Tesla officially launches Charge On Solar

[holeydonut]

Lol what does the Tesla app look like if you have two teslas charging at the same time??

 

[jjrandorin]

Agreed, and that's how ChargeHQ does it, letting you select battery or vehicle priority. Kind of silly Tesla took this approach, hopefully they fix it in a future update by adding a priority option. I have no use for it the way it works now.

The only things that comes to mind as to why they might have set this up this way (with no corroboration whatsoever, just throwing crap at the wall).

1. An over estimation of what most people with powerwalls / storage actually want, thinking that people are installing this stuff more because they want "clean energy" than because of resiliency.

2. Internal Tesla environmental goals on carbon footprint offset, etc, that we are not privy to

 

[power.saver]

Lol what does the Tesla app look like if you have two teslas charging at the same time??

It only works with one EV at a time. First one plugged in gets charged, then the next. Not multiple EVs at once.

Can I use Charge on Solar for multiple vehicles at the same site?
Yes. If you charge more than one Tesla vehicle at a time using Charge on Solar, the first vehicle to plug in will receive all the excess solar energy until it reaches the charge limit you’ve set. Once that limit is reached, the excess solar energy will be sent to the second vehicle.

 

[h2ofun]

It only works with one EV at a time. First one plugged in gets charged, then the next. Not multiple EVs at once.

Just like only one gateway at a time

 

[h2ofun]

The only things that comes to mind as to why they might have set this up this way (with no corroboration whatsoever, just throwing crap at the wall).

1. An over estimation of what most people with powerwalls / storage actually want, thinking that people are installing this stuff more because they want "clean energy" than because of resiliency.

2. Internal Tesla environmental goals on carbon footprint offset, etc, that we are not privy to

Was thinking about this in my run, compared to what I do.

If most folks, as I read about, do not have that much solar compared to their use, then it seems possible that if they charged
their PW (s) first, there might be no time left to get solar?

In my case I have SO much solar, even though I use a lot of suds running my minisplits, I still have plenty left to export after lunch with my 7 PW's full.

So I can see some logic for the average person. BUT, if they just added the option to decide, which does not seem to be that hard to do,
then everyone wins?

 

[CrazyRabbit]

So if charge is above reserve, power goes to home first, vehicle second, powerwall third.

 

[CrazyRabbit]

There really needs to be an "Excess Solar" setting that only charges the car after the PW batteries are full. My definition of "Excess Solar" is energy that would otherwise be exported to the grid, if not for the feature redirecting it to the car.

Use a HA app to change you reserve to force charging first.

 

[Enginerd]

There really needs to be an "Excess Solar" setting that only charges the car after the PW batteries are full. My definition of "Excess Solar" is energy that would otherwise be exported to the grid, if not for the feature redirecting it to the car.

This. For those wanting to fill the PW before dumping excess into the car (to avoid exporting at the cheap price that the utility wants to pay), I think someone suggested raising the PW reserve threshold to ensure the PW gets charged up before the car. The problem is that when the PW is below the reserve, solar goes to the PW only, and is not used for the house power demand. The house is powered from utility/grid power until the PW is at the reserve threshold. In this case, grid power is totally unnecessary when we were attempting to address excess solar. Also, with a high reserve threshold, the PW will never fall below the reserve threshold under normal circumstances anyway, using utility/grid power for any house demand.

Why couldn't they just implement it in a way that makes sense? ... the way I think most of us wanted?

 

[silenteski]

From what I’m seeing with the current software versions, the car never sleeps while it’s “waiting for solar”. So if you arrive home after the sun has set and you plug in the car, it stays awake all night waiting for the sun to rise.

I’m keeping the feature disabled until they fix this.

 

[holeydonut]

From what I’m seeing with the current software versions, the car never sleeps while it’s “waiting for solar”. So if you arrive home after the sun has set and you plug in the car, it stays awake all night waiting for the sun to rise.

I’m keeping the feature disabled until they fix this.

That is so weird... so the new API forces the car to be on constantly? I don't understand why that is the case considering normal scheduled charging doesn't require the vehicle to be "awake".

 

[silenteski]

That is so weird... so the new API forces the car to be on constantly? I don't understand why that is the case considering normal scheduled charging doesn't require the vehicle to be "awake".

I agree, it does seem weird. Unless I’m missing something obvious, that’s how it works currently. I did the usual vehicle reboot to see if it would resolve it, but no luck.

Maybe someone else with the feature enabled can report back as to whether or not their car ever sleeps while waiting for solar?

 

[jgleigh]

From what I’m seeing with the current software versions, the car never sleeps while it’s “waiting for solar”. So if you arrive home after the sun has set and you plug in the car, it stays awake all night waiting for the sun to rise.

I’m keeping the feature disabled until they fix this.

Especially odd since ChargeHQ has figured it out. You'd think Tesla would be able to make it work correctly. Of course, ChargeHQ also lets you set EV vs PW priority...

 

[sorka]

Such BS that this is not made available to pre-refresh S and X.

So far it's not available to refresh S/X either.

 

[Kerbonaut]

I agree, it does seem weird. Unless I’m missing something obvious, that’s how it works currently. I did the usual vehicle reboot to see if it would resolve it, but no luck.

Maybe someone else with the feature enabled can report back as to whether or not their car ever sleeps while waiting for solar?

I just had this feature activated and can confirm that during a night with charge on solar enabled, my soc didn't change at all. So maybe it has the sunset/sunrise times loaded from the cloud? Surely Tesla is smart enough to know not to keep the car awake during nighttime hours. Not sure about daylight hours though, that'll be ongoing testing.

 

[Scubamikey]

Im so confused..

ok myp version : 2023.20.9

powerwall gateway 23.12.11

powerwall gateway 21.24.2

help please

 

[YRide]

Im so confused..

ok myp version : 2023.20.9

powerwall gateway 23.12.11

powerwall gateway 21.24.2

help please

Your car needs to be on 2023.26.x or greater.

 

[sorka]

Got 2023.26.7 yesterday but no charge on solar. Release notes says to click the charge on solar message anf follow instructions buy I see no such message in the app.

 

[YRide]

Got 2023.26.7 yesterday.

I’m still waiting on the final Y. Because I tried out FSD for one month (now deactivating) I think it’s gonna take a while to get that there.

That said, I believe Tesla CoS only supports one car, the first one plugged in I think.

ChargeHQ mentioned they have multiple car support on their roadmap. As well as a similar CoS feature (right now they only have one target SoC limit, what is set in the car).

 

[sorka]

Shows up after clearing app cache.

 

[h2ofun]

I used to have the option, but it is gone again, second time this has happened. Any idea what is causing?