Electricity Usage - Question

[em5quare]

My electric utility gives me a rebate for every kWh used for charging between 12 AM and 8 PM. I can accommodate that using the preferred charging time in the SYNC/FordPass software - it has worked flawlessly for a couple of months, though now it's more erratic and requires fiddling around with FordPass and/or SYNC to get it to work (if often get messages about conflicting settings, or it starts to charge right after plugging in). The whole thing is a bit frustrating and I know I am far from being the only one with this problem and it seems no one has found a permanent solution.

My question, however, pertains to something else: in addition to the rebate mentioned above, I also get a further rebate if I do NOT charge for the entire month outside of the allowed window. There is a device plugged in into the OBD port which reports back to the utility when and how much I charge, presumably directly from the onboard software. That's all well and good. What I'd like to know is whether the car internally is aware or logs whether shore power is being used to condition/cool the battery, especially in the warmer months, as I would like to plug the car in when returning from a drive in hot weather. If the car logs that electricity usage (even though it does not affect the SOC), that would result in the loss of the additional rebate for not charging outside of the allowed window.

Anyone with insight into this? Perhaps someone with and OBDII device and Car Scaner? I would think it should be easy to answer the question... TIA

Sponsored

 

[RickMachE]

I cannot imagine that the car pulls electricity from the wall and doesn't know it. Therefore, you would violate the terms.

 

[nashbrydges]

I know why you've accepted to do this but I will never allow a company to install a device to my ODB port, outside of the actual dealership and only for servicing purposes. The volume of data they have constant access to is way too intrusive for me. I would choose the higher utility rates, but like I said, this is just me. My insurance company tried to sell me on doing something similar to get cheaper rates...so I changed insurance companies.

 

[kdonnel]

I don't know the answer to your questions but I have a few of my own.

Does the device plugged into the OBD port know if you are away from home and charging?

Are you able to charge when needed away from home or would you still have to limit your charging to the agreed upon hours when traveling?

I never could get the math to work with the EV plans that my electricity provider offers. I use way to much electricity for home A/C during the hours where the rate is raised significantly to be offset by the lower rate when I could be charging the car.

Sponsored