Price-aware EV charging that waits for cheap electricity, notifies you along the way, and stops automatically when price rises or your target battery level is reached. Works with any EV/charger integration — you point it at your existing vehicle/charger/price entities once, through a normal Home Assistant config flow; a package and blueprint do the rest.
- ⚡ Waits for cheap electricity before charging, resumes automatically if price drops again
- 🔔 Actionable, tag-based mobile notifications that update in place instead of stacking up — works on Android and iOS
- 🎯 Optional stop-at-target-battery-%
- 💶 Optional maximum acceptable price cap
- 🔋 Optional low-battery emergency override
- 🕑 Optional calendar or fixed-time departure deadline (forces a charge if the cheap window hasn't arrived in time)
- 🌙 Optional quiet hours (suppresses non-critical notifications)
- 📊 Session and lifetime statistics (today/week/month cost & energy,
session count, average price/duration) via
utility_meter - 📈 Ready-to-import dashboards — native Sections view, plus an enhanced Mushroom + ApexCharts version
- 🧩 No hardcoded entity IDs — configure your vehicle/charger/price entities once, through a UI config flow
smart-ev-charging/
├── custom_components/
│ └── smart_ev_charging/ # HACS Integration: config flow + entity mirrors
│ ├── blueprint/
│ │ └── smart_ev_charging.yaml # canonical blueprint, auto-installed on setup
│ ├── dashboards/
│ │ └── dashboard.yaml # canonical native dashboard — installed into Lovelace via Options menu
│ ├── packages/
│ │ └── smart_ev_charging.yaml # helpers, template sensors, statistics — auto-copied to config/packages/
│ └── scripts/
│ └── smart_ev_charging_scripts.yaml # scripts — auto-copied to config/scripts/
├── dashboards/
│ └── mushroom_dashboard.yaml # enhanced (Mushroom + ApexCharts) — manual install only
├── images/ # dashboard screenshots
├── hacs.json
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
└── CHANGELOG.md
The blueprint and native dashboard live inside custom_components/smart_ev_charging/ — not duplicated at the repo root — because the integration installs them for you on setup (the blueprint as a file, the dashboard into your Lovelace sidebar — see Configuration).
- You plug in your EV. If smart charging is enabled, you get a 🔌 EV plugged in notification with a ⚡ Charge now button. Ignore it and the package waits for a cheap price; tap it to charge immediately for this session only.
- When your price sensor reports "cheap", charging starts automatically.
- A single ⚡ Charging notification appears, showing battery %, price, duration, power and energy delivered — it refreshes in place every 5 minutes rather than spamming new notifications.
- When price becomes expensive (or your target battery % is reached), charging stops automatically and the notification is dismissed.
- You optionally get a ✅ Charging finished summary, and the session is logged into the statistics sensors.
Requires Home Assistant 2026.5 or newer — the blueprint's "Notify Devices" picker depends on mobile_app notify entities, which were only added in that release.
-
HACS > ⋮ > Custom repositories > add this repository URL, category Integration.
-
Install "Smart EV Charging" and restart Home Assistant. HACS copies
custom_components/smart_ev_charging/into your config. -
Make sure
configuration.yamlincludes:homeassistant: packages: !include_dir_named packages script: !include_dir_merge_named scripts
The integration copies the helper package and scripts into
config/packages/andconfig/scripts/automatically when you set it up — no manual file copying needed (it also installs the blueprint and dashboard for you). These two include lines are required for every installation (HACS and manual alike): HACS puts the Python in place, but onlyconfiguration.yamltells Home Assistant to load the package and scripts at startup.
-
Copy
custom_components/into your Home Assistant config directory, merging with the existing folder. -
Make sure
configuration.yamlincludes:homeassistant: packages: !include_dir_named packages script: !include_dir_merge_named scripts
(The integration copies
packages/smart_ev_charging.yamlintoconfig/packages/and the scripts intoconfig/scripts/automatically on setup — you only need the two lines above.) -
Restart Home Assistant (packages and custom integrations both require a full restart, not just a YAML reload).
Settings > Devices & Services > + Add Integration > Smart EV Charging. A form asks for the entities from your vehicle/charger and price integration (Easee, OCPP, Zaptec, Tesla, a generic smart plug, Nordpool, Tibber, …):
| Field | Required | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle connected | ✅ | binary_sensor.charger_cable_connected |
| Charging active | ✅ | binary_sensor.charger_charging |
| Current electricity price | ✅ | sensor.nordpool_kwh_price |
| Cheap electricity | ✅ | binary_sensor.price_is_cheap |
| Battery percentage | optional | sensor.car_battery_level |
| Charging power | optional | sensor.charger_power |
| Energy meter | optional | sensor.charger_energy_total |
| Departure calendar | optional | calendar.work_schedule |
"Cheap electricity" is normally produced by your energy-price integration or a small template/threshold binary_sensor you already have — this package only reacts to it. Only one instance of the integration is allowed (single-vehicle for now — see FAQ). To change any of these entities later, open the integration's Configure option instead of re-adding it.
