There are many questions new electric vehicle owners have. It’s kind of like having your first baby—although it’s nothing like having a baby, except in the sense that you wonder if you’re doing anything wrong, given you’re in an unfamiliar position. A question experts get asked all the time is when is it best to charge your VinFast EV? While it seems like a no-brainer to say at night, that answer is changing slightly in the current charging landscape. Thanks to new studies and information from companies like Recurrent Auto, we have more information than ever about charging and EV battery health.
To Charge Overnight or to Not Charge Overnight…
Charging your VinFast at night is, in most cases, a logical answer to when you should charge your car. Fewer items in your home are bogging down the grid. While you may be running your dishwasher at night, it’s rare that you’re also running your washing machine and the dryer, all while charging your car while you are sleeping. This means that energy costs and usages are typically much lower, as even your AC or heating system isn’t running as often or as hard, in most cases. However, it should be noted that energy companies could, at some point, start pricing their energy higher due to more demand at supposed off-peak hours around or after midnight.
Check If Your State Uses Solar Energy for the Grid
With that being said, there are states, like California, that utilize and take advantage of solar energy during the daytime when the sun is out and about up in the sky. This window is between 10 am and 4 pm. These would be optimal times to charge a car, as the grid is emitting less carbon dioxide (CO2) and various greenhouse gases. Instead, it’s being charged more naturally by the carbon-neutral sun. According to Recurrent, though, in California only about 25% of all EV charging occurs during 10 am to 4 pm.
Can the Grid Have Too Many EVs Charging?
Now what happens if there are multiple EVs in your neighborhood that are all plugged in overnight? Well, believe it or not, the meter attached to your house is pretty intelligent. Most meters attached to houses are now called AMRs, or Automated Meter Readers, which send all your power and energy usage digitally to the energy provider. With the switch to digital, that means the meters and the grid as a whole can monitor things more closely. For instance, if you have a dozen cars on one street that are all plugged in to charge overnight, the meters and overall grid communicate with one another. They know the energy/charging needs of each car and can appropriately choose which vehicles to charge first. The systems also know when you typically plug your car in to charge and when you unplug your car. So, it will attempt to charge your car to 100% before the usual time that you unplug your car to leave.
What to Do?
What is the answer? Well, home EV chargers can be set to charge to full by a certain time manually via the actual charger or by the app on your smartphone. If you leave for work at 7 am, then you’ll want to make sure your charger knows this and to tell it that you don’t care when your car gets charged, so long as it’s topped up to 100% by 7 am. Some utility companies offer users the ability to tell them when to charge your car, and some companies are working together to develop even smarter home charging systems that can learn when charging is cheapest, as well as automatically charge from renewable energy sources, whether from your house or the grid.
Things Are Changing Quickly for the Better
The EV industry is changing rapidly, bringing new questions and added solutions. For now, it’s best to plug your car in nightly at home and to tell the charger when you need your VinFast to be fully charged.
Why You Should Choose Ewing VinFast
At Ewing VinFast of Plano, we have the best prices on dozens of new VinFast EVs and used cars. Our well-educated sales staff and finance department will happily assist you with your EV questions and needs. Our fantastic service department will ensure your vehicle stays in the best condition.
We look forward to serving you.