn off at the end of the cheap period (8am).

 

[Bernard_S]

You can set the time to charge in the Model 3 the same as you can in the Model S. Not that I've tried to do it as I'm still waiting for mine

 

[Peteski]

Does anyone have experience of charging on economy 7 only as yet? I'm awaiting delivery of the baby (!) , the Tesla charger is fitted but I only want the car to charge on cheap electricity so am trying to work out how we do this. My electrican says he can put a timer as a spur on the new charging box but he wonders if there is easier way. I've read somewhere that you can control charging times on the model S and wondered if there was something on the M 3 of a similar ilk.
Any advice would be appreciated.

You can schedule the start time for charging in the car (in half hour increments), but not the finish time (although you can set a percentage charge limit e.g. 80%). So just set the charge start time at the beginning of E7 and whatever target charge you need for the following morning. You would rarely go beyond the E7 limit unless you were charging from flat to 100% every night.

Also note that scheduled charge start times are location dependent (e.g. home, work) and you can easily toggle it on/off if you need to override the settings for an instant charge.

 

[Alset2go]

I am with Bulb and currently it is about 8p off peak,but longer hours than Octopus (currently the cheapest during those 4 hours)..

If you need referral for £50 credit let me know.

I usually get home late,but occasionally use the car timer to start charge.

Best wishes and good luck

 

[Martinb999]

Thanks a lot all. That information helps massively.

 

[Roy W.]

You can schedule the start time for charging in the car (in half hour increments), but not the finish time (although you can set a percentage charge limit e.g. 80%)

I think they’ve missed a trick by not allowing you to set a finish time. Perhaps off-peak rates aren’t so much of a thing in the States?

Both the Leaf 24 and my Kona had/have start and finish times for off-peak charging. With the charge target set to 80% it means I can let the car start charging at 1am, but if for any reason it hasn’t reached 80% by 8am it will cut off, and I’m not paying peak-rate after 8am. I’m sure it’s something Tesla could implement OTA if it was requested by enough people.

 

[Peteski]

I think they’ve missed a trick by not allowing you to set a finish time. Perhaps off-peak rates aren’t so much of a thing in the States?

Both the Leaf 24 and my Kona had/have start and finish times for off-peak charging. With the charge target set to 80% it means I can let the car start charging at 1am, but if for any reason it hasn’t reached 80% by 8am it will cut off, and I’m not paying peak-rate after 8am. I’m sure it’s something Tesla could implement OTA if it was requested by enough people.

I expect they thought the target charge level was more critical to most people (especially with a $100k car) than the cost of electricity. But for those who do want more control over their charging schedules there are several 3rd party apps available e.g. TeslaFi is very popular.

 

[DJP31]

@Peteski beat me to it. Pretty much wherever the Tesla app fails, TeslaFi fills in the gap. Whether that’s setting the end charge time, or having the HVAC come on at scheduled times/places - and lots more.

It’s full of useful data (actually interesting as much as useful) and for $5 a month a bargain IMO. The only compromise is you have to give you log in details to allow the app to access the car. They don’t store these but it’s true to say there is always an element of risk when passing these to a third party.

 

[Bernard_S]

Is TeslaFi an Apple app ? Guess it must be, can't find it on Android.

 

[Roy W.]

Is TeslaFi an Apple app ? Guess it must be, can't find it on Android.

teslafi.com

Not a phone app, but a website. You give them the login details for your Tesla account, and their systems pull the data directly from your car, which you can then view and analyse. It costs $5 a month or $50 a year.

 

[DJP31]

Is TeslaFi an Apple app ? Guess it must be, can't find it on Android.

No it’s web based.

Home - TeslaFi.com

I think you can extend the free trial by using a referral code. I think mine’s DJP31 if it helps.

 

[Bernard_S]

No it’s web based.

Home - TeslaFi.com

Duurrrr ! Should have checked before posting. Thanks

 

[ACarneiro]

Is TeslaFi not the app that massively increases vampire drain?
Have those of you who use it noticed it? And if so, how significant is it (I seem to recall someone mentioning 5% per day?)

 

[DJP31]

Is TeslaFi not the app that massively increases vampire drain?
Have those of you who use it noticed it? And if so, how significant is it (I seem to recall someone mentioning 5% per day?)

If you don't set it up correctly it can prevent the car from going to sleep, which does increase the vampire drain. Set itup properly and the car will sleep quite soundly .

I've been using it for the better part of two years and have negligible vampire drain. 5% rain is usually tracked back to something else like Sentry Mode or the setting where the climate stays on.

There is a setting called "Smart Preconditioning" which is supposed to learn your driving habits and automatically wakes the car up and turns the climate/heating on when it thinks you are likely to be getting into the car. It is utterly useless and should never be enabled. Very occasionally a software update can enable/disable a setting, so it is advisable to quickly flick through the settings to make sure nothing has been changed.

 

[vitesse]

TeslaFi, I'm still in the trial period and still in two minds about coughing up for the year. What's the recommended settings to minimise drain?

 

[Jason71]

I haven't looked at TeslaFi but looking in the available tesla API's there is a stop charging one (POST /api/1/vehicles/{id}/command/charge_stop) so it would be relatively simple IT wise to set up an app / mobile site that would send the stop charging command at a predetermined date / time either as a one off or as a regularly scheduled thing. So would be very surprised if someone has not done it (at least for their own use).

 

[Peteski]

So would be very surprised if someone has not done it (at least for their own use).

Been done many times by many people and various apps. Haven't felt any need myself, I just use the standard scheduled start time and percentage charge that I need in the morning.

 

[MrBadger]

I haven't looked at TeslaFi but looking in the available tesla API's there is a stop charging one (POST /api/1/vehicles/{id}/command/charge_stop) so it would be relatively simple IT wise to set up an app / mobile site that would send the stop charging command at a predetermined date / time either as a one off or as a regularly scheduled thing. So would be very surprised if someone has not done it (at least for their own use).

I was planning on using the API to start/stop charge depending on my Solar PV insolation curve. Unfortunately last time I looked, I didn’t notice a call to change the charge rate so it’s likely to need remembering to check the charge rate.

I recon 4 to 5 amp would be useful charge rate with 4kWp solar as a top up. Not bothered about tracking excess as you end up chasing penny savings.

Check weather forecast or look out of the window and if it looks like it’s not going to be too overcast, then just trigger it to charge when it’s within the predicted insolation of 1000W or so range. At 1kW (more if I chose higher charge rate for shorter period), I’ll get minimum 14kWh available day between April and Oct ish doing this which even if I only got 50% solar utilisation during this period (I would expect to average quite a bit more) then that brings electricity costs down to below E7 and nearing Octopus Go rates.

One day a week doing this will probably cover at least 1/4 of our charging needs (~12k/year) with little effort. Without trying it, I’m sure charge rate and time could be optimised.