Scheduled Departure Feature - Can You Change the Off-Peak Charging Hrs?

[FSKT]

The new Software release 36.2.1 introduces this nifty charging feature, Scheduled Departure, which enables you to set your departure time, and then Tesla takes care of figuring out when to charge the car so it's filled up to your specified % right before you leave (or as close to leaving as it can get).

One thing I noticed, though, is that it says it makes sure the car will charge only during off-peak electricity rates, and stops charging when peak rates start - specifically noting that this is at 6 am. But . . . off-peak rates start/stop at different times for different folks under different rate plans in different parts of the country. I get that, generally, 6 am is a safe default, but it is hardly an accurate time for many people on Time of Use (TOU) EV plans, so it would only make sense to allow the user to set the off-peak cut-off to reflect their actual TOU hours for off-peak. But . . . I do not see a way to change the 6am cut-off.

For instance, here in NorCal USA, under the new PG&E EV TOU plan, our off-peak rates recently were changed, so that off-peak is now from midnight to 3pm (yes, that's right - 15 hrs of off-peak - midnight to 3pm), every day (no change for weekends any more). And, since I leave usually in the morning around 8 am, I want my car to finish charging as close to 8 am as possible, and it can do this using only off-peak rates since off-peak continues on past 6 am, right on up through 8 am and on up to 3pm.

Tesla's stated 6 am off-peak cut-off obviously is not in synch with my electricty rate schedule, and effectively cuts off charging two hours before I have to do so.

Anybody know if you can adjust this off-peak cut-off, so I can use the Scheduled Departure and have my car fill up to my % SOC closer to my 8 am departure on most days? I do not see a way to adjust this in the new feature set, and so I've not used it yet . . . .

PS, I should note, that while it seems PG&E is giving us this much-larger block of off-peak time - 15 hrs midnight to 3pm - the off-peak rates jumped nearly 30% from around 10-11 cents/kwh to 16 cents/kwh. So yeah . . . good news/bad news definitely, as it almost always is with PG&E.

 

[CCIE]

This annoys me too. Around here Off-Peak is 8PM-11:59AM M-F and all-day on weekends. I want my car to finish charging around 7:30AM so the battery is warm. But, the car thinks off-peak ends at 6AM, so it stops charging by then, letting the battery cool by the time I leave.

They need to include a configurable on/off peak schedule. My Volt had that in 2012.

 

[FSKT]

This annoys me too. Around here Off-Peak is 8PM-11:59AM M-F and all-day on weekends. I want my car to finish charging around 7:30AM so the battery is warm. But, the car thinks off-peak ends at 6AM, so it stops charging by then, letting the battery cool by the time I leave.

They need to include a configurable on/off peak schedule. My Volt had that in 2012.

It's just so strange that they'd arbitrarily pick a time when off-peak ends, and make it not at all adjustable. Literally all over the country, off-peak start/stop times are different. Really odd that some thing like setting your own off peak ending time, which is a purely software thing and something that so obviously is different for everyone, is not available. I would hope they'd fix this glaring issue on the next update, but I can't imagine it was tough to begin with, to include it.

In other, better news - I love the one-pedal driving and 5% power increase, which I definitely think I can feel . . . .

But, in terms of areas of improvement . . . . . this arbitrary cut-off at 6 am is an easy low-hanging fruit kind of fix.

 

[CharleyBC]

This seems like such a "duh" from a software design perspective. I can only guess the Tesla engineer in charge of this feature has a discount TOU that ends at 6:00, and blithely assumed it was true throughout the universe.

I happen to be lucky that ours actually does end at 6:00, but I still might want to set departure for some later time on special occasions, like departing on vacation at 8:30, and wanting the car full, warm and ready at that time, even though I'll pay a bit more.

 

[Chisale]

We don't even have peak or off peak rates where I live. It's all the same....24 hours a day every day. So you can imagine how frustrating it is for those of us in that situation.

 

[Ames]

And while we are moaning about this feature...why do we have to have the cabin preconditioned? Why is the only control on weekdays - we also have different weekdays in some parts of the world (other than Monday to Friday). If I was concerned a bout peak electricity I could simply set it to finish charging at 6:00 AM.

Dear Tesla - please give us more control...thanks.

 

[ngogas]

It’s a bad design so I’m hoping with next version, they give better options and control to us.

 

[FSKT]

This seems like such a "duh" from a software design perspective. I can only guess the Tesla engineer in charge of this feature has a discount TOU that ends at 6:00, and blithely assumed it was true throughout the universe.

I happen to be lucky that ours actually does end at 6:00, but I still might want to set departure for some later time on special occasions, like departing on vacation at 8:30, and wanting the car full, warm and ready at that time, even though I'll pay a bit more.

