Build a Mobile App to Change The Charge Rate of Tesla To Utilize Solar Power

A growing number of Tesla Model S and Nissan LEAF owners utilize the solar energy to charge their electric cars. See for example, how this man charges his Nissan LEAF with a solar energy with transparent motives, or Kerry Murphey doing the same, charging his Chevy Volt in real time with solar power.

So if you are able to use the solar energy at home how can you charge your electric car with maximum efficiency?

At the moment any unused solar energy one can produce gets sold back to the grid. Normally, the owners would like to use all that energy vs selling to the grid at a discounted price.You should be able to use all that solar energy to charge your car automatically.

Also See: How The City of Boulder turns to the sun for public EV charging

However, there isn't a solution for this at the moment. Consider this.

If you set your Model S to charge if it's sunny using the solar energy that your house produces through the solar panels on roof. When the sun goes down you will buy energy from the power company to charge your car, unless you remember and stop charging it. If you could manually change this via the app and ideally via the API then it would save you money and time.

If you were able to change the charge rate of your Tesla from your mobile app, then you could change the charge rate to roughly match your solar panel output as the sun comes and goes. That will save you money and energy. I wonder if this can be also done through EVSE.

Alternatively, you can at least have 2-3 charging schedules. This will allow you to charge your EV at a lower cost during off peak hours to a certain capacity and then charge the rest using the solar energy.

Also see: Nissan LEAF Owners About The Rise of Their Electric Bill vs Cost of Gasoline Usage