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Tesla to add the ability to Charge EV with excess solar
- Thread starter holeydonut
- Start date
I just have my car plugged in. I watch when my batteries are full. Then I tell the car to start charging so it grabs my solar before PGE gets.
Yeah same here - I just read your tag line (30kW system with 7 powerwalls) - now I just feel totally inadequate.
I have 14kW with 3 Powerwalls - I don't have enough storage to just hit the charge button and let it go to town - So I have to watch its charge rate, and manually limit its charge based upon available solar power - if not it kills those 3 PW's pretty darn quick.
Have been thinking of adding a 4th PW but at this moment I really cannot justify it in my head.
I am with you, lets not give it back to PGE or in my case SCE if we can help it
I havent seen any indication of when this might be released, but this particular part of TMC is both very helpful to each other (in general) and pretty good at surfacing this stuff and sharing, so I would expect when its available that one of our regulars will notice and mention it here in the tesla energy subforum somewhere.
I think @h2ofun ended up getting a model Y, from other posts they have made here. It does make a lot of sense given the amount of PV they have, for sure.
If the feature is implemented correctly, the way it would work is that Tesla EV would start charging as soon as there's excess solar available. Presumably you could set the priority between powerwall charging off grid and EV charging off grid or some weighted priority between. i.e. 100% priority to the EV would result in all excess solar going to the EV first before going to the the powerwalls and vice-versa.
The key here is that the charge rate needs to be variable to take advantage of exactly the amount of solar is available at any moment. In my case, it should be good for about $150 / year in NBC savings now that PG&E has jacked the NBC rate up to 3.1 cents / kWh.
Not sure who they'll have the controller be. It might make sense of the Tesla EV control things but it has to know that it's plugged into your system. Perhaps it uses the API locally so that it can continually query the amount of solar being produced and what the current powerwall levels are (if there's some sort of weighting on powerwall vs ev priority.
I thought about doing this and leaving it running on an RPI. I use the API already to mine solar/grid/powerwall data for my cost savings models so I already have access to my account and all devices. But I'm hitting the Tesla server. I need to figure out how to hit the API locally and not sure it's possible to control the vehicle charging locally. I've tried it remotely and it works but I don't want to depend on the internet being up or Tesla services if I can avoid it.
Yep, I had crow for dinner the other night
Yep, model Y. I was the last piece. And when one has 100% free electricity, why not, only live once. I am now in the process of installing 5 Gen 3 wall connectors. This way I can limit amt, even though it would never be needed.
Nah, next you need to get a Cybertruck. Or maybe a Mercedes EQS. It's never gonna stop man.
I will never say never
I do, at the moment, feel the tesla charging network is a must for me, but, ....
I will never say never
I do, at the moment, feel the tesla charging network is a must for me, but, ....
I bet you're still going to drive that minivan down to Disney for your next trip.
I've supercharged a grand total of zero times. I don't think the charging network is that big of a deal since you have your charging at home.
jgleigh
Member
If you travel long distances, it's critical. If you only drive around your local area then Superchargers have zero effect.
I drove across the country in mine, and 5-6 other long road trips. In 4 years, I had put 120k on my P3D.
No way I would road trip in a car without Autopilot these days. Lucky for me Tesla has everything I need so I just bought a new Model Y Long Range.
When you venture beyond 50% of your range, say 140-160 miles, then high speed DC charging (aka Superchargers) are indispensable and going from 20-80% in 15-25 minutes to get back home is a more preferable than being on an L2 6-7kW charger for 2+ hours. Really, is your wife going to put up with that?
I think that the Telsa Supercharger network was the key part of Tesla's growth and dominance in the EV space as it eliminated serious range anxiety. I was looking at the Kia Ioniq 5, and likely would have bought one if I could have gotten one at MSRP instead of the insane $8-10K market up, and there did appear to be high speed DC charging in the areas that my wife goes to, but the number of stations is much lower than Tesla has available. I have been seeing a lot of stories of maintenance issues in non-Tesla networks. I do use a number of free L2 chargers (ChargePoint and Voltas) and I have seen some of the issues first hand.
My wife bought a Hyundai Ioniq 5 (the Kia equivalent is the EV6) last year. It's a lot roomier and has a quieter and smoother ride than my M3 RWD. It would be perfect for road trips but we take the M3 any time we take a trip longer than 100 miles one way for the reasons you stated. I'm considering upgrading to a MY but I don't qualify for the tax credit and am a bit perturbed by the elimination of the USS so will probably keep an eye out for a used 2021 or 2022 at a good price. I could have used AWD a number of times this year.When you venture beyond 50% of your range, say 140-160 miles, then high speed DC charging (aka Superchargers) are indispensable and going from 20-80% in 15-25 minutes to get back home is a more preferable than being on an L2 6-7kW charger for 2+ hours. Really, is your wife going to put up with that?
I think that the Telsa Supercharger network was the key part of Tesla's growth and dominance in the EV space as it eliminated serious range anxiety. I was looking at the Kia Ioniq 5, and likely would have bought one if I could have gotten one at MSRP instead of the insane $8-10K market up, and there did appear to be high speed DC charging in the areas that my wife goes to, but the number of stations is much lower than Tesla has available. I have been seeing a lot of stories of maintenance issues in non-Tesla networks. I do use a number of free L2 chargers (ChargePoint and Voltas) and I have seen some of the issues first hand.
Back on topic, if the rumors are true I look forward to having a separate max state of charge for normal charging and charging from solar. I charge normally to 70% and would be happy to fill it up to 90% on the weekends when I am home during solar hours. I can do this now manually with Charge HQ but have to remember to change the setpoint in the evening.
Yep, that would be the current plan, since the tesla does not have enough room for 7 and luggage My main focus is just within an hour drive, and just charge at home
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