# Programming Charging Thoughts



## sandange (Apr 21, 2016)

*I'm not sure how programming charging on a Tesla works or if its all manually set*

I have been driving an EV now for over 5 years and am aware that the best state of charge for battery health is between 20% - 70% .
Because of my very limited battery size in the vehicle I own now,
every night when I get home (in order to keep my battery in the best health)
* Now I have to, or should...... *

*1)* Gauge my battery's state of charge,
*2)* Figure out if I need to charge it to a minimum state of 15-20% right away.
*a)* if so set up charging time to achieve this.
* b)* I also have to remember to reprogram for the overnight charging for the next day

*3)* Calculate what time I wish to leave the next morning
*4)* Decide what state of charge (%) I will need that day
*5)* Estimate how much time/ hours charging I need to achieve this state of charge to end a 1/2 hr before departure.
*6)* Remember to precondition (heating or AC) the cabin 15 -30 minutes before I would depart.

*Doing all this every night can be tedious/time consuming and sometime miss calculated, especially if you arrive home exhausted after a long day.*

*Wouldn't it be nice* to have all this calculated automatically for you &
Have only to do this

*1) * Plug in your model 3 when you get home
*2)* Enter what time you will depart the next morning
*3)* Select Cabin preconditioning
*
& with the convenience of saving this setting* in a one touch memory function.
Kind of like an electric seat position memory recall.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

with the not so limited Tesla sized battery, you can simply plug it in when you get home and have it always set to charge to X% and it will be to that level when you are ready to go in the morning. 
Tesla does not have a setting (currently at least) to end charging at a set time, but it does have a setting to start charging at a set time. So if your utility has a discounted rate starting at 12a, you can have it begin then. 
If you want it preconditioned, (currently at least) that you will have to manage manually from the app prior to going out to the car. Seems like something they could easily work into their software. Only issue would be if the time you leave varies it could be wasting energy preconditioning well before you are ready to go, or not be ready by the time you are.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

Always plug it in. You won't have to think about it most days.

The car will stop charging around 85% (this can be customized). It draws power to keep the batteries at the right temp, so it's always good to have it plugged in even if it were already charged.

On the occasional day where you need to go on a long trip and want the extra day, just open your phone and tell it to charge all the way an hour or so before you leave.


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## Model34mePlease (Jun 3, 2017)

It should really have both a start time and a (optional) stop time for those of us who have time-of-use power connections.


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## sandange (Apr 21, 2016)

Looking at it from one possible routine weekday schedule

*Scenario*
One leaves the house at 6:00 am, drops off the kids at school, goes to work, picks up groceries & the kids and then heads home.
This consumes 50% of the charge, & you want a 25% charge as a cushion, so you need to charge to 75% every day

* Sometimes* you might unexpectedly need to dip into that cushion and get home with only 10% charge remaining, or maybe the kids don't have school that day and you end up with 35% charge remaining.

*Charging for dummies In a perfect world*, at the touch of a preset charging program...,

1) I want the car to be ready at 6 am, charged to the preset percentage of the battery and the cabin at my selected temperature.

2) I would like *the programming to figure out* when to start charging to achieve this

3) *To sense the battery state* & charge immediately to 20 % to protect the battery should it be too low and then follow the presetting schedule.

4) Should there be a setting *to take advantage of off hour rates* and it senses that there is not enough time to be ready for that time of departure, then it could over ride & start charging earlier to meet that departure time.

*Theoretically you don't want* the battery sitting around charged up. 
* Preferably* you want it ready 1/2 hr before you depart and leaving that last 1/2 hour to switch to regulating the cabin temperature-in my case, possibly getting the cabin warmed up from -30C if I'm parked outside. 
in the winter.

*My wishful thinking*


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