For me, and everyone in NorCal with PG&E's new EV2-A Rates and TOU times (which is everyone that has an EV and chose to go TOU), off-peak runs from midnight all the way up to 3pm - 15 hours of off-peak, every day. What's especially odd, is that the vast majority of all of the employees in Tesla's Fremont factory, who have an EV (probably a Tesla), are also in the PG&E service area and so are subject to the exact same EV rate plan that I have. So for all of such Tesla employees, this 6am cut-off makes no sense. Weird.

 

[bay74]

Yikes. I read the release notes when I installed the update and saw the 6am mentioned, but I assumed that it was an example only because surely they wouldn't be stupid enough to hard-code something like that. So I came here searching for where one adjusts the finish-charge time, and what do ya know? They really did the stupid thing.

I've got super-off-peak rate from midnight 'till 4am (12c/kWh), then off-peak 4am to 7am (21c/kWh), then shoulder from 7am to 3pm (24c/kWh), then peak from 3pm to 9pm (41c/kWh), then shoulder 9 to 10, then off-peak 10 to midnight. Neat hey? Oh and a 5.5c/kWh "GreenPower" surcharge so that it's all renewable-sourced (annualised). So I want the car to only charge between midnight and 4am, and I don't really care what level it reaches by 4am, most of the time.

So yeah give us better control of charge times Tesla!

 

[toolman335]

I have a flat rate around the clock so I didn't flinch when I saw the 6:00am in the notes. I definitely thought it was just an example too.
Maybe you all need to get a job where you leave the house at 5am like I do

 

[jjrandorin]

It seems to me that Tesla releases these type of updates using an "agile" type workflow. Not going to go into the whole thing on agile here of course, but one thing that is popular is "sprints" to complete projects / work, and "minimum viable product". Release the "minimum viable product" to the customer and iterate based on feedback.

So, this new feature feels like "minimum viable product" to me.

Saying that, the reactions in this thread show very well why the agile mindset doesnt work sometimes. It sounds like everyone would rather complain about how the feature does not meet their specific needs, rather than either use it if it works for them or not use it if it doesnt. So, based on the feedback on this (and many other ) features that tesla has released that people complain about, it would be better for tesla to wait to release any of these features until they have covered every eventuality they can think of (which is the old method for projects / development, and includes tons of scope creep usually).

TL ; DR

Seems to me they would be much better off releasing new features much slower, with every option that will eventually be in the feature present than the way they do now, because what happens now is people complaining about getting new features that dont fit them rather than being happy they got a new feature.

 

[toolman335]

This one is pretty short-sighted though. 6am cut-off but being able to enter a leaving time? That's quite a niche market. I don't know how many people had input on the specifics, but any actual Tesla owner would have raised their hands with a few questions on this one.

 

[CharleyBC]

So, this new feature feels like "minimum viable product" to me.

Software geek here. We also consider what you might call "minimum not embarrassing product."

 

[FSKT]

It seems to me that Tesla releases these type of updates using an "agile" type workflow. Not going to go into the whole thing on agile here of course, but one thing that is popular is "sprints" to complete projects / work, and "minimum viable product". Release the "minimum viable product" to the customer and iterate based on feedback.

So, this new feature feels like "minimum viable product" to me.

Saying that, the reactions in this thread show very well why the agile mindset doesnt work sometimes. It sounds like everyone would rather complain about how the feature does not meet their specific needs, rather than either use it if it works for them or not use it if it doesnt. So, based on the feedback on this (and many other ) features that tesla has released that people complain about, it would be better for tesla to wait to release any of these features until they have covered every eventuality they can think of (which is the old method for projects / development, and includes tons of scope creep usually).

TL ; DR

Seems to me they would be much better off releasing new features much slower, with every option that will eventually be in the feature present than the way they do now, because what happens now is people complaining about getting new features that dont fit them rather than being happy they got a new feature.

I'm not sure if anyone from Tesla who develops these parts of the OS reads these forums or not, but I don't think it's inappropriate or negative to point out the shortcomings of features on the car. I see it as part of the process of Tesla improving this stuff. Think of this as a broad-based "scrum" in Agile parlance, or at least part of the feedback loop as something is fleshed out and moves from minimum viable to a more developed product . . . . We users post here and provide feedback on features, and point out shortcomings we find, and that's what we've done here. It seems like "moaning" and "complaining" but it also fleshes out the issue and, as I and others have done, potential fixes/adjustments are discussed (like making the off peak time adjustable - that's not exactly a "rocket science" idea) that are obviously things that Tesla should look at.

What is disappointing about this particular feature, is I'd love to use it, but I can't. Too bad.

