To Timer or not to Timer

[Jasper4S]

Hi all,

I'm a Taycan owner for a week right now. I've read most of the threads about charging. But still don't understand it fully. What would you setup in my situation?
I work from the office on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. On these days I leave my house around 7:15. What would be an ideal charging setup for me. I bought the car, so I want to be as cautious as possible with my batteries. I'm new to EV's so please bear in mind im a novice in the whole charging thing

As I understood I could do:
- set a timer, with a setting that on those 3 days the battery will be charged to 85% (or 80%?) before 7:15. (I wont benefit from my solar panels because charging is done overnight)
- set a profile that when connected it charges to 80%. But then I have to think about it during the day. Battery will be 'full' the day before I need it, as I understood this is something you want to avoid right?

In multiple threads I see the magic numbers to charge your battery to 80% or 85%. Which is best? I only need around 25% each day I go to the office.

If i set a timer and also want to preheat or precool, will that timer also work when there is no charge cable attached to the car? I don't want to unnecessary drain my battery by preheating the car.

Do I charge the car every night/day or only when I'm nearing like 30%?

Thanks! Jasper

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[RAHRCR]

How many total miles are you driving per week?

 

[Jasper4S]

180-250 miles

 

[HerrCooles]

For starters, I would set the timer to 07:20 and 80%. Then the car is warm enough for departure, whether plugged in or not, by 07:15.
At 25% consumption per day, I would also not plug in every day. Only when SOC is below 30-35%.
That's how I set it.

 

[mutanthands]

At 25% consumption per day, I would also not plug in every day.

What's the logic for not plugging it in every day?
I don't do that many miles, but if I'm not using it, I keep it plugged in and at 85%.
It won't hurt battery health, and uses the same kWh regardless, so might as well have a decent charge in case life throws a curveball!

 

[HerrCooles]

because many charging cycles also age the batteries faster.

 

[W1NGE]

What's the logic for not plugging it in every day?
I don't do that many miles, but if I'm not using it, I keep it plugged in and at 85%.
It won't hurt battery health, and uses the same kWh regardless, so might as well have a decent charge in case life throws a curveball!

There is no harm - just a step you can avoid. Loss of charge is almost immeasurable in such as short space of time so again no real need to hook-up.

Recommendation is 80% for daily charges (I've done 85% for the past 2.5 years with no ill effect) so ideally only charge when you need to for a given journey.

For a profile, don't set so high unless you particularly need it - the intent here is to set a minimum charge level should you need to use the car again that day. Typically, 25% threshold is good enough for most use cases. Let the time do the repetitive work and target charge level when charging.

 

[RAHRCR]

180-250 miles

Given this, I would set to 85% and charge Sunday, Wednesday and Friday night.

 

[Scandinavian]

because many charging cycles also age the batteries faster.

Many charging cycles do age the battery yes.

But a charging cycle isn’t that defined as a cycle from 100 to 0 to 100%.

so 10 cycles at 10 % is one cycle
4 cycles at 25% is one cycle. Etc etc.

So plug in when ever you can and charge.
But do not let the car sit at high charge levels for long (100% is worst)
And do not let the car sit at low charge levels (<20%) too long. That is why the minimum profile is 25% on the Taycan.

 

[Andy0565]

Set up your home charging profile to 60%. Then, when you get home and plug in, your battery will be topped up to that level.

Then set your timer for Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:15 a.m. Charge to 75% on these days. That should be plenty. The nice thing with this is that the batteries get warmed up as well as the cabin so they’re within an optimum operating temperature range.

Even if you’re not plugged in at work set your departure time or hit the pre-condition button on the app 20 minutes or so before you leave. Again the heater will warm up your batteries and cabin.

The pre-conditioning is less important in the summer because the batteries don’t have to operate cold if the nighttime temperature isn’t dropping too low.

When you need more Range set a timer for a higher charge level. This works well because the batteries are only ‘full’ at the point you need them to be rather than overnight.

