Electricity draw when plugged in?

dtaylor · Post by **dtaylor** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 7:46 am

Hi all

I've had my ipace for a month now and still waiting to get switched to octopus go tariff. I have a rolec smart charger and generally plug in when I get home from work ay 6pm and then unplug at 6.30am Monday to Friday, I've not needed to charge at weekends so don't plug in Saturday and Sunday. I normally use 45kwh charge per night and have used 889kwh in the first month. In the mornings I turn the climate control on for 15 mins before leaving through the app.

Is there any inefficiency in leaving the car plugged in for 5 or 6 hours longer than is needed to fully recharge?

When I get the go tariff I plan to do a timed charge 7 days a week for the 4 off peak hours which will more or less give me the weeks charge I need, not sure how to set this up yet so any advice on how to do so would be appreciated.

Thanks

Burns · Post by **Burns** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 8:19 am

If plugged in, there will be a very small energy use from the grid to keep the battery at an adequate temperature level, also after fully charged. If not plugged in, the very same energy will be taken from the battery itself.

DougTheMac · Post by **DougTheMac** » Sat Nov 23, 2019 7:29 pm

Burns wrote: ↑
Fri Nov 22, 2019 8:19 am
If plugged in, there will be a very small energy use from the grid to keep the battery at an adequate temperature level, also after fully charged. If not plugged in, the very same energy will be taken from the battery itself.

I don’t think this is correct. I have a meter on my charger, and if I leave the car plugged in for a long time after reaching 100%, no more power is drawn, even in cold weather. The conclusion is that the car does not constantly maintain the batteries at operating temperature. If you set a departure time, then the batteries will start to be warmed up c1.5h before departure, drawing power from the mains (or, if not plugged in, from the battery).

This is the behaviour I have observed in UK in moderately cold weather (c0degC). It may possibly be different in extremely cold weather (eg Norway!) - perhaps the system keeps the batteries above some minimum temp?

ELray · Post by **ELray** » Sat Nov 23, 2019 7:45 pm

It needs to be very cold 🥶 for the car the use power to heat the battery. I think it’s below -10C, but don’t quote me on it.