New 4S, Low Range…

[JWreck]

I appreciate you taking the time to attempt to help. Unfortunately, it did not work. I tried the following with no timer...

And because of the 85% minimum charge, it started charging right away, at 5:30pm.

So I tried again but this time added a timer WITHOUT charging selected as you suggested just to see if that changed the behavior. I set the timer to 4:55am because it sometimes takes a couple of extra minutes to finish in my experience.

Again, the car started charging right away. The only difference this time is that it planned to have my A/C ready at 4:55.

I'm telling you, there is no possible way to get the car to start charging immediately at 11pm and stop at a specific percentage. The only way I found was by using a smart plug that made it impossible for the car to start charging until I provided power to the EVSE.

That’s my bad, you need to set the minimum to something like 20%, which doesn’t fully accomplish what you want if you arrive under 20%, but then it stops until your preferred time.

There’s obviously a disconnect because I’ve had mine work exactly like you want previously, and I’m not taking my crazy pills this week!

More importantly, I think this definitely highlights the point that this is way too complicated (in typical Porsche form). More simple more better!

 

[Hirschaj]

I appreciate you taking the time to attempt to help. Unfortunately, it did not work. I tried the following with no timer...

And because of the 85% minimum charge, it started charging right away, at 5:30pm.

So I tried again but this time added a timer WITHOUT charging selected as you suggested just to see if that changed the behavior. I set the timer to 4:55am because it sometimes takes a couple of extra minutes to finish in my experience.

Again, the car started charging right away. The only difference this time is that it planned to have my A/C ready at 4:55.

I'm telling you, there is no possible way to get the car to start charging immediately at 11pm and stop at a specific percentage. The only way I found was by using a smart plug that made it impossible for the car to start charging until I provided power to the EVSE.

Did you have optimized charging selected in the profile? I believe that is a requirement to get the behavior you’re looking for.

 

[Porsche-Guru]

You are correct.
The car will start charging ASAP to achieve the minimum level (85% in your case) and ignore everything else in the timer.
Porsche’s view is that ‘Preferred Charging period’ kicks in only after you have reached the minimum.

The only way (at the moment) to achieve what you want (i.e start charging at 11pm, regardless of charge and charge to 85% or until 5am, whichever is first) is NOT possible with Porsche timers.
The only way to achieve this is via an external timer at the EVSE or a smart plug or something.

I have done development work both Octopus and OVO (energy suppliers in UK who offer advanced multi-rate pricing in the UK, not just limited to low rates in the night, but rates changing every 30 minutes)…. and Porsche does not support the use case you are looking for.

Porsche’s definition of ‘Preferred Charging Period’ - is not what we think it is. It is still a lower priority than the minimum charge.
That is the change needed….

 

[Porsche-Guru]

On my phone so excuse the poor formatting. Here are my settings. It’s all about the minimum charge on the Charge ProTo achieve what you’re desiring, I believe you can have the same settings except for:

On this page, you’ll want to select Preferred Charging Period (11pm start & 5am end for you).

On the timer page, you SHOULDN’T need any changes but can select additional charging timers if needed. I simply have it set to run my AC and have the car pre cooled by the specified time.

If you have these set already and it’s still not doing what you want, then maybe I’ve glitched mine out by toying with it enough that it just gave up and happens to work as expected now.

The way I charged BEFORE getting our Rivian (thus adding a second EV) is exactly as described above, and so I’d plug it in and it would sit without charging until 10pm, and end at 6am (super low rate).

Now, with two EVs, I took off the time requirement so if I need to charge, I just plug it in. We changed to fix cost to avoid having to really baby it. I plug it in, starts charging for however long it takes to get to 85%.

The use case is not supported by the application.

Porsche definition of 'Preferred Charging Period' is still lower priority than the 'Minimum SOC' in the profile.

So, the car will start charging to the minimum SOC - "as soon as you plug it in"... and ignores the 'Preferred Charging Period'.

I am not saying this is right or wrong - but this is what Porsche choose to implement - and almost every Smart EVSE charger has struggled to cope with this implementation.
Both Octopus/ OVO energy in the UK have integrated their EVSE charging apps with Porsche (using Porsche APIs) and the experience has been painful and the end result is sub-optimal.

The only way to achieve the OP use case (which is actually not that common or special !) is to use an external timer of the EVSE or smart plug etc..

Porsche does need to consider simplifying the charging profile/timer concept..

 

[AmpedUp]

That’s my bad, you need to set the minimum to something like 20%, which doesn’t fully accomplish what you want if you arrive under 20%, but then it stops until your preferred time.

There’s obviously a disconnect because I’ve had mine work exactly like you want previously, and I’m not taking my crazy pills this week!

More importantly, I think this definitely highlights the point that this is way too complicated (in typical Porsche form). More simple more better!

