Ever forgotten to plug in at home?

[stevej119]

I have a 190 mile daily commute, so obviously it's absolutely required that I plug in when I get home every night. It's pretty much automatic, but on at least one occasion in the last year I was distracted by something when exiting my car and realized in the morning I wasn't plugged in leaving me with 30 miles of range. Fortunately there's a Super Charger 15 miles from home, so I was able to make it to work without having to delay three hours while charging at 28mph at home. What makes this funny is that one of my coworkers asked me, the very day before, what happens if you forget to charge? I laughed and said I plug in every time I get home so it's never a problem.

It occurred to me tonight that it would be almost impossible to forget to plug in if the charging port door opened automatically upon parking at home with a charge status below a user-settable limit. Of course, that assumes you walk to the back of the car past the charging port when exiting, which I do as I always back in.

Has anyone else absentmindedly forgotten to plug in?

 

[AEdennis]

In my 4 years of EV ownership, I don't think that's happened to me more than twice.

One of the things that made the Leaf telematics superior to Tesla was a Nag feature that could be set to let the operator know when parked near a preferred charger and the car is not plugged in.

It could email and text the operator. I used that feature on my mom's Leaf when she first got her Leaf.

It helped train her on plugging in when she got home.

 

[fallen888]

I've forgotten to plug in twice in the three weeks I've had my S. Both times it was on the weekend and not a big deal for me. If it was during the work week, I'd still be ok if it was just one day, as my round trip commute is only about 65 miles. But if i forgot two days in a row, I'm fortunate enough to have the option to work from home.

 

[kirkbauer]

I wrote something that uses the Tesla API and will email me when I'm at home but not plugged in. Unfortunately it isn't something that I would be able to share. But I think there is at least one 3rd-party mobile app that does this?

It should definitely be built in like it is on the Leaf.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Wifee plugged in, two days in a row, but did not notice that charging had not happened (fuse had tripped), so then arrived at her destination on "fumes" ...

 

[kort677]

Wifee plugged in, two days in a row, but did not notice that charging had not happened (fuse had tripped), so then arrived at her destination on "fumes" ...

she should be informed to look at the car to assure that charging has commenced, that green light on the charge port needs to be visible

 

[jelloslug]

I have been driving electric since 2013 and I think I have forgotten one time.

 

[Max*]

In 1.5 years, we've forgotten twice.

As you said, I was distracted with something else was exiting the car once. And once my wife took the car, and forgot to plug it in.

 

[WannabeOwner]

she should be informed to look at the car to assure that charging has commenced, that green light on the charge port needs to be visible

I'll let you tell her!! You'll get the same response that I would : "I just want it to f'ing work"

However, thinking about it, an alert SMS that she was not plugged in would work. But not at home ... on 99% of visits to work she charges, but only charges at home "if there is a need", so the Alert would have to be location-specific or, better still, also capable of alerting at home only when the charge level is low. Perhaps one of the APPs has something like that?

Its all the "change" required for new tech that catches people out ... well ... old people like me!

 

[AvengerBB]

I have a 190 mile daily commute, so obviously it's absolutely required that I plug in when I get home every night. It's pretty much automatic, but on at least one occasion in the last year I was distracted by something when exiting my car and realized in the morning I wasn't plugged in leaving me with 30 miles of range. Fortunately there's a Super Charger 15 miles from home, so I was able to make it to work without having to delay three hours while charging at 28mph at home. What makes this funny is that one of my coworkers asked me, the very day before, what happens if you forget to charge? I laughed and said I plug in every time I get home so it's never a problem.

It occurred to me tonight that it would be almost impossible to forget to plug in if the charging port door opened automatically upon parking at home with a charge status below a user-settable limit. Of course, that assumes you walk to the back of the car past the charging port when exiting, which I do as I always back in.

Has anyone else absentmindedly forgotten to plug in?

This would be a great addition to the mobile app. Have it notify you if the car is home with less than X charge at a time you set.

 

[byan1232]

You have a 190mi daily commute? That's crazy lol

 

[DFibRL8R]

Green (charging) indicator won't light up if the charge is scheduled to come on at a later time. I believe it does turn blue though to indicate a proper connection is made.

 

[gavine]

You have a 190mi daily commute? That's crazy lol

Which is probably why he drives a Tesla. Cost savings must be enormous.

 

[scottf200]

I've forgotten a handful of times since 2011 on our Volt(s) and our new X. Always been a distraction when first got home or carrying something in.

Posted a request for this feature in the Android app that is being developed.
Induction

 

[EdA]

I forget about once a week! I don't need to charge every day but like to.
Once I forgot when it mattered so I wrote a script running on a server which would text me if the car was not plugged in a 9pm and again at 11pm.
The API doesn't work anymore however. It also stopped being useful when we got our second Model S.

 

[ArtInCT]

FYI, www.evtripping.com has a selectable reminder to email you if at your specified time of day your S or X is not plugged in.
This has saved my bacon once or twice especially on hectic days.

 

[ApauloThirteen]

Has anyone else absentmindedly forgotten to plug in?

Put a night time chime/alarm reminder on your phone/ipad. Problem solved.

I've never ever forgotten to charge (& I charge every day to stay electric - Chevy Volt). It becomes automatic after the last trip of the day - back in, hook up charger, set car alarm (I park outside). Beep beep.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

In 4 years I've forgotten twice.

One time when I thought I was going to go run an errand shortly after getting home from work, so consciously didn't plug in, but then didn't end up running that errand.

The other time was after getting home after a long trip, not plugging in right away to keep the cord out of the way while unloading the car, then forgetting to plug in when done.

Otherwise, it's a reflex action and just part of coming home. It's actually hard to forget.

 

[fact200]

There's a number of server side apps (like VisibleTesla and the aforementioned evtripping) that do this.

For the more paranoid, EV Watch on iOS has a beta feature which does this while keeping your MyTesla credentials safely stored on the phone (vs on a 3rd party server).

 

[Cnasty]

My wife forgets consistently but she let me buy it so I never say anything.