Economy 7 charging for the M3

[tess19]

Is it possible to set the % charge required by time? eg i leave for work at 9am and want it to be 80% charged. I plug it in at 5pm the night before and it works out when to start charging to achieve 80% by 9am

 

[Jason71]

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.

yes it does look that way

 

[Peteski]

Is it possible to set the % charge required by time? eg i leave for work at 9am and want it to be 80% charged. I plug it in at 5pm the night before and it works out when to start charging to achieve 80% by 9am

No, with the standard Tesla software you can only specify a start time and final percentage charge. So you have to work it out for yourself, which you soon get the hang of.

 

[WannabeOwner]

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.

not sure about that ...

I have STOP TIME set to prevent car charging after E7 finishes (using TeslaFi scheduler, but any of the 3rd party ones will do that).

7 hours @22 MPH (you get more miles on M3 than MS) = 150 miles ... I have to come home "very empty" to actually need to charge more hours, and there is risk that my journey tomorrow needs the range.

Plus: if I come home below 20% I charge immediately anyway, to avoid the battery being left at low SOC until E7 starts.

A 20% to 90% charge can be done, pretty much, in 7 hours ...

My schedule turns the car off at end of E7 every day ... I have to remember to DISABLE that if I need longer charging on a specific night ... sometimes my spouse is taking the car tomorrow and doesn't tell me she needs full range, sets the charge to 100% ... and my scheduler cuts it off at the end of E7 ...

E7 electricity is 2P per mile driving cost, non-E7 is, say, 4P. If the car charged an extra hour or two, Peak, a couple of times a month it isn't a significant amount of cost ... but the hassle of NOT having a charge, when you need it, is definitely a nuisance.

I was planning on using the API to start/stop charge depending on my Solar PV insolation curve

Zappi wall charger is probably the easiest way to achieve that?

Is it possible to set the % charge required by time? eg i leave for work at 9am and want it to be 80% charged.

No. And I don't think I would want to ... if car needs 4 hours charge, thus starts at 5AM (instead of midnight) and then knowing my luck we would have a power cut at 5:05. I would prefer to charge to 90% at the earliest (Off Peak) opportunity.

I charge to 90% normally. My overnight schedule is set to change Limit to 80% at 11:55. Car is set to start charging at beginning of E7 periods (which alters Winter/Summer, so you have to remember to change that each time the clocks change ...). The car will start charging regardless ... so even if internet down / whatever worse case it will charge to 90% rather than 80% (i.e. if it never received the Internet command)

I then have another schedule to change limit to 90% an hour before I leave for work, and force the car to start charging. The aim is to have the battery warm (in winter) just before I set off because it has been charging for the previous hour.

If we had a power cut during part of the night, and the car was only charged to 80%, rather than 90%, that would rarely be a problem for me.

And then I have the schedule to stop charging at end of E7 period.

Additionally I have a set of schedules for charging to 100% - to use before a "big trip". That is:
Set limit to 100%
Wait 5 minutes (TeslaFi will retry for 5 minutes if it fails first time)
Start charging
15 minutes before departure turn Climate on
15 minutes after departure turn it off (if I still haven't left!)

but I have to remember to disable the other Charge Limit tasks, if their timing conflicts with my "Big Trip"

It would almost certainly be much easier to skip the complex-schedule thing altogether and just use what the car provides - i.e. "Start charging at XX;XX and charge to X%" ... but I'm a geek ... but I think Tesla have got it right - the "KISS" principle.

 

[MrBadger]

Zappi wall charger is probably the easiest way to achieve that?

But its a smart charger and in a few years, people may well be regretting that they got one. Its probably a few hours work to add insolution curve tracking to my existing PV monitoring system.

I'm probably going to get a Tesla charger - its not smart, can have a 7m tether and can be combined with a second one to load share. About as smart as I need, except an on off switch to stop a school parent racking up on my drive whilst they wait for their kid - but at least they wont be polluting me keeping their engine idling - oh quite possibly as it will likely be a phev.

Personally, I'm going to wait and see how things pan out for real before I look at introducing anything smart to my charging infrastructure (I'm talking about you Mr smart meter man who keeps trying to convince me to swap) - there may be a reason why an EV trial apparently disabled some chargers overnight just to gauge reaction of the participants.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Tesla charger - its not smart, can have a 7m tether

I think?? the 7M tethered lead is standard ?

 

[Mark_T]

I think?? the 7M tethered lead is standard ?

When I got mine last year there were two options, 2.5m or 7.5m. Price was the same for both.

 

[WannabeOwner]

The one I measured was a "signed" Tesla referral prize - pretty sure that was "here it is", no option choice, so perhaps all Referral Prizes are 7M