Tesla: Possible to charge without adding a charger?

[BartJocque]

Hi,

i have two Tesla Wallcharger 2 and 2 Tesla’s.
These old wallchargers can not be connected to the network so no steering is posible.
However all necessery steering is possible directly via the API of the cars. (start, stop, set amps, set target soc, ….)

So really wondering why EVCC does not allow for such a configuration without wallbox or chargepoint ?

[oluwafikayo-zeddicus]

I don't think EVCC has direct support for the Tesla API, but you could look into using the Plugin functionality.

You could either try to use the http plugin directly, or use one of the available Tesla API client implementations together with the shell script plugin.

[mikeljo]

You can control the "old" TWC Gen 2. It is called "TWCManager". The TWC's must set to Slave Mode, connected via 2 wire RS-485 to a Computer (Linux, Raspi, ...). On this you start the TWCManager and have a Website to control the Station. One Sub-Version of the TWCManager has an API. So you can control this from outside. I wrote an Connector for evcc. Now i have my 2 TWC's Gen 2 in EVCC.

[balgerion]

is there any chance you can share scirpt with me ? im trying to integrate EVCC with TWCManager :)

[galonias]

Hi,

i have two Tesla Wallcharger 2 and 2 Tesla’s. These old wallchargers can not be connected to the network so no steering is posible. However all necessery steering is possible directly via the API of the cars. (start, stop, set amps, set target soc, ….)

So really wondering why EVCC does not allow for such a configuration without wallbox or chargepoint ?

I have a similar setup at home and if you ever manage to get it to work, I would appreciate if you share your findings.

I hate replacing non-faulty hardware, but that seems to be the only option
after trying multiple solutions…

[BartJocque]

I gave up with evcc.io and performed similar setup with HomeAssistant, working perfect now, send me a mail if you want the yaml automation.

(as long as evcc.io can’t steer a car directly over API w/o speaking to a wallbox , it totally defeats its purpose for me, what a missed opportunity….)

[BartJocque]

dumb chargers are perfectly fine when you have smart cars :-)

in the mean while i was able to setup solar charging for both my Tesla using HA.

just saying it’s a missed opportunity for your project, but all the best of luck to you too….

[premultiply]

Nobody will and can support your legacy charger as long as its firmware refuses to gain access to any industry standard control.
Maybe it's in there but it is undocumented and not revealed yet. Who knows. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Find it by yourself or just buy a compatible charger and sell the useless one.

And by the way controlling a Tesla vehicle connected to a TWC3 using evcc works fine exactly as requested as long as the cloud API and cloud connection is availible...

[premultiply]

I really don't understand what you want to tell us. evcc can do the same and a lot more. 🤷🏻‍♂️
If you have working solution for your purposes this is absolutly fine.
Feel free to have a look at the sources if you are reinventing the wheels.
Happy solar charging! ☀️

[BartJocque]

no worries

fyi - I’m just trying to explain you that you don’t need a smart charger if you have smart car :-)

this is the setup (similar) I use now for two Tesla TWC wirh a Model S and Model 3,

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/charging-tesla-with-excess-power-from-solar-panels/545591

[premultiply]

We know this and this is why evcc is there and works as it works.

By the way you may not get it yet but even other brands are controllable the way a Tesla vehicle is controllable by Cloud API and evcc 🤷🏻‍♂️
You could even connect such a vehice to a dumb TWC3. Just saying...
But it looks like not many people like to do this if they can have more reliable solutions.
Just looks like.

Be smart and buy more Tesla stuff. It's great. The best Tesla stuff we ever had.

Tesla will even invent wireless smart mobile app cloud charging. Power over 5G. For sure. Buy it!

[galonias]

A lot of the implemented wallboxes are cloud controlled as well? So what’s really the difference there?

[RTTTC]

TWC is still one of the best chargers out there for it’s price….

It's really sad that such a nice and affordable charger (hardware) is not compliant with industry standard control methods.. Even a bit strange to me..
Definitelly NOT recomended!!

You have another option - get a Tesla home battery, then, when used with TWC, (and perhaps only Tesla vehicles? not sure about this), and latest, soon to be released software - there is solar charge control enabled via Tesla app directly.

[VolkerK62]

https://thedriven.io/2023/03/17/drive-on-sunshine-tesla-app-to-allows-owners-to-charge-on-excess-solar/

[RTTTC]

This is it. And it is ALMOST released, just another month or two. https://www.notateslaapp.com/software-updates/version/2023.26/release-notes
Not sure if there is TWC3 requirement? Or perhaps older TWC will work too ? OR maybe even ANY charger???
Interesting!

