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Plugged in Everyday?
- Thread starter Bootneckshuffl
- Start date
NATO
Member
Sorry to resurrect an older thread but I’m curious about the Model 3 behaviour when plugged in but set to charge during an overnight window.
If I have set the car up to charge during the cheaper window overnight, will it still be able to draw power outside of that window for preconditioning before a journey or other things?
I don’t mind it using power to heat the cabin, precondition the battery etc during the day but I’d prefer it doesn’t do an actual charge of the battery until the overnight cheap time.
If I have set the car up to charge during the cheaper window overnight, will it still be able to draw power outside of that window for preconditioning before a journey or other things?
I don’t mind it using power to heat the cabin, precondition the battery etc during the day but I’d prefer it doesn’t do an actual charge of the battery until the overnight cheap time.
Yes ... you can still use the app to initiate a charge or a precondition at other times without upsetting your default cheap rate charge. May depend on how you have the charge point set up in some cases i.e. if the charge point is set to only be operative between certain times it may or may not be able to respond ... I just leave my charge point potentially active all the time and set the charge start time on the car.
MrBadger
Badger out
Just be aware that pre conditioning will draw a significant amount of power from the mains - similar as if it was charging the battery. In addition, unless the charge point is in control of charging, the car may top up from time to time if power is drawn (say from sentry) and the cars charge drops below the charge SoC % limit - this can be avoided by dropping the % limit. Annoyingly, it will also consume power from mains if you open the car and the HVAC starts running.
All true but preconditioning is going to be 15 minutes rather than 4 hours ... so even if it did reach 7kW (which it doesn't always) that comes to about 25p in total at non peak rates ... The topping up only happens within your set charging times so if it happens at all it will be at cheap rate.
MrBadger
Badger out
It can happen at any time if the car is controlling the charge, ie start at 00:30 stop at x%
NATO
Member
Thanks for the replies, that’s exactly what I was hoping to hear.
I don’t mind it drawing power for short periods when needed but save the main charge for the cheap time so I’ll leave the charger set to permanently active and just let the car use it as needed
I don’t mind it drawing power for short periods when needed but save the main charge for the cheap time so I’ll leave the charger set to permanently active and just let the car use it as needed
I have never had a daytime top up when plugged in. It has only ever happened during my set charging period, as you describe from 00:30 to x%.
All electric cars have a challenge accurately representing how much battery you have available. Though it’s regarded as a good thing to avoid unnecessary 100% charges (for lithium ion generally) you have a pack that can be charged to that level more frequently as you know. The battery monitoring system needs to be able to gauge what is full, what is half full and what is close to empty if it is to give you accurate percentages. If you never charge to 100% that may affect it… confusing the monitoring system in my opinion.
Your pack has a smaller voltage range between full and empty so measuring is likely even more of an issue.
I can see no reason why you shouldn’t do what you doing but I would still do a 100% charge every couple of weeks. With an SR+ it will be nice to be able to maximise you range.
I'm not entirely convinced leaving the car plugged in is beneficial, beyond ensuring that you never have less than your required charge level in the battery. I think Tesla recommend it simply to help people avoid those situations where they want to go somewhere and go out to their car and find it only has 10% charge - because nowadays that would be Tesla's fault.
As a little test I left my car plugged in for a week, without doing anything with it, when it had ~60% charge with the limit set to 50%. It didn't use any power at all from the mains in all that time, but it did wake up every day at the specified charge time before just going back to sleep again - because it had nothing to do. If you don't have it plugged in the car can (usually) sleep for days.
So yeah, if its convenient to leave it plugged in at home then it's worth doing, but at the same time I wouldn't lose any sleep about not being able to.
As a little test I left my car plugged in for a week, without doing anything with it, when it had ~60% charge with the limit set to 50%. It didn't use any power at all from the mains in all that time, but it did wake up every day at the specified charge time before just going back to sleep again - because it had nothing to do. If you don't have it plugged in the car can (usually) sleep for days.
So yeah, if its convenient to leave it plugged in at home then it's worth doing, but at the same time I wouldn't lose any sleep about not being able to.
I should think Tesla are concerned that the uninitiated may treat the car like an ICE vehicle getting lower and lower before topping up at the last minute ... we have a friend who has just bought an old Leaf and was on course to do exactly that! So long as it's not sitting with a low battery for days it shouldn't be a worry. In my own situation I like having it plugged in most of the time because it is some distance from the house and 1) In colder seasons I can initiate preconditioning without thinking is it plugged in 2) I can increase my charge limit on the app because I know we have a longer trip in the morning 3) An SR+ doesn't have as much leeway and any journey to our nearest town and back is going to use 30% in winter weather so make that 40% with a 10% comfort buffer ... I need the juice!
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