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BTW - Tesla out sold leaf (and every other EV or Luxury Sedan) in USA in 2015
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??? works flawlessly for us???
+1 I set the Volt for the entire year, and it changes both time of day, and season, without further input. Most regions with TOU are tight to a schedule, as approved by their DPU, PUC, PSC, etc. This is so basic, especially for a car that can mow through kwh. I wish Tesla would add scheduling.
While Tesla is at it:
Next, my region is to adopt even more complicated Time Varying Rates, possibly with super-peaks. More flexibility needed.
Since it's a BEV, how about an "I'm not charged" alarm, for times an EVSE, a CHAdeMO, or the car fails to charge, and you would have preferred a phone call/text/email, instead of being stranded.
This could be done with an external app running. It would monitor the state of charge constantly and using a simple formula (based on the charge power you have available at home) starts the charge process to be ready at a given time. The 'ready time' is usually the same every day so that setting would rarely need to be changed.
For whom? See, that to me is the fallacy of making this all about departure time. For people who commute to work, departure time is a pretty routine thing 5 days per week. Much of the working and retired world does not do that (me included). For us: some activities from home... some activities require driving... some require flying/travel. And, there would be nothing worse than getting up for an early 5am airport departure only to find that the car just started charging.
That is why - for me and many others - setting a charging start time (of midnight) is not only sufficient, but better. It is always charging in off-peak rate period, and is always within 1% of desired SOC when I need it - whether that is at 5 am or 10 am, or I don't drive for a whole day. The cost? Max of 1 kWh per day of "vampire drain", which at off-peak is <15 cents.
I just don't get this whole obsession with departure time charging. To save maybe 15 cents per day? And, don't give me that battery life thing... unless you range charge all the time. I DO understand departure time pre-conditioning... but that wouldn't work for many of us in any regard because our schedule varies.
OK, I guess you are right because the range was going to drain... whether before or after the charge. Agreed. So one more reason not to give a hoot about departure time charging. Thanks!
It does a little. If it stops charging right before you get in the car then the range will be exactly what you set it to. But if it stopped charging 4 hours ago then you will have lost some range due to vampire drain. No change in energy use but it changes the SOC when you depart.
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There are two good reasons to use departure-time charging.
1) Minimize amount of time vehicle sits at high SOC therefore reducing battery degradation.
2) Battery is warm when you start driving, reducing the amount of energy used to heat the battery pack on cold days, therefore improving range and reducing energy usage.
For people like me with a super-off-peak charging period and a fairly fixed schedule, I'd prefer the vehicle to start charging at the beginning of the super-off-peak period, then stop when it hits 50% SOC, and then resume at the correct time to hit my target SOC at my departure time. This would keep the SOC closer to 50% for more time while still charging within the least expensive window.
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I understand why there are some people who give a hoot. I just don't... much prefer start time. And I personally think it is un-necessary anxiety to obsess about SOC unless you are regularly charging above the manufacturer's "daily" charge range. Yes, keeping your average SOC at exactly 50% might improve your longevity or range retention by some minimal amount. Is it worth the anxiety? Not for me.
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Yes everybody is different. I have had the same electric toothbrush for 15 years because I manage the battery well, where my wife is on her third. When it comes to the $40k battery pack in my P85D I think it is reasonable to expect the vehicle to help minimize degradation especially if it can be done in a "set up and forget" way.
There is also environmental impact -- degrading batteries have to be replaced more often, and wasting electricity to heat your battery up every morning is not an efficient use of our resources.
There is also environmental impact -- degrading batteries have to be replaced more often, and wasting electricity to heat your battery up every morning is not an efficient use of our resources.
If that tiny bit of loss impacts your drive, you really need to reconsider what you are doing. A small head wind or drop in temperature will easily blow that difference away and you will be getting towed.
Camera-Cruiser
Fully Charged
I think you hit the nail on the head, and you are probably 100 correct. Just goosing it a couple times negates any savings. I'm guessing every engineer at Tesla knows it.
But, and there is always a but, it's not the point at all. Before I got my Tesla, I assumed that I plugged it in at night and set a departure time and it would figure out the rest (being the most advanced internet connected car in the world). I also assumed that the climate control would be running and I would find the car set for me as desired based on a simple calendar schedule. If I didn't open the car within a time window I set, it would go back to sleep, or even send me an alert. Finding this wonderful forum post purchase, it seems that most owners think the same.
This is just like when Apple came out with the iPhone. Despite its wonders, you couldn't copy and paste, and that pissed people off because it affected perceived usability,and made the new owners the but of many jokes for years until Apple finally added that feature to the OS.
To me, this and a variety of other things listed in many other Tesla wish lists, is Tesla's version of copy and paste. It should've been there day one. User profiles by key fob day two, etc.
There is also the issue of power reliability. If you plug your car in and don't have it start charging until the last minute, what happens if the power goes out? That means you might not have enough of a charge to go about your business for the day. If you charge as soon as you can, and the rates are right, the power going out a few hours before you leave is less likely to be an issue. (Of course I wouldn't expect it to be a problem very often since the grid is fairly reliable, but it is an issue.)
green1
Active Member
Is power reliability really that big an issue in most places?
The last time I had a power outage at home was several years ago, it lasted less than 5 minutes. The longest outage I have ever had at home was about an hour
