tconrad
Member
- First Name
- Tom
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2021
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 30
- Location
- Sonoma
- Vehicles
- '21 Chalk Taycan 4S, E92 M3
- Thread starter
- #1
Having watched a number of forum threads about Profiles and Timers turn contentious, I’m somewhat reluctant to wade into this topic but as a new owner I’ve been struggling to understand how best to make use of these features in my particular scenario which involves an electricity rate plan that charges me less at night for electricity than it does during the day. I think I’ve got it sorted at this point so I thought I’d try to help others that might start as confused as I was a few hours ago. I apologize in advance for duplicating explanations that are spread around these forums and on YouTube. I hope you’ll see this as just an attempt to put everything in one place for new owners.
Perhaps to get us off on the right foot, it seems that if you pay the same same rate for electricity 24/7 and you don’t care about precooling/heating your car in advance of a timed departure, all you need to do is set the General Profile to “Optimized Charging” with a Minimum Charge set to 80% and your car will charge to 80% -- and stop -- every time you plug it into an L1 or L2 charger. Very simple. As is pointed out elsewhere here, you can easily override this and charge to 100% by pressing the Direct Charging button for the times when you're getting ready for a longer trip.
Further, nothing here covers DC fast charging (where Timers and Profiles do not apply), scenarios where you're primarily using Timers to preheat or precool the car in advance of a planned trip, or concerns about Timers and Profiles somehow being implicated in the 12V problems. You can search the forums for those threads
If however, you pay different amounts for electricity at different times of day, there’s a bit more to wrap your head around and that's what I hope to illuminate in this post.
Here's the key tidbit: the way that your Taycan understands a Profile’s “Minimum Charge” setting varies depending on whether the Profile in question is set to “Optimized Charging” or “Preferred Charging Time.”
Understanding the “Minimum Charge” value in a Profile
When the active Profile is configured to “Optimized Charging” the Minimum Charge setting is effectively the maximum charge goal. When you plug in to an L1 or L2 charger the car will charge up to the level set in “Minimum Charge” and then it will stop charging. It will do this no matter what time of day you plug in. This is the simplest way to ensure that your car charges to, say, 80% and stops every time you plug into a L1 or L2 charger. Yes, in this scenario it feels like the label on this value is misleading. It is what it is.
However, when the active Profile is set to a “Preferred Charging Time” the Minimum Charge setting plays a different role. In this case it is the level that the car will charge to regardless of when you plug the car in. When your car reaches this level, the car will stop charging and will only begin charging to a higher level again during your Preferred Charging Time. This is to ensure that 24/7 your car attempts to maintain a minimum charge while doing most of its charging during your Preferred Charging Time. As such you may want to set Minimum Charge in this scenario to something rather low so you don't pay for unwanted charge outside of your Preferred Charging Time. The second thing to understand in this case is that when the active Profile is configured with a “Preferred Charging Time,” your car will charge to 100% during the Preferred Charging Time. If you don’t want your car to routinely charge to 100% in this scenario, read on…
Charging to less than 100% when using a Profile set with a “Preferred Charging Time”
To limit the charge to a maximum level less than 100% when using a Profile set with a “Preferred Charging Time” you must use a Timer in conjunction with the Profile. If your goal, for example, is to charge your car to 80% during the hours of 12am to 6am, then in addition to creating a Profile that sets the a “Preferred Charging Time” of 12am to 6am you’ll also need to set a Timer that asks for your car to reach 80% charge at 6am. This will keep your car from charging to 100% during the charging window. Yes this all feels inelegant, but again it is what it is.
How this plays out in the real world:
Scenario 1: Power Costs the Same All Day Long
If you don’t care what time of day your car charges (for example, if your power costs are uniform throughout the day) set the General Profile to “Optimized Charging” with the Minimum Charge set to 80%. Your car will charge to 80% every time you plug into an L1 or L2 charger. On the occasions you’d like to charge to 100%, simply press the “Direct charging” button to override the profile.
Scenario 2: Power is Cheaper at Night
If you do care what time of day your car charges (for example, if your power costs vary throughout the day at home) set a Location Profile local to your home with a “Preferred Charging Time.” Here set the Minimum Charge to something low, for example 25% as this setting determines the level of charge to achieve regardless of time of day. When you plug in your car will charge immediately to the Minimum Charge, and then it will charge to 100% during your Preferred Charging Time.
Scenario 3: Power is Cheaper at Night, but you don’t want to charge to 100% every night
In the case that you want to control timing of charge as in scenario 2, but do not want the car to charge above some set amount (say, as per the Owner’s Manual, you'd prefer to charge to 80%) you must additionally set a Timer. It seems the best practice here would be to set the timer termination for the end of your Preferred Charging Time window.
