Photo: Not a Tesla App | Edited
Tesla App version 4.19 will allow owners with solar panels to prioritize charging with surplus solar energy instead of passing it to the grid. The feature is called "Drive on Sunshine" and offers flexibility to how Tesla owners use electricity and charge their EVs.
During the day, a good solar panel system should generate more electricity than the house uses. The excess energy is either stored in batteries like Tesla Powerwall if they are installed or sent to the grid. The latter also happens when the Powerwall batteries are full. Tesla thinks it can do better than that and store the excess energy in the car's battery when the Powerwall is fully charged. This way, the vehicle is charged using renewable energy from the sun instead of coal-generated electricity from the grid.
The new feature was discovered by the Twitter account Tesla App Updates (@Tesla_App_iOS) in the source code of the latest version, 4.19. According to Not a Tesla App, several improvements to the charging area of the app also come with this software version. The update introduces a "Membership" entry in the Charging menu, specifically for non-Tesla owners. They can now sign-up, cancel or renew their charging membership in this section.
The Tesla app will also display the portion of the battery unavailable due to the battery pack's cold temperature. The tick marks displayed at 10% intervals are now always visible. Previously, they only appeared when the slider was being moved. But the most interesting feature is arguably Driving on Sunshine, allowing owners to use the energy generated by the solar panels (or Solar Roof) more sustainably.
Based on the source code, the new app will instruct Tesla owners to plug in at home during daytime hours to take advantage of the surplus solar energy. The app adds a second slider to the charging limiter. The first one controls how much your EV gets charged, regardless of the energy source. The second slider is new and allows specifying a maximum charging level for solar-only charging.
You can, for instance, set a minimum charging threshold of around 60%, which will be guaranteed even when the sun doesn't shine. You can set the second slider much higher, at the recommended charging level of 80%, and to get there, the car will only use excess solar energy. This way, the car's battery is fully charged before the surplus electricity is returned to the grid.
"Set your charge limits and location and tell your vehicle when and where to charge only from excess solar," writes a string in Tesla App. This indicates that it is possible to geofence the feature so that the battery is still charged above the first threshold in locations with no solar panels installed. The new feature ensures that clean energy from the sun is favored, reducing owners' carbon footprint when charging.
The new feature was discovered by the Twitter account Tesla App Updates (@Tesla_App_iOS) in the source code of the latest version, 4.19. According to Not a Tesla App, several improvements to the charging area of the app also come with this software version. The update introduces a "Membership" entry in the Charging menu, specifically for non-Tesla owners. They can now sign-up, cancel or renew their charging membership in this section.
The Tesla app will also display the portion of the battery unavailable due to the battery pack's cold temperature. The tick marks displayed at 10% intervals are now always visible. Previously, they only appeared when the slider was being moved. But the most interesting feature is arguably Driving on Sunshine, allowing owners to use the energy generated by the solar panels (or Solar Roof) more sustainably.
Based on the source code, the new app will instruct Tesla owners to plug in at home during daytime hours to take advantage of the surplus solar energy. The app adds a second slider to the charging limiter. The first one controls how much your EV gets charged, regardless of the energy source. The second slider is new and allows specifying a maximum charging level for solar-only charging.
You can, for instance, set a minimum charging threshold of around 60%, which will be guaranteed even when the sun doesn't shine. You can set the second slider much higher, at the recommended charging level of 80%, and to get there, the car will only use excess solar energy. This way, the car's battery is fully charged before the surplus electricity is returned to the grid.
"Set your charge limits and location and tell your vehicle when and where to charge only from excess solar," writes a string in Tesla App. This indicates that it is possible to geofence the feature so that the battery is still charged above the first threshold in locations with no solar panels installed. The new feature ensures that clean energy from the sun is favored, reducing owners' carbon footprint when charging.
Looks like Tesla is adding native "charge on excess solar" functionality with Powerwall integration.
— Long Zheng (@longzheng) March 15, 2023
"Plug in your vehicle at home during the day to charge using the excess clean energy generated by your solar system"
Not yet live in app. https://t.co/jucXW2CO6r
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