Scheduled Off-Peak Charging and departure time cabin warming

[Dilly]

It’s not a biggie for me, I have to go out at 7am a couple of days a week for about 20 minutes but a lot of you must have daily commutes.

I’m on Octopus Go and have a Zappi charger.
I can set a boost during the off peak window and charge to whatever level I need without setting a scheduled charge in the car.
But, if I want to charge off peak to finish at 4.30am and have a warm car at 7am I can’t.
Departure schedule together with a timed boost works fine if the car is already within a few miles of max charge.
I set one last night which failed dismally. According to the Tesla widget, departure charge would have started at 5.30am, too late for the off peak boost which showed as charge complete but gave no charge. The 7am boost was simply delayed by the car presumably because it was later than the car’s calculated start time. The cabin failed to warm too.

my view is that the only way round it is off peak charge and put the climate on from the app when I get up. To be fair it only needed ten minutes.

has anyone cracked a way of getting both?
Has Elon been nagged to sort a proper scheduling regime?

 

[simonh]

You can use an app such as Stats or similar to set heating schedules. I have one set for 10 minutes before the school run to warm the car and defrost. It is flexible in that you can set the specific dates or different times on different days etc.

I agree the in-car scheduling could do with some tweaks. I'd like to see a timed charge rather than just the on time (I use stats to set the off-time for 4:30am). Also, it would be good if it could be used with a scheduled departure that heats the cabin and has the option of using electricity from the connection or the cheap electricity stored in the battery overnight.

Both features would be so little coding and testing but useful for many without having to use 3rd party apps. Shame Tesla doesn't have an online feature/bug system that users can request things and upvote them etc.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

The timing functions in the car are just naff, IMHO. The BMW i3 is much the same, maybe that's where Tesla got the idea for the bizarre way in-car scheduled charging works (or doesn't). The Prius PHEV had a really good scheduling system, with charge start and stop times, as well as departure times, which could be set like a time switch, with different programmes for each day of the week.

I use the time switch built in to our charge points to control charging, as I found the in-car scheduling not to work for setting a start and stop charge time. The departure time feature should be separated out from charging, IMHO, and just used as a departure pre-conditioning setting. Having said that, it's easy enough to just turn on preconditioning ten minutes before leaving, although I wish there was a fob function for this, as is the case with some other cars. I keep meaning to get around to making something like a Dash Button, that I can just press to precondition the car. Should be easy enough to do, I think, just a matter of getting around to writing a bit of code for something like an ESP32.

 

[mrobins64495]

It’s not a biggie for me, I have to go out at 7am a couple of days a week for about 20 minutes but a lot of you must have daily commutes.

I’m on Octopus Go and have a Zappi charger.
I can set a boost during the off peak window and charge to whatever level I need without setting a scheduled charge in the car.
But, if I want to charge off peak to finish at 4.30am and have a warm car at 7am I can’t.
Departure schedule together with a timed boost works fine if the car is already within a few miles of max charge.
I set one last night which failed dismally. According to the Tesla widget, departure charge would have started at 5.30am, too late for the off peak boost which showed as charge complete but gave no charge. The 7am boost was simply delayed by the car presumably because it was later than the car’s calculated start time. The cabin failed to warm too.

my view is that the only way round it is off peak charge and put the climate on from the app when I get up. To be fair it only needed ten minutes.

has anyone cracked a way of getting both?
Has Elon been nagged to sort a proper scheduling regime?

I have the same situation. The only way around it I have found is to just turn the heater on before I leave from the App.

I was curious if there was a way to warm the batteries to help improve range beyond just turning the hearing on now winter is here.

 

[webbah]

I use the stats app to configure all of these settings. Works great! Or just use the Siri Shortcuts to quickly enable what I want at any time remotely.