Chargers without separate connected/charging binary sensors (Easee,
some OCPP/go-eCharger/Wallbox setups) commonly expose a single text status
sensor instead — e.g. Easee's charger status reports Charging,
Completed, Car disconnected, Awaiting Start, etc. Point "Vehicle
connected" and "Charging active" at that same status sensor. Whenever you
pick a status sensor (i.e. anything that isn't a plain binary_sensor),
the flow moves on to a "Status sensor states" screen with a picker for
each one — tick which raw states count as on for that concept (you can
select several, and a box is offered to type any state that isn't listed):
- Vehicle connected — matching states:
Charging,Completed,Awaiting Start,Ready to Charge(anything that isn'tCar disconnected/Disconnected) - Charging active — matching states:
Charging
The picker is pre-filled with the states your status sensor can actually report, so you don't need to type (or mistype) them by hand. Leave it empty if your source is a real binary_sensor — the integration then falls back to plain on/off, unchanged from before.
Example — Easee Oprit (via the official Easee integration). The Oprit exposes a single text status sensor rather than separate connected/charging binary sensors, so point both "Vehicle connected" and "Charging active" at it and use its own energy/power sensors for the optional fields:
| Integration field | Pick |
|---|---|
| Vehicle connected | sensor.oprit_status |
| Charging active | sensor.oprit_status |
| Charging power | sensor.oprit_power |
| Energy meter | sensor.oprit_lifetime_energy |
In the "Status sensor states" screen, tick:
- Vehicle connected —
awaiting_authorization,awaiting_start,ready_to_charge,charging,completed(everything exceptdisconnected) - Charging active —
charging
Note the Oprit reports its status in lower-case with underscores
(ready_to_charge, awaiting_start, …) — not the title-case
"Ready to Charge" some other Easee/OCPP chargers use. Tick exactly the
values your sensor reports; matching is case-insensitive but otherwise
exact, so the picker's pre-filled list is your safest reference.
The integration exposes what you picked under stable entity IDs
(binary_sensor.ev_vehicle_connected, binary_sensor.ev_charging_active,
binary_sensor.ev_price_cheap, sensor.ev_charging_price,
sensor.ev_battery_percentage, sensor.ev_charging_power,
sensor.ev_energy_meter, plus diagnostic sensor.ev_smart_charging_config)
— the package, scripts, blueprint, and dashboards all read from these, not
from your raw integration entities directly.
Finishing this step also installs the blueprint (as a file under
blueprints/automation/) and the dashboard is registered in your sidebar
the first time you run the dashboard step in the integration's Options —
check the "Smart EV Charging: setup" notification (Settings >
Notifications) for exactly what was installed and what's still left to do.
Settings > Automations & Scenes > Blueprints. "Smart EV Charging"
should already be listed (it was copied into
blueprints/automation/smart_ev_charging/ in step 1) — click Create
Automation. If it isn't listed yet, reload the Blueprints page or
restart Home Assistant once, or import it manually by pasting this URL
via Import Blueprint:
https://github.com/gokhancelik/smart-ev-charging/blob/master/custom_components/smart_ev_charging/blueprint/smart_ev_charging.yaml
Name the automation Smart EV Charging (the dashboards assume
automation.smart_ev_charging — rename the one reference in the
dashboard YAML if you use a different name). The blueprint doesn't ask
you to re-pick your vehicle/charger/price entities — it already reads
them from step 1. It only needs:
- Start Charging Action / Stop Charging Action — whatever action
actually starts/stops your charger (a
switch.turn_on, a charger integration'sstart/stopservice, a script, …) - Notify Devices — pick one or more phones/tablets running the Companion App from the device list (search by device name, no typing required). Add more than one to notify multiple people/devices — tapping Charge now / Stop charging on any of them works the same way. Requires Home Assistant 2026.5 or newer (mobile_app notify entities).
- Departure Deadline Lead Time — how many minutes before departure to force-start if price still isn't cheap (default 120)
- Dry Run (Debug Only) — leave off for normal operation. Turn it
on to make the automation evaluate every decision and write it to
the EV debug log (
input_text.ev_last_charging_decision, visible on the debug section of the dashboard and viascript.ev_debug_log/Logbook) without actually starting or stopping the charger. Use this to verify your triggers and conditions work safely before letting the automation control real hardware.
You can install the bundled dashboard automatically from the integration's options menu: Settings > Devices & Services > Smart EV Charging > ⋮ > Options, then choose Install or update the dashboard. This registers the "Smart EV Charging" dashboard (a native Sections view using only built-in cards) in your sidebar and keeps it up to date on every Home Assistant start.
If you'd rather add it manually, the bundled
custom_components/smart_ev_charging/dashboards/dashboard.yaml (inside
your Home Assistant config directory, where HACS installed the
integration) can be pasted via **Settings > Dashboards > + Add Dashboard
New dashboard from YAML**. Prefer the enhanced version instead? Copy
dashboards/mushroom_dashboard.yamlfrom this repository (not auto-installed) if you have Mushroom and ApexCharts Card installed via HACS.
All optional behavior is off by default except where noted, controlled by helpers under Settings > Devices & Services > Helpers:
input_boolean.ev_target_battery_enabled+input_number.ev_target_battery_percentageinput_boolean.ev_max_price_enabled+input_number.ev_max_acceptable_priceinput_boolean.ev_quiet_hours_enabled+input_datetime.ev_quiet_hours_start/_endinput_boolean.ev_low_battery_emergency_enabled+input_number.ev_low_battery_thresholdinput_datetime.ev_departure_time(used when no calendar entity is set)input_number.ev_battery_capacity_kwh(only needed for the estimated total session cost projection)input_boolean.ev_debug_logging(mirrors decisions into the Logbook)
Any integration that exposes the entities below works — the integration's config flow and the package never assume a specific brand:
- Charger / EV state: Easee, OCPP, Zