I managed to get my reservation in at 7:43 PDT. Cant seem to find my way in the tracker. What I was trying to do was calculate how many $7500 credits would be consumed before my RN advances. Any advice?
Stop trying.
Seriously. There are far too many variables for you to be able to figure that out. On top of that there isn't any conceivable way to do it based on the information in the tracker, considering the tracker has well under 1% of the total number of reservations in it.
I have been told that the Model S has a timer on it - such that you can plug it in when convenient and begin charging when Time-of Use rates are favorable. I can't seem to find this feature in any of the How-To videos. So q1) IS there a timer? and Q2) will the Model 3 have one?
1.) Yes. Check the charging screen on the Model S.
2.) Since no one has seen the Model 3 interface as yet, the answer to this question is IDK. However, since it is simply software to control such a feature, I'd bet the ranch that it will be there.
Be careful, here, of providing an over-simplified answer to what may have been a more sophisticated question.
Yes, Branzo90D answered the actual questions you asked completely correctly. The Model S does allow you to plug in, and set the time when you want the charge to start, and in all likelihood the Model 3 will as well. But what I mean about being careful about what Desert Driver may have been asking, the Model S does not allow for a feature I have seen requested, which is for true Time Of Use (TOU) tables to be entered, and then for the car to only charge intelligently during the low rate periods. For example, the feature I have seen requested might have a low rate ending at 7:00 AM, and then starting again at 5:00 PM, and the user would like the TOU charging system to stop the charge at 7:00 AM if it has not completed by that time, and to then resume it at 5:00 PM, when the rates are low again. The Model S --DOES NOT-- have a system that allows for this, so if that is what Desert Driver meant when he asked about a TOU charging system, then the answer would be no.
Again, we can plug in, and delay the time the charge starts. It is also pretty easy to make the charge end at a given time by setting the charge level and estimating how fast the charge will occur. So if you knew that after 1.5 hours you'd be getting into a higher rate, and wanted your charge to stop before then, you would just adjust the state of charge percentage that you were shooting for such that the car would finish charging at about that time. Just please be careful and don't call this TOU charging, because I believe the people looking for that feature want to be able to enter a table of times and then have the car start and stop charging as needed such that it charges only during the low-rate times.