How to Use Tesla’s Charge on Solar Feature to Power Your EV
If you’re all-in on Tesla products at home, you’ll love the Charge on Solar feature that lets Powerwall owners take advantage of any excess solar energy and send it to a Tesla electric vehicle.
Tesla started testing things in early 2023, and launched two big updates in July that year, delivering the Charge on Solar option for its EVs. While there are a few prerequisites, here’s how to charge or top off your fancy Tesla with sunshine rays.
Tesla Lets Owners Charge Up With Solar
Most people know Tesla for its electric cars, but it also makes solar panels, solar roofs, and thePowerwall—a battery system for storing all that energy. During the day, the Powerwall can power home appliances and more with energy produced by solar panels. Additionally, owners can charge its massive lithium-ion batteries when energy is cheaper, like during off-peak hours, and store it for later.
Those in the US and Canada can use the Charge on Solar feature to access any excess energy captured from the sun or solar panels to charge a Tesla electric vehicle. When you have more coming in than the Powerwall can store, you can divert it to a vehicle. The idea is to keep things affordable while maximizing a home solar setup. You can even set a schedule, so it’ll stop charging when the sun goes down or when you know your home power usage will increase and use up any excess energy.
What You’ll Need to Use Tesla’s Charge on Solar
Unfortunately, only a select number of people can access the feature, and that’s because you’ll need a 2021 model year or newer Tesla, a Powerwall, andTesla’s solar panels.
According toTesla, anyone with a Model S, Model 3, Model X, or Model Y running software version 2023.26 or higher is eligible. You’ll also need a Powerwall and solar installed in your home, running software 23.12.10 or later, and the most up-to-date Tesla app foriOSorAndroid.
How to Charge Your Tesla With Extra Solar Energy
If you meet all the requirements above, fire up your Tesla app and search for “Charge on Solar” to get started. Go through the setup process and choose a few limits on when and how much power the charging system takes. You’ll see a slider with a sun icon in the settings, which you can drag to customize the charging limits.
From here, you can charge your Tesla from the grid as usual, ensuring you’ll always have enough battery for daily commutes. Once it hits your preferred spot on the sun slider, your system will switch to only charging using excess solar energy. You can use the Tesla app to set daily charging limits, manage usage, control charging speeds, and more. This way, you never use too much power or leave extra on the table.
For example, you could charge your vehicle to 40% using the grid, and then it’ll stop. When your system has extra solar power during a sunny day, it’ll use solar charging from 40% to 90%, as shown in the image above. However, remember that if you set a schedule or daily limits on usage, it may not always reach 100%.
Tesla says your vehicle will adjust charge power nearly every 10 seconds to match the system. That way, home energy consumption will align with any leftover solar power, which should prevent the vehicle from pulling power from the grid throughout the day. Additionally, charging may be delayed until at least 1.2kW of stable power is available.
More importantly, the Charge on Solar feature works with all existing Powerwall modes, like Tesla’s Storm Watch, meaning the system will prioritize storing backup energy before sending excess juice to your electric car for charging.
Take Advantage of the Sun
Charge on Solar is a free feature for Tesla owners, but considering you have to have a compatible vehicle and an entire Powerwall solar system, it makes it a pretty pricey benefit. It would be great to see this work with any home solar system instead of being limited to Tesla gear, but if you’re on the fence about switching to Tesla’s solar, this could be one more reason to try it.
Tesla isn’t the first company to offer a system that charges EVs with spare power, but the deep integration within the Tesla app makes it easy for owners. So, set everything up and get the most out of your Powerwall and solar.
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