 

[Fredneck]

My off peak times depends on the season. Summer is one period per day, 3 to 7 PM (four months). The rest of the year it is two periods per day, 6 to 9 AM and 5 to 8 PM. Even then this is only week days that aren't holidays.

If Tesla doesn't allow us to set the peak times four our area, they effectively accomplished very little.

 

[jjrandorin]

I'm not sure if anyone from Tesla who develops these parts of the OS reads these forums or not, but I don't think it's inappropriate or negative to point out the shortcomings of features on the car. I see it as part of the process of Tesla improving this stuff. Think of this as a broad-based "scrum" in Agile parlance, or at least part of the feedback loop as something is fleshed out and moves from minimum viable to a more developed product . . . . We users post here and provide feedback on features, and point out shortcomings we find, and that's what we've done here. It seems like "moaning" and "complaining" but it also fleshes out the issue and, as I and others have done, potential fixes/adjustments are discussed (like making the off peak time adjustable - that's not exactly a "rocket science" idea) that are obviously things that Tesla should look at.

What is disappointing about this particular feature, is I'd love to use it, but I can't. Too bad.

I agree that feedback is good, in general... but in these cases many times these are new features that we did not even know we were getting, and rather than saying " this feature is cool but it would be better if...." what I read most times is "WTF were they thinking when they released this?!?!? it should do XXXX. Whoever designed this should be fired!"

There is likely some reason or other that we are not privy to that made tesla hard code in 6am as the stop charging time. There is likely some variable that we are unaware of. Even if thats so, I would rather them release these features rather than hold onto them until they think they are "perfect" so to speak.

 

[CarterStC]

For me, and everyone in NorCal with PG&E's new EV2-A Rates and TOU times (which is everyone that has an EV and chose to go TOU), off-peak runs from midnight all the way up to 3pm - 15 hours of off-peak, every day. What's especially odd, is that the vast majority of all of the employees in Tesla's Fremont factory, who have an EV (probably a Tesla), are also in the PG&E service area and so are subject to the exact same EV rate plan that I have. So for all of such Tesla employees, this 6am cut-off makes no sense. Weird.

You're late to the game, I'm on PG&E EV-A which runs 11pm-7am!

 

[Fredneck]

You're late to the game, I'm on PG&E EV-A which runs 11pm-7am!

I'm looking at buying a small apartment house that has ETS heat units. Seems they give you enough of a price break to make direct electric heating practical by cutting it off during peak usage times. So the units include thermal storage (bricks) that continue giving off heat during the peak times. Must be a really good rate. I spoke with one of the tenants and they are happy with their bills.

 

[dmaunder]

Yikes. I read the release notes when I installed the update and saw the 6am mentioned, but I assumed that it was an example only because surely they wouldn't be stupid enough to hard-code something like that. So I came here searching for where one adjusts the finish-charge time, and what do ya know? They really did the stupid thing.

I've got super-off-peak rate from midnight 'till 4am (12c/kWh), then off-peak 4am to 7am (21c/kWh), then shoulder from 7am to 3pm (24c/kWh), then peak from 3pm to 9pm (41c/kWh), then shoulder 9 to 10, then off-peak 10 to midnight. Neat hey? Oh and a 5.5c/kWh "GreenPower" surcharge so that it's all renewable-sourced (annualised). So I want the car to only charge between midnight and 4am, and I don't really care what level it reaches by 4am, most of the time.

So yeah give us better control of charge times Tesla!

FWIW, I am on the same Powershop plan as you, I set it to start at midnight via Scheduled Charging in the car, and set it to stop at 4am via Teslafi, works perfectly.

 

[FSKT]

You're late to the game, I'm on PG&E EV-A which runs 11pm-7am!

No, not late to the game, and no, sorry, you're not on EV-A - that's dead now.

Everybody who was on EV-A was switched to EV2-A in November of this year. I was on EV-A for five years (So . . . . not exactly late to the game), and was switched to EV2-A through no fault of my own (they just switched everybody). EV2-A has off-peak midnight to 3 pm, every day, rain or shine, including weekends (no separate peak/off-peak times for weekends any more).

Don't take my word for it. Check out PG&E's FAQ page, and scroll down and read the Q, "WHEN WILL EV-A CUSTOMERS BE TRANSITIONED TO EV2-A?" There you can read that, depending on when your meter is read, you (ie, anybody who is on EV-A) will be switched to EV2-A. FAQ Link Here:

Explore EV Fundamentals

So . . . If you're starting your charging at 11 pm . . . . . look out. That will not be off-peak for you (or me) any more.

Here's a graph of your new rates (Higher) and rate times (you're welcome):

This all begs the question - why did Tesla offer this feature with a 6 am cut-off when their factory is located in the EV2-A PG&E service area? Seems odd and a bit of an oversight.