Private Billable ChargePoint Charger - Overnight Charging and Cabin/Battery Warming

[lifebythemile]

Sorry for yet another newbie question....

My condo is potentially getting communal chargers installed outside in the next few months. It would work like a normal public ChargePoint charger with rates set by the strata council and would be locked to specific ChargePoint accounts (aka residents only). This is my first winter with an EV and have exclusively used DCFC for the first 6 months/7000mi of driving.

So, question is, if I plug in overnight and reach 80/90/100% (whatever I set the limit to) and set a departure time in the morning will the vehicle draw from the plugged in power even though it's reached the charge limit hours before, or will it chop off the plugged in power as soon as it hits the pre-defined limit meaning it will precondition from the battery?

I know if using a normal "home" charger (one that doesn't have any access restrictions) it will just keep a trickle flow going and use the wall power, but I don't know how it will behave with access controlled/billed chargers.

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[RickMachE]

It comes down to whether the charging session has ended or not, as determined by the charger. If it has, you often have to unplug and plug back in to start a new session.

 

[AKgrampy]

And it will not pre-condition the battery - only climate if it is not drawing from shore power.

 

[Maquis]

Unless you need max range, you don’t need to precondition. Especially if you’re connected to a billable charger.

 

[lifebythemile]

Unless you need max range, you don’t need to precondition. Especially if you’re connected to a billable charger.

Most of the time no, but getting into winter my actual* full charge (100-0) range is down to about 230km with temps hovering around freezing and with diving "season" starting up its about 200-210km round trip to the scuba sites so there are days I need to try and maximize my range.

*This is the range I realize, not the 180km my GoM gives me...

 

[Mach-Lee]

Sorry for yet another newbie question....

My condo is potentially getting communal chargers installed outside in the next few months. It would work like a normal public ChargePoint charger with rates set by the strata council and would be locked to specific ChargePoint accounts (aka residents only). This is my first winter with an EV and have exclusively used DCFC for the first 6 months/7000mi of driving.

So, question is, if I plug in overnight and reach 80/90/100% (whatever I set the limit to) and set a departure time in the morning will the vehicle draw from the plugged in power even though it's reached the charge limit hours before, or will it chop off the plugged in power as soon as it hits the pre-defined limit meaning it will precondition from the battery?

I know if using a normal "home" charger (one that doesn't have any access restrictions) it will just keep a trickle flow going and use the wall power, but I don't know how it will behave with access controlled/billed chargers.

That’s sort of up to how the ChargePoint handles it. The Mach-E will click off when it finishes charging. Some EVSEs may end the session at this point and require you to plug in again, others may allow you to resume charging and continue billing. That would be a great question for whoever’s setting up the chargers.

 

[lifebythemile]

It comes down to whether the charging session has ended or not, as determined by the charger. If it has, you often have to unplug and plug back in to start a new session.

That’s sort of up to how the ChargePoint handles it. The Mach-E will click off when it finishes charging. Some EVSEs may end the session at this point and require you to plug in again, others may allow you to resume charging and continue billing. That would be a great question for whoever’s setting up the chargers.

That's what I needed to know. So the vehicle won't end the session, it's the charging unit that makes that determination. My experience is limited to DCFC where it automatically shuts off the charging the instant it changes to 100% so I wasn't sure if that was the car or the charger.

Thank-you both!!

 

[RickMachE]

That's what I needed to know. So the vehicle won't end the session, it's the charging unit that makes that determination. My experience is limited to DCFC where it automatically shuts off the charging the instant it changes to 100% so I wasn't sure if that was the car or the charger.

Thank-you both!!

One point on DCFC - charging to 100% as you mentioned above is not the norm. Charge to 80% and move on to the next charger on your route. That's why charging speeds drop at 80%, and drop even more just over 90% - to protect the battery from heat, and also to free up the charger for the next traveler. If you need more than 80% to make your next stop, that's fine - but charging to 100% just because you can, if you don't need it, and if others are waiting, isn't good charging ettiquette.

 

[lifebythemile]

One point on DCFC - charging to 100% as you mentioned above is not the norm. Charge to 80% and move on to the next charger on your route. That's why charging speeds drop at 80%, and drop even more just over 90% - to protect the battery from heat, and also to free up the charger for the next traveler. If you need more than 80% to make your next stop, that's fine - but charging to 100% just because you can, if you don't need it, and if others are waiting, isn't good charging ettiquette.

