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Scheduled Charging vs. Scheduled Departure
- Thread starter MY-user
- Start date
These are separate functions. First there is charging. You can set up Scheduled Departure Charging. Scheduled Departure Charging relies on setting an end time for a presumed off-peak utility rate period, i.e. 0600 but could be a different time. When you set Scheduled Departure Charging the Tesla vehicle will always complete charging before the end of the off-peak rate period (usually about 15 or 20 minutes before the end of the off-peak rate period.) The other delayed charging option is Scheduled Charging. That option is simpler to understand, set. You pick a time, i.e. 11:00 P.M. and the Tesla vehicle will start charging at 11:00 P.M. every evening. (Of the two delayed charging options Scheduled Departure Charging is more efficient than Scheduled Charging because with Scheduled Departure the charging session will end closer to the time you leave in the A.M. (assuming you commute.)
The second function is Preconditioning. Preconditioning can be set to take place on week days or all week. Preconditioning will start about 20 or more minutes prior to your specified departure time. Preconditioning will warm the passenger cabin and can turn on the seat heaters, steering wheel heater and also defrost the windshield and rear glass. In colder temperatures the Tesla vehicle will automatically warm the battery while preconditioning. (This is why using Scheduled Departure Charging is more efficient, in winter, than charging the night before with Scheduled Charging. When Preconditioning takes place shortly after Scheduled Departure Charging has completed the battery will already be warmed from the charging session that just completed.)
You can initiate preconditioning at any time using the Tesla app to turn on the Climate Control system by tapping on the fan icon on the Tesla app display.
(The latest software enables you to set a separate Scheduled Departure Preconditioning period via the Tesla app during the day (i.e., for after work.)
The second function is Preconditioning. Preconditioning can be set to take place on week days or all week. Preconditioning will start about 20 or more minutes prior to your specified departure time. Preconditioning will warm the passenger cabin and can turn on the seat heaters, steering wheel heater and also defrost the windshield and rear glass. In colder temperatures the Tesla vehicle will automatically warm the battery while preconditioning. (This is why using Scheduled Departure Charging is more efficient, in winter, than charging the night before with Scheduled Charging. When Preconditioning takes place shortly after Scheduled Departure Charging has completed the battery will already be warmed from the charging session that just completed.)
You can initiate preconditioning at any time using the Tesla app to turn on the Climate Control system by tapping on the fan icon on the Tesla app display.
(The latest software enables you to set a separate Scheduled Departure Preconditioning period via the Tesla app during the day (i.e., for after work.)
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Thank you for the detailed explanation. It sounds like the scheduled departure is much more practical option even though the charging utility rate might be more.
If you are on a time of use (TOU) rate plan with your utility, with an off-peak rate period from 11PM to 6AM, the Scheduled Departure charging will always complete before 6AM. Of course if you set Scheduled Charging to start at 11PM it too will likely complete charging before the end of the off-peak rate period. The benefit, savings comes from starting preconditioning and driving with a battery that is already warm from the charging session having completed just prior to driving.
If you plug in and charge immediately, if you have a TOU rate plan you may be charging at a time that is more expensive for each kWh you consume. Even if you are not on a TOU rate plan, if Scheduled Charging completes in the middle of the night the battery will cool down by the time you leave and then you will need to use more energy to warm up the Tesla vehicle in the morning.
Sort of confusing if you use the in car screen, but very simple to do on the phone app. One of the things many people don't realize is that these functions are also location dependent. I have scheduled departure set for my home so the car and battery are warm and ready to go before I leave for work, and I have free charging at work, so at my work location I use TOU charging to have the car complete charging before I leave for home AND I have scheduled departure set at work so the car is warmed up and ready to go.
Keith
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EVer Hopeful
Active Member
I've played around with this a little, but need to apply myself a bit more to fully understand it
When I got the vehicle I would just plug her in when I got home and all was well, then we took a long trip up to a state park, leaving at noon, so I set a 100% charge limit with scheduled departure at noon. So far so good
Then a couple of days after we came home I plugged her in again, and a couple of hours later, expecting to be back to the normal 80%, I saw that it was waiting to start the charging - like I still had scheduled departure selected
Time to RTFM (again)
When I got the vehicle I would just plug her in when I got home and all was well, then we took a long trip up to a state park, leaving at noon, so I set a 100% charge limit with scheduled departure at noon. So far so good
Then a couple of days after we came home I plugged her in again, and a couple of hours later, expecting to be back to the normal 80%, I saw that it was waiting to start the charging - like I still had scheduled departure selected
Time to RTFM (again)
The FM won't help. Tesla has updated the way that you set Scheduled Departure, Preconditioning or Scheduled Charging options so you need to spend time with the Charging screen settings, Climate Control settings (for Preconditioning) and with the Tesla app.
My understanding as far as Preconditioning is you can set a time to start Preconditioning from within the Tesla vehicle (Scheduled Departure settings on the Charging Screen or from the Climate Control screen when parked at your home location.
Then, if you use the Tesla app on your phone, you can set a second Preconditioning time when parked at your work place, i.e. the time you normally leave work in the P.M. and the Tesla vehicle will Precondition from that location in addition to your home location.
My understanding as far as Preconditioning is you can set a time to start Preconditioning from within the Tesla vehicle (Scheduled Departure settings on the Charging Screen or from the Climate Control screen when parked at your home location.
Then, if you use the Tesla app on your phone, you can set a second Preconditioning time when parked at your work place, i.e. the time you normally leave work in the P.M. and the Tesla vehicle will Precondition from that location in addition to your home location.
In other words you can set one preconditioning on the phone and one in the car. Now I wonder what happens if I set the schedule on my phone, in the car, and my wife sets on hers.
Keep us posted. The Tesla vehicle must be parked at the desired location where you want the Preconditioning so that the Tesla vehicle will save the Preconditioning schedule for that location, i.e. home and/or work locations.
In my phone app under the "schedule" tab if you hit the "departure" button at the top, it has "Precondition" and "off peak charging" each of them with a separate time I can set. Then when I go home, if I open the app and go to the "schedule" tab it has two different "Precondition" and "off peak charging" times. If you hit the "charge" button at the top it only gives you one time option... the time that you want to START charging.
Keith
PS: I set up both my at home and at work schedules using the phone app.
And yet here we are still with lame functionality. This is such a simple fix. They just need to program full user control of scheduling in addition with a couple selections like TOU with the proper settings, not just "TOU end time" wtf good is that? I have their solar system that is setup for TOU. Yet, the same app controlling the vehicle can't share this schedule for charging of the vehicle?
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