Ok, I agree with you that if I set the minimum to 25%, it won't start charging right away. But I believe without a charge timer, it will start charging at 11pm and charge all the way to 100%. Otherwise, how would it know I wanted to stop at 85%? In fact, there would be nothing even set at 85%... no timers and no minimum charge. Ergo, I must set a timer.

Then, if I add a charge timer set to 5am and 85%, it won't start charging at 11pm (maybe before or maybe after depending on how many hours the computer forecasts it will take to charge to 85%). In my case, it will start at like 4:45am, because I have an 80amp charger and the car is mostly charged already. Another person might have a 20 amp charger and a depleted 25% battery, so it might start at 8pm. My 11pm setting (and my entire preferred charging selection) becomes irrelevant as soon as I set the timer!

My hypothesis is that these settings worked for you simply because your charger never had to start charging before the start of your preferred hours, so you never noticed the fact that the charging didn't start right at the beginning of the window. Your electric bill reflected the off-peak charging was happening. Your car was charged in the morning. No reason to check the car at 11pm to make sure it was charging. Maybe it started at 2am or 4am, and you never had any reason to notice that? I don't know... just trying to explain the differences between our experiences with the same basic settings.

By the way, I'm fine with peak charging to 25%... makes sense to get to a minimum charge ASAP regardless of the incremental cost. But I do wish they gave the option to set it to 20% or even 10%, because not everyone has the same goals in mind. If all you are trying to do is protect the battery, 10% is enough. If you want to be able to drive to the store, 15% is plenty. If you want to be ready for a real drive, 20% is probably enough for most of my local driving.

 

[JWreck]

Ok, I agree with you that if I set the minimum to 25%, it won't start charging right away. But I believe without a charge timer, it will start charging at 11pm and charge all the way to 100%. Otherwise, how would it know I wanted to stop at 85%? In fact, there would be nothing even set at 85%... no timers and no minimum charge. Ergo, I must set a timer.

Then, if I add a charge timer set to 5am and 85%, it won't start charging at 11pm (maybe before or maybe after depending on how many hours the computer forecasts it will take to charge to 85%). In my case, it will start at like 4:45am, because I have an 80amp charger and the car is mostly charged already. Another person might have a 20 amp charger and a depleted 25% battery, so it might start at 8pm. My 11pm setting (and my entire preferred charging selection) becomes irrelevant as soon as I set the timer!

My hypothesis is that these settings worked for you simply because your charger never had to start charging before the start of your preferred hours, so you never noticed the fact that the charging didn't start right at the beginning of the window. Your electric bill reflected the off-peak charging was happening. Your car was charged in the morning. No reason to check the car at 11pm to make sure it was charging. Maybe it started at 2am or 4am, and you never had any reason to notice that? I don't know... just trying to explain the differences between our experiences with the same basic settings.

By the way, I'm fine with peak charging to 25%... makes sense to get to a minimum charge ASAP regardless of the incremental cost. But I do wish they gave the option to set it to 20% or even 10%, because not everyone has the same goals in mind. If all you are trying to do is protect the battery, 10% is enough. If you want to be able to drive to the store, 15% is plenty. If you want to be ready for a real drive, 20% is probably enough for most of my local driving.

I don’t have the timer enabled at ALL for Saturday and Sunday, and those are days I regularly charge and it only goes to 85%.

 

[AmpedUp]

Did you have optimized charging selected in the profile? I believe that is a requirement to get the behavior you’re looking for.

Optimized charging requires other external hardware and software... which I believe is Home Energy Manager and/or an integration with your utility. Otherwise, it has no effect on charging behavior. If you read the manual it says it works "in conjunction with suitable charging equipment" it can "enable the vehicle to be networked with the local charging infrastructure, e.g. automatic use of individual electricity rates or charging with solar power."

I have tried "optimized charging" but it doesn't provide for the input of any information about your rates or peak hours, so it has no means to know what "optimized" means without the added hardware. I think Home Energy Manager is required, but I'm not sure. It's possible there are other ways to utilize the feature, perhaps if your utility's API supports it? In any case, this also isn't an option for people like me. And I'm still unsure how it would behave if I had HEM. Would there be a way to limit the charge to 85%? I don't see any settings for that when "optimized charging" is selected.

What's crazy is that Porsche recommends limiting the charge to 85% for daily use, yet they offer no means (possibly even including the use of HEM?) to limit the charging hours to a preferred time AND limit the charge to 85%.

 

[AmpedUp]

I don’t have the timer enabled at ALL for Saturday and Sunday, and those are days I regularly charge and it only goes to 85%.

That's exactly what I would expect it to do. Because you don't have a charging timer set on the weekends, there is nothing telling it to charge past 85%. That's exactly how it's designed to work. And it charges to 85% as soon as you plug in because that is your minimum charge.

 

[AmpedUp]

You are correct.
The car will start charging ASAP to achieve the minimum level (85% in your case) and ignore everything else in the timer.
Porsche’s view is that ‘Preferred Charging period’ kicks in only after you have reached the minimum.