 

[Jeeves]

ev.energy app + Siri Shortcuts

 

[Dilly]

Yes, it’s just a real nuisance. My Ionic Electric had two distinct settings; charge and departure. A piece of cake to do both to wake up the Zappi twice in succession.
It’s no real problem, it’s garaged anyway and apart from pre-warming the battery and low regen, I’m only doing a few miles two mornings a week.
I guess it’s one of the joys of a car that’s made with US in mind.

The Ioniq lived outside so needed a good warm up but even then I sometimes had to open a window to cool it down a bit

 

[Cnixon]

...
Shame Tesla doesn't have an online feature/bug system that users can request things and upvote them etc.

I have tried to use this site. To get upvotes you probably need to use Social Media, but it gives some thoughts to what others are thinking.
Tesla Ideas

 

[Adopado]

I was curious if there was a way to warm the batteries to help improve range beyond just turning the hearing on now winter is here.

That's actually what happens when you switch the heating on when plugged in ... if the battery is cold it immediately starts putting heat into it (as well as warming the cabin). It's not just the warming of the cabin that indirectly warms the battery.

 

[Dilly]

So, last night, I set departure to 7.15am. Only 6miles to Max charge needed.
Set a boost in my Zappi for 6.45-7.15am with precondition off in eco+ mode (solar only) it’s the correct way, boost overrides it.
For a reason I have yet to fathom, the charge started at 4.54am and completed at 5.08am. The car might have warmed but at 7am it was 6 degrees.
With precondition set to off, the car shouldn’t have been able to draw power before 6.45am. I checked the precondition setting when I got home. It was off.
I also noticed that departure wasn’t set when I got home. Does it cancel after use?
Anyone suffered premature departure?
It’s not much use when it does work and even less when it does!

 

[LK06]

The car aims to compete charging prior to an imaginary 6am cheaper tariff end point. Regardless of the time you set to depart.

The departure time is only used to warm the cabin.

I have Scheduled Departure set for everyday at 0745 and everyday charging finishes between 0500-0600 but the car is nicely warmed between 0730-45. I haven’t seen it cancel itself. Have you checked the weekday only setting? There is one to control charging and one to control the cabin warming.

A bit frustrating given I charge from 3-pin so would prefer it to finish just before I depart to take advantage of the (albeit minimal) battery warming. I lose a % or 2 warming the cabin as the 3-pin can’t provide sufficient power to do both.

 

[Adopado]

Set a boost in my Zappi for 6.45-7.15am with precondition off in eco+ mode (solar only) it’s the correct way, boost overrides it.
For a reason I have yet to fathom, the charge started at 4.54am and completed at 5.08am.

I have a Zappi but to date I have always set the times on the car (due to the earlier bug in Tesla software that didn't allow it to respond to offers of charging from the charge point). I'm surprised that the Zappi would have supplied power at 04:54 if the boost was set for 06:45. Even if the Tesla asked for power earlier surely the Zappi shouldn't have delivered it. Is this a Zappi bug?

 

[Dilly]

The car aims to compete charging prior to an imaginary 6am cheaper tariff end point. Regardless of the time you set to depart.

The departure time is only used to warm the cabin.

I have Scheduled Departure set for everyday at 0745 and everyday charging finishes between 0500-0600 but the car is nicely warmed between 0730-45. I haven’t seen it cancel itself. Have you checked the weekday only setting? There is one to control charging and one to control the cabin warming.

A bit frustrating given I charge from 3-pin so would prefer it to finish just before I depart to take advantage of the (albeit minimal) battery warming. I lose a % or 2 warming the cabin as the 3-pin can’t provide sufficient power to do both.

Weekday only wasn’t set. My charger shouldn’t have allowed a charge before 6.45am even if the car demanded it.
I’ll have another try next week

 

[Dilly]

I have a Zappi but to date I have always set the times on the car (due to the earlier bug in Tesla software that didn't allow it to respond to offers of charging from the charge point). I'm surprised that the Zappi would have supplied power at 04:54 if the boost was set for 06:45. Even if the Tesla asked for power earlier surely the Zappi shouldn't have delivered it. Is this a Zappi bug?

