Method for setting a configuration data record in a control unit of a motor vehicle, wherein - an energy requirement of each vehicle component required for setting the configuration data record is predicted, wherein for predicting the energy requirement, a period of time which is expected to be required for setting the configuration data record in the control unit is determined and the energy requirement determined is the total amount of energy required for each vehicle component during an operation for the period of time, - a second configuration data record is received for a second control unit and dependency data relating to the configuration data record and the second configuration data record are received, - a currently available residual energy of an energy storage device of the motor vehicle is determined and - during a parking phase when the drive motor of the motor vehicle is switched off, a trigger signal for setting the configuration data record is only sent to the control unit if the current residual energy is greater than the predicted energy requirement and the configuration data record is independent of the second configuration data record according to the dependency data, characterised in that an observation device (17, 20) determines at least one usage pattern of a use of the motor vehicle by a driver and at the beginning of the parking phase determines an estimated parking time based on the at least one usage pattern and the trigger signal is only generated if the parking duration is at least equal to the time duration, wherein behavioural data of the driver in the motor vehicle and/or from a vehicle-external data source are determined for determining the at least one usage pattern, and by means of a method for machine learning repeating values of the behavioural data are aggregated to the at least one usage pattern, wherein the behavioural data of the driver comprise: - the identity of the driver and/or - usage data concerning at least one telephone and/or infotainment system used by the driver in the motor vehicle and/or - appointment data of the driver and/or - driver habits presented in a social network on the Internet. - an energy requirement of each vehicle component required for setting the configuration data record is predicted, wherein for predicting the energy requirement, a period of time which is expected to be required for setting the configuration data record in the control unit is determined and the energy requirement determined is the total amount of energy required for each vehicle component during an operation for the period of time, - a second configuration data record is received for a second control unit and dependency data relating to the configuration data record and the second configuration data record are received, - a currently available residual energy of an energy storage device of the motor vehicle is determined and - during a parking phase when the drive motor of the motor vehicle is switched off, a trigger signal for setting the configuration data record is only sent to the control unit if the current residual energy is greater than the predicted energy requirement and the configuration data record is independent of the second configuration data record according to the dependency data, - the identity of the driver and/or - usage data concerning at least one telephone and/or infotainment system used by the driver in the motor vehicle and/or - appointment data of the driver and/or - driver habits presented in a social network on the Internet.