Charge Minder

Teslas have several options on the console to control charging.  One can control when charging should start or when it should stop.  One can also limit charging to a specified percentage.  However, we needed more flexibility.  For example, I want the app to know about my driving habits and tell me to plug in the car when I come home.  I'd like it to stop charging or have it alert me when there is sufficient range to get to the destination; then I will not have stay longer than necessary at a supercharger or a strange destination charger.

The goal of this effort is to figure out which features are useful and then suggest them for inclusion into the Tesla app.  Till then, the app will be available for free.

The Tesla Charge Minder app is intended to be a smart assistant for the EV driver.  It will monitor the charge state of a EV and learn about its battery performance characteristics.  It will track weekly driving routes and try to predict upcoming trips.  It will fetch weather data to estimate battery usage during those trips.  Based on these collected data, it will recommend when and where an EV should be charged.  The app can be hosted on a mobile device (Android) or on a PC.  It uses the Tesla API to periodically get data from the vehicle and deduce various usage patterns.  Perhaps one day the app can be installed on the EV itself.

Most people have repeated driving patterns.  They go to work on weekdays, stop by their gym, visit friends, etc.  They also charge their EVs at their favorite charging locations, typically at home, work, etc. 

The app first deduces a vehicle's favorite destinations by determining where it is parked most often over several days.  This includes charging places.  Short and occasional stops are ignored.  Next, the app determines the most frequent next destination for each destination.  The day of the week and the time of day are taken into consideration.  For each trip, the app tracks the typical distance, elapsed time, etc.  The maximum values are also recorded.  Average values are not useful.  Now, given the current location and time, the app can predict the next destination.  If this is done recursively till the next charging point, then it can calculate the battery requirements till that point.

The app can run on any Internet connected computer or mobile device.  It uses the Tesla API to periodically get information about the monitored car.  This data includes battery and charging levels, GPS position, etc.  This data is recorded and analyzed.

Here is a tool that displays recorded data over time.  It helps visualize data retrieved from the car.

Also see: Sentry Saver for Tesla,  a 'smart' USB stick.