I'm well aware of the charging etiquette... Thanks to yours, and others, more than plentiful posts and replies on the subject. I think we all get the picture by now. It's actually kind of sad that someone cannot mention 100% charging without being jumped on for "violating etiquette" or "destroying their battery". Not everyone's situation is the same, not everyone is sitting "hogging" the charger "because they can".

Thankfully the Tesla SC near me is almost never at 100% capacity, and with how little range I'm getting with temps hovering around 55F, some days I need every freaking km of range I can get out of the thing (see above)

 

[generaltso]

Sorry for yet another newbie question....

My condo is potentially getting communal chargers installed outside in the next few months. It would work like a normal public ChargePoint charger with rates set by the strata council and would be locked to specific ChargePoint accounts (aka residents only). This is my first winter with an EV and have exclusively used DCFC for the first 6 months/7000mi of driving.

So, question is, if I plug in overnight and reach 80/90/100% (whatever I set the limit to) and set a departure time in the morning will the vehicle draw from the plugged in power even though it's reached the charge limit hours before, or will it chop off the plugged in power as soon as it hits the pre-defined limit meaning it will precondition from the battery?

I know if using a normal "home" charger (one that doesn't have any access restrictions) it will just keep a trickle flow going and use the wall power, but I don't know how it will behave with access controlled/billed chargers.

ChargePoint L2 commercial stations don’t end the session when your vehicle stops drawing power, so it will start drawing from the grid again when your preconditioning starts. But the owner of the station has the ability to charge an idle fee, so you could get charged for the hours that it’s left plugged in without drawing power.

 

[lifebythemile]

ChargePoint L2 commercial stations don’t end the session when your vehicle stops drawing power, so it will start drawing from the grid again when your preconditioning starts. But the owner of the station has the ability to charge an idle fee, so you could get charged for the hours that it’s left plugged in without drawing power.

Thats awesome to know, thank-you! I’ve got an “in” with the council who are setting up the charger so I’ll definitely push for no idle fees. Though since the whole point of these chargers is to allow people to charge overnight, I don’t see why they would bring in an idle fee.

 

[Sikkun]

Thankfully the Tesla SC near me is almost never at 100% capacity, and with how little range I'm getting with temps hovering around 55F, some days I need every freaking km of range I can get out of the thing (see above)

Mid-Upper 50’s seems a little high to be losing that much range. Personally I haven’t even notice much of a difference at those temps.

 

[lifebythemile]

Mid-Upper 50’s seems a little high to be losing that much range. Personally I haven’t even notice much of a difference at those temps.

I agree. I was talking to my service advisor and he agrees as well, but since it’s now dropped to just below freezing, he says if I bring it in now it will be deemed “normal” and “no issue found”. So I have to wait until spring when it warms up again before I can get it looked at.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Thats awesome to know, thank-you! I’ve got an “in” with the council who are setting up the charger so I’ll definitely push for no idle fees. Though since the whole point of these chargers is to allow people to charge overnight, I don’t see why they would bring in an idle fee.

Idle fees make sense for workplace or shopping center chargers where you want people to not park all day long, but should not be used for residential/condo charging where the intent is to have the car parked overnight. Or they should have a long timeframe before starting such as idle >24 hours. That will help discourage people from hogging a spot for multiple days. If there are still problems with people hogging spots, then it can be adjusted shorter.

 

[RodHower]

Sorry for yet another newbie question....

My condo is potentially getting communal chargers installed outside in the next few months. It would work like a normal public ChargePoint charger with rates set by the strata council and would be locked to specific ChargePoint accounts (aka residents only). This is my first winter with an EV and have exclusively used DCFC for the first 6 months/7000mi of driving.

So, question is, if I plug in overnight and reach 80/90/100% (whatever I set the limit to) and set a departure time in the morning will the vehicle draw from the plugged in power even though it's reached the charge limit hours before, or will it chop off the plugged in power as soon as it hits the pre-defined limit meaning it will precondition from the battery?

I know if using a normal "home" charger (one that doesn't have any access restrictions) it will just keep a trickle flow going and use the wall power, but I don't know how it will behave with access controlled/billed chargers.

I plug into a public Chargepoint station in a parking deck located in Kent, OH (it's only 10 cents/kWhr! The rate was set by the Kent Central Gateway and is cheaper for people that pay monthly for parking. My employer pays for that). Anyhow, Chargepoint sends me an email when it's done charging (within an hour or two). At the end of the day I'll precondition the vehicle and also restart the charger with the Fordpass app.

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