[premultiply]

It's great. It's Tesla!
Buy it now, buy it fast.
Absolutly amazing.
Never heard of solar charging before Tesla invented it. Thank you Tesla!
Thank you again!

[galonias]

Keep the tone civilized or lock the discussion thread before it’s getting out of control.

[premultiply]

Short answer: It does.

Only a chargepoint state is required for operation by evcc to allow for identifying the vehicle connected to a specific charger. This is due to the scalable operation model of evcc.

Even the non-controllable TWC3 provides a connection state and and a very rough power measurement.

So Tesla (and even specific other) vehicles that provide the vehicle api control options works fine using TWC3.

Please have a look at the documentation.

[BartJocque]

it does not :-)

original question was on support for uncontrollable charger like twc2.

all power measurements are available via tesla car api as welll and still don’t get why you say this is not scalable.

but I understood you don’t want to support this- again no worries - there are other solution out there that work.

[JinbaIttai]

@BartJocque wrote:

original question was on support for uncontrollable charger like twc2.

all power measurements are available via tesla car api as welll and still don’t get why you say this is not scalable.

I was curious about this topic, because the gen3 Tesla Wall Connector is passive only.
It provides charging status but you cannot start/stop charging or adjust the charge rate.
So if evcc works with Tesla on TWC gen3 then it must talk to the car via the API.

Which is what premultiply has been saying all along: evcc talks to the Tesla directly (in vehicle/tesla.go) for stop/start/adjust charge rate
And it requests the charge status (vehicle connected, vehicle is charging, volts, amps, kW) from the wall connector by polling /api/1/vitals over and over again (in charger/twc3.go)

All that information is also available from the car but although I modified tesla.go to poll the volts / amps / kW it appears the way the evcc is designed that information needs to come from the charger. Which does make sense considering they need to support a lot more chargers and vehicles than just Tesla.

I already have that information on my network thanks to Teslamate, so I wrote a very small script that runs on my webserver at /api/1/vitals and gives the output that evcc expects to see

{"contactor_closed":true,"vehicle_connected":true,"session_s":731,"grid_v":238,"grid_hz":50.000,"vehicle_current_a":8,"currentA_a":8,"currentB_a":0.0,"currentC_a":0.0,"currentN_a":0.0,"voltageA_v":238,"voltageB_v":238,"voltageC_v":238,"relay_coil_v":6.1,"pcba_temp_c":14.1,"handle_temp_c":12.1,"mcu_temp_c":18.6,"uptime_s":42,"input_thermopile_uv":-172,"prox_v":1.5,"pilot_high_v":0.1,"pilot_low_v":0.1,"session_energy_wh":5080,"config_status":5,"evse_state":11,"current_alerts":[]}

My Tesla is now successfully following the sun even though it's plugged into a normal power socket with a Juice Booster 2, not a Tesla wall connector. evcc is happy because it thinks it's talking to a gen3.

I then tried to take twc3.go out of the equation entirely by creating a custom charger using the "Shell Script" plugin to provide that info to evcc instead, but other than plugged-in and charging/not charging status I couldn't figure out how to pass the charge rate information through. And it's also not clear if evcc is happy with just the kiloWatts, or with just Volts and Amps or if it needs all three.

chargers:
- name: shellscript
  type: custom
  status: # charger status A..F
    source: script
    cmd: /usr/local/bin/tesla-evcc-status
  enabled: # charger enabled state (true/false or 0/1)
    source: script
    cmd: /usr/local/bin/tesla-evcc-enabled
  enable: # set charger enabled state (true/false or 0/1)
    source: script
    cmd: /bin/sh -c 'echo false'
  maxcurrent: # set charger max current (A)
    source: script
    cmd: /bin/sh -c 'echo 32'
  power: # actual charge rate in kW - is this not supported by evcc? 
    source: script
    cmd: /usr/local/bin/tesla-evcc-power

It should also be possible to have evcc poll this information directly from MQTT, which my Teslamate feeds into, but again I couldn't figure out how to pass through the charge rate.

But my point is, you don't need a Tesla Wall Connector gen3 to use evcc with your Tesla.
As long as you have a way to poll the charge status and charge rate evcc will do the rest of the heavy lifting.

That also means you could use eg a Shelly 1PM to monitor your dumb hardwired charger, or a Tesmota Smart Plug which you plug your Mobile Connector or other dumb portable charger into.

[RTTTC]

Can this be made into a template?

[mdkeil]

@JinbaIttai
for power: part I think you need
scale: 1000 to get Watts