Macan, Porsche Mobile Connect Charger, EVCC and Home Assistant

[Heavywun]

I've spent untold hours and done far too much swearing to get this far. Advice to the uninitiated: Unless you really want/need a mobile charger that can plug into virtually any outlet, don't get a Porsche Mobile Connect. Dealing with a proprietary locked-down device is an endless PITA.

I have a big solar system and a 30kW battery in a tricky site - a few hours of sun each day before it all gets shaded. I use Amber for my electricity - a unique company here in Aus that lets you buy electricity at wholesale prices. Great when it's the middle of the day and juice is costing 5c/kWh... not so great when every man and his dog is home at 6pm cooking and bathing and blasting the aircon, and it's suddenly 60c/kWh. Ideally I want the home battery full, and the car topped up with any excess when the solar is pumping, and everything shut down with the house running off the battery when prices start to go up. And even better, have some juice to spare to sell back to the grid at those inflated prices.

This would have been simple with any of a bunch of OCPP EVSE's... which *surprise* doesn't include Porsche's offering.

I've finally managed to get Amber, the Macan and the Porsche Mobile Connect Charger talking to EVCC with some help from Home Assistant. It's still a bit fragile - if EVCC shuts down for any reason, it's a tedious process to get it up and running and talking to the charger again.

I haven't even started trying to automate charging yet - need a lie down before that!

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[W1NGE]

I've spent untold hours and done far too much swearing to get this far. Advice to the uninitiated: Unless you really want/need a mobile charger that can plug into virtually any outlet, don't get a Porsche Mobile Connect. Dealing with a proprietary locked-down device is an endless PITA.

I have a big solar system and a 30kW battery in a tricky site - a few hours of sun each day before it all gets shaded. I use Amber for my electricity - a unique company here in Aus that lets you buy electricity at wholesale prices. Great when it's the middle of the day and juice is costing 5c/kWh... not so great when every man and his dog is home at 6pm cooking and bathing and blasting the aircon, and it's suddenly 60c/kWh. Ideally I want the home battery full, and the car topped up with any excess when the solar is pumping, and everything shut down with the house running off the battery when prices start to go up. And even better, have some juice to spare to sell back to the grid at those inflated prices.

This would have been simple with any of a bunch of OCPP EVSE's... which *surprise* doesn't include Porsche's offering.

I've finally managed to get Amber, the Macan and the Porsche Mobile Connect Charger talking to EVCC with some help from Home Assistant. It's still a bit fragile - if EVCC shuts down for any reason, it's a tedious process to get it up and running and talking to the charger again.

I haven't even started trying to automate charging yet - need a lie down before that!

Why not use the Porsche Home Energy Manager (HEM) to manage dual power sources - integrates fully with PMCC EVSE?

 

[Heavywun]

Costs as much/more than an OCPP-compliant charger would (if I was going to abandon my masochistic ways, that's the route I'd take), and it's another proprietary/closed ecosystem device which I am trying to avoid.

Anker (my battery and inverter brand) have a EVSE which is supposed to turn up here at the end of the year so that may be another easy option. Home Assistant and Amber both support Anker, as does EVCC.

Until then, it's swearing.

 

[ColdCase]

Years ago I toyed a bit with an OCPP compliant EVSE (Grizzl-E). The included app at the time provided impressive eye candy and I learned a bit about EV charging. Otherwise it was not that useful for my situation so I lost interest over time. It didn't help that the "free" apps available were server based and the EVSE had to log in before it would charge. There were a few connection bugs and way too many times I couldn't charge because of it.

 

[Heavywun]

yes, you've got to be a bit of a tinkerer to tolerate the angst involved.
I'm hoping that Amber will be able to control all of this relatively soon - they've bought a company called ChargeHQ which will control OCPP chargers, and that along with their battery VPP/Smartshift tech and wholesale pricing should make sure the juices go where they're most needed/most profitable.

If not, then I'll hopefully have a decent alternate option that I have full control of.

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