I’m not absolutely sure. Precondition was off after the event. If it was on before, that would have allowed the car to charge and warm. It needed less than 10 miles to max charge. When it did charge it did so for less than 15 minutes. There was no excuse for it start so early

 

[Dilly]

I thought I was going to need some help here guys!
I set a test up last night. I didn’t need much charge and I wasn’t going anywhere so it didn’t matter.
I set departure time to 8.30am in the car
I plugged in my Zappi at 10.30am in eco+ mode with a timed boost for 8.00-8.30am but the car charged unexpectedly at 3.35am finishing at 4.11am as a result car didn’t prewarm at 8.00am as planned.
I’m part of the Flexibly Responsive Energy Delivery (FRED) trial and it took control of my Zappi and ran the charge.
I’ve asked to come off the trial so that I can test out departure charging with my settings only.

 

[Dilly]

I hope Elon reads this.

Tesla charging is a buggers muddle when it comes to off-peak charging and later pre-warming.
The inclusion of stop and start times for both schedule charges and departure together with the ability to use both types rather than one or the other is, in my humble opinion, a must for the UK.

it shouldn’t need third party software to do a job that a software company cocked up!

The Zappi charge boost that I set for 00:30 was overridden by the car departure timer and failed, but at least the pre- warm boost did start at 08:10. Unfortunately that just drew power from the Powerwall so that was no use. Had I not stopped it, It would have drawn all the charge from my Powerwall rather than a small amount as planned.

I’ll have to run a few more tests to see if there is a manageable sweet-spot.

I will try a charge at 04:00-04:30 and see if that works but there is no way to determine when the car will allow a charge to start under the present software.

if I needed a big charge, I’d just have to run climate manually when I get up.

come on Elon, sort it out!

 

[Jeeves]

...
Tesla charging is a buggers muddle when it comes to off-peak charging and later pre-warming.
…

So true, like many of the other ‘features’ of the car.

…
if I needed a big charge, I’d just have to run climate manually when I get up.
…

Yep, that’s what I do. FWIW, I find Siri Shortcuts with one of the apps (Stats, Remote For Tesla etc) very useful in this regard (if you can accept the potential security risk).

 

[Drmouse]

I had this issue. In fact, it's the main reason I have kept my subscription to TeslaFi: I can set a scheduled start for charging to 00:30 in the car, but then have TeslaFi stop the charge at 04:30, and also have it turn the heater on at departure time.

I'd prefer something more "automatic", and have been working on my own scheduling system on and off since I got the car, but TeslaFi works well enough that I am in no rush.

 

[ACarneiro]

I try to work the rough maths to make the car charge for just the 4 hours starting at 00:30
At 7kW, it’s roughly 10% per hour so just target 40% more than your battery state when you go to bed and that is pretty much sorted.

I think turning the climate control on when when I come down for breakfast is easy enough and gives me enough time time to arrive to a mostly warm car.

It’s not elegant and it’s not automated but it’s also no great chore

Might look at an NFC tag to automate the climate control on-turning, though. Because why not?

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Might look at an NFC tag to automate the climate control on-turning, though. Because why not?

One long term project I need to get around to is finishing off the "dash button" to do this. I started it months ago, but got sidetracked into doing something else. The idea is to just have a small widget with a push button, such that pressing the button turns on the climate control to pre-heat/cool the car before going out. Neither of us tends to have our mobile phones on at home, hence the desire to just have a button that's quick and easy to push, much like the button on the remote of cars I've owned in the past that did the same thing.

The thing I was playing with was an ESP32 with a small battery supply and button, arranged so that pressing the button woke it up, connected to the wifi network, then connected to the Tesla servers, authenticating and then turning on the car's climate control. I had thought of just hacking a genuine Amazon Dash Button to do this, but they seem to have been abandoned now.