The only way (at the moment) to achieve what you want (i.e start charging at 11pm, regardless of charge and charge to 85% or until 5am, whichever is first) is NOT possible with Porsche timers.
The only way to achieve this is via an external timer at the EVSE or a smart plug or something.

I have done development work both Octopus and OVO (energy suppliers in UK who offer advanced multi-rate pricing in the UK, not just limited to low rates in the night, but rates changing every 30 minutes)…. and Porsche does not support the use case you are looking for.

Porsche’s definition of ‘Preferred Charging Period’ - is not what we think it is. It is still a lower priority than the minimum charge.
That is the change needed….

The simplest fix would be to add a "maximum charge". Then you wouldn't even need a stupid timer to define when you want it to finish if what you want is "ASAP!!!". Then, using the existing minimum, it will charge to that right away, then wait for preferred charging hours to start, and charge to the maximum and stop. Everyone would find that useful. Want the car warmed up at a specific time in addition to that? Great!!! That's what the existing timer is for!!!

I think the priority order should be:
1) Minimum charge (to get the car to a "safe" level... whether that is safe for the battery health or safe for the driver to be able to drive some minimum distance in an emergency)
2) Preferred charging hours up to the maximum
3) Timer (if you want it to charge beyond maximum... for example 100% at 9am because that's when I'm leaving for a road trip).

This would support literally everyone's use cases, including mine, without the need for external hardware and utility integrations that don't work. It would also ensure the car charges as EARLY as possible to meet the driver requested charge subject to hour restrictions, not as LATE as possible which is what the timer does.

 

[Alfa]

Indeed, I would like to add that a Minimum Charge at Destination for Navigation would also be a useful feature.

 

[Hirschaj]

Optimized charging requires other external hardware and software... which I believe is Home Energy Manager and/or an integration with your utility. Otherwise, it has no effect on charging behavior. If you read the manual it says it works "in conjunction with suitable charging equipment" it can "enable the vehicle to be networked with the local charging infrastructure, e.g. automatic use of individual electricity rates or charging with solar power."

I have tried "optimized charging" but it doesn't provide for the input of any information about your rates or peak hours, so it has no means to know what "optimized" means without the added hardware. I think Home Energy Manager is required, but I'm not sure. It's possible there are other ways to utilize the feature, perhaps if your utility's API supports it? In any case, this also isn't an option for people like me. And I'm still unsure how it would behave if I had HEM. Would there be a way to limit the charge to 85%? I don't see any settings for that when "optimized charging" is selected.

What's crazy is that Porsche recommends limiting the charge to 85% for daily use, yet they offer no means (possibly even including the use of HEM?) to limit the charging hours to a preferred time AND limit the charge to 85%.

Edit: You are right, my brain was malfunctioning.

That's what the manual says. Based on reading this forum for 2 years it has an impact when you flick that switch. Try it.

 

[AmpedUp]

Indeed, I would like to add that a Minimum Charge at Destination for Navigation would also be a useful feature.

I have good news for you... it's in navigation settings under charging plan.

 

[Rock]

My car is 2 years old and it is showing 270 miles on 100% charge. It has a little over 12,000 miles on it and seems to have increased the range over time.

 

[laua]

I appreciate you taking the time to attempt to help. Unfortunately, it did not work. I tried the following with no timer...

And because of the 85% minimum charge, it started charging right away, at 5:30pm.

So I tried again but this time added a timer WITHOUT charging selected as you suggested just to see if that changed the behavior. I set the timer to 4:55am because it sometimes takes a couple of extra minutes to finish in my experience.

Again, the car started charging right away. The only difference this time is that it planned to have my A/C ready at 4:55.

I'm telling you, there is no possible way to get the car to start charging immediately at 11pm and stop at a specific percentage. The only way I found was by using a smart plug that made it impossible for the car to start charging until I provided power to the EVSE.

I think I managed to do that. Basically I simply want to charge up to 75% and stop. So what I do is set a profile to 75%, then a timer for anything over 75% (I do 80) that is set for some day in the far future ( I set it on 2035). This way the car starts charging immediately once plugged in to hit the minimum 75%; the timer then stops it from charging the incremental 5% until the timer date, which essentially won’t be met.

I lose the ability to set climate but I’m in a garage so not too worried about that.

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

I think I managed to do that. Basically I simply want to charge up to 75% and stop. So what I do is set a profile to 75%, then a timer for anything over 75% (I do 80) that is set for some day in the far future ( I set it on 2035). This way the car starts charging immediately once plugged in to hit the minimum 75%; the timer then stops it from charging the incremental 5% until the timer date, which essentially won’t be met.

It still doesn't solve @AmpedUp 's scenario, which is to not start charging upon plugging in, but start charging immediately upon entering the preferred charging interval. I don't think that can be achieved with the built-in controls and for a random starting SoC.

Having said that, the requirement is an odd one, IMHO: I get the need for a delayed start, but not the latter part - to start immediately after. (Sorry, thought this horse was still twitching.)

Sponsored