I don’t believe there’s a problem with regular charging of small amounts. Letting the charge drop too low or the batteries sit full is worse.

if you do let the charge drop beware of cold snaps. You can find that 30 miles quickly becomes 3 if the GoM has been used to 20°c and suddenly that becomes 2°c at the onset of winter.

You’re in a great position in that you don’t really need to stress your battery at either end or do fast charges on route and Porsche give you some great tools to automate a sensible charging regime.

 

[Scandinavian]

Then set your timer for Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:15 a.m. Charge to 75% on these days. That should be plenty. The nice thing with this is that the batteries get warmed up as well as the cabin so they’re within an optimum operating temperature range.

But do not forget to also tick the option for air conditioning in such case. Just a Timer might only give the charge. And as you say a warm battery makes a huge difference in consumption when it is cold. The same amount of energy will be consumed but when plugged in with a timer etc it will come from the grid.

 

[W1NGE]

Many charging cycles do age the battery yes.

But a charging cycle isn’t that defined as a cycle from 100 to 0 to 100%.

so 10 cycles at 10 % is one cycle
4 cycles at 25% is one cycle. Etc etc.

So plug in when ever you can and charge.
But do not let the car sit at high charge levels for long (100% is worst)
And do not let the car sit at low charge levels (<20%) too long. That is why the minimum profile is 25% on the Taycan.

Depends on the definition of a ‘cycle’ and the level of protection offered by the 8 year battery warranty.

A ‘cycle’ is 0% - 100% and not anything in between.

 

[xyeahtony]

What's the logic for not plugging it in every day?
I don't do that many miles, but if I'm not using it, I keep it plugged in and at 85%.
It won't hurt battery health, and uses the same kWh regardless, so might as well have a decent charge in case life throws a curveball!

because many charging cycles also age the batteries faster.

Depth of discharge harms the battery more than plugging it in. Remember in terms of Li-ion, a "charging cycle" means 0-100%. Going from 60-80% is not the same "damage" to the battery as 0-100%.

The closer you get to 0% however, the more the voltage of the battery drops and the more that harms it. So actually charging from 20-80% twice a week is more detrimental than going from 60-80% everyday.

Now honestly, in the long run, none of this matters. Maybe you'll squeeze out 1 extra kwh in 4 years changing your plug in habits. Personally i always plugged in my EVs. The motto by everyone is "ABC" = always be charging. You never know when you need to take an impromptu trip with maximum range.

Not charging everyday is a leftover habit from driving ICE because you dont fuel everyday obviously.

 

[mystermykee]

Someone correct if I'm wrong, but the charge setting for the timer is only a target (sometimes you hit the target and sometimes you don't). If you have both a profile and timer set, the minimum charge on the profile takes precedence. To make things even more complicated, if you have an EVSE that's capable of smart charging and only want to charge during off peak hours, you'll more than likely not hit the target charge on your timer. I forget exactly what error the app gave, but it was something like "was not able to reach target charge."

 

[W1NGE]

Someone correct if I'm wrong, but the charge setting for the timer is only a target (sometimes you hit the target and sometimes you don't). If you have both a profile and timer set, the minimum charge on the profile takes precedence. To make things even more complicated, if you have an EVSE that's capable of smart charging and only want to charge during off peak hours, you'll more than likely not hit the target charge on your timer. I forget exactly what error the app gave, but it was something like "was not able to reach target charge."

You can set preferred charging times within the profile and a target departure time within the timer. You should therefore be able to programme your off-peak periods more or less.

If you attempt to use something 'smart' it invariably may conflict with the PCMs view on life and screw up your charging session(s). It you want to got smarter then consider the Porsche Home Energy Manager (HEM) in conjunction with other power sources (solar).

Profile minimum charge is addresses "if my current battery charge is 20% and I must have 25% at a minimum when I connect my EVSE" use case - i.e. the battery will be charged immediately up to the minimum set.

There is much debate (incorrect in my view) around the need for timers and profiles and that a profile is all that you need. I have always required both to be in play and always advised others the same in order to control a charging session - start and finish + charge level + climate (if needed).

With my new car I thought I'd try a profile only and sure enough it failed spectacularly and would simply charge straight-away to the minimum set and ignoring the preferred charging times.

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