Scenario 4: You have all of the above set, but you are charging at a L1 or L2 charger away from home
In this case, the General Profile takes over, and allows the car to charge as quickly as possible to the value set in Minimum Charge in the General Profile. When it reaches this level, it will stop charging. I believe -- as it relates to charging -- any Timers you might have in this case are effectively ignored (though if the Timer also involves precool/heat it will provide that service at the appointed time).
Perhaps to get us off on the right foot, it seems that if you pay the same same rate for electricity 24/7 and you don’t care about precooling/heating your car in advance of a timed departure, all you need to do is set the General Profile to “Optimized Charging” with a Minimum Charge set to 80% and your car will charge to 80% -- and stop -- every time you plug it into an L1 or L2 charger. Very simple. As is pointed out elsewhere here, you can easily override this and charge to 100% by pressing the Direct Charging button for the times when you're getting ready for a longer trip.
Further, nothing here covers DC fast charging (where Timers and Profiles do not apply), scenarios where you're primarily using Timers to preheat or precool the car in advance of a planned trip, or concerns about Timers and Profiles somehow being implicated in the 12V problems. You can search the forums for those threads
If however, you pay different amounts for electricity at different times of day, there’s a bit more to wrap your head around and that's what I hope to illuminate in this post.
Here's the key tidbit: the way that your Taycan understands a Profile’s “Minimum Charge” setting varies depending on whether the Profile in question is set to “Optimized Charging” or “Preferred Charging Time.”
Understanding the “Minimum Charge” value in a Profile
When the active Profile is configured to “Optimized Charging” the Minimum Charge setting is effectively the maximum charge goal. When you plug in to an L1 or L2 charger the car will charge up to the level set in “Minimum Charge” and then it will stop charging. It will do this no matter what time of day you plug in. This is the simplest way to ensure that your car charges to, say, 80% and stops every time you plug into a L1 or L2 charger. Yes, in this scenario it feels like the label on this value is misleading. It is what it is.
However, when the active Profile is set to a “Preferred Charging Time” the Minimum Charge setting plays a different role. In this case it is the level that the car will charge to regardless of when you plug the car in. When your car reaches this level, the car will stop charging and will only begin charging to a higher level again during your Preferred Charging Time. This is to ensure that 24/7 your car attempts to maintain a minimum charge while doing most of its charging during your Preferred Charging Time. As such you may want to set Minimum Charge in this scenario to something rather low so you don't pay for unwanted charge outside of your Preferred Charging Time. The second thing to understand in this case is that when the active Profile is configured with a “Preferred Charging Time,” your car will charge to 100% during the Preferred Charging Time. If you don’t want your car to routinely charge to 100% in this scenario, read on…
Charging to less than 100% when using a Profile set with a “Preferred Charging Time”
To limit the charge to a maximum level less than 100% when using a Profile set with a “Preferred Charging Time” you must use a Timer in conjunction with the Profile. If your goal, for example, is to charge your car to 80% during the hours of 12am to 6am, then in addition to creating a Profile that sets the a “Preferred Charging Time” of 12am to 6am you’ll also need to set a Timer that asks for your car to reach 80% charge at 6am. This will keep your car from charging to 100% during the charging window. Yes this all feels inelegant, but again it is what it is.
How this plays out in the real world:
Scenario 1: Power Costs the Same All Day Long
If you don’t care what time of day your car charges (for example, if your power costs are uniform throughout the day) set the General Profile to “Optimized Charging” with the Minimum Charge set to 80%. Your car will charge to 80% every time you plug into an L1 or L2 charger. On the occasions you’d like to charge to 100%, simply press the “Direct charging” button to override the profile.
Scenario 2: Power is Cheaper at Night
If you do care what time of day your car charges (for example, if your power costs vary throughout the day at home) set a Location Profile local to your home with a “Preferred Charging Time.” Here set the Minimum Charge to something low, for example 25% as this setting determines the level of charge to achieve regardless of time of day. When you plug in your car will charge immediately to the Minimum Charge, and then it will charge to 100% during your Preferred Charging Time.
Scenario 3: Power is Cheaper at Night, but you don’t want to charge to 100% every night
In the case that you want to control timing of charge as in scenario 2, but do not want the car to charge above some set amount (say, as per the Owner’s Manual, you'd prefer to charge to 80%) you must additionally set a Timer. It seems the best practice here would be to set the timer termination for the end of your Preferred Charging Time window.
Scenario 4: You have all of the above set, but you are charging at a L1 or L2 charger away from home
In this case, the General Profile takes over, and allows the car to charge as quickly as possible to the value set in Minimum Charge in the General Profile. When it reaches this level, it will stop charging. I believe -- as it relates to charging -- any Timers you might have in this case are effectively ignored (though if the Timer also involves precool/heat it will provide that service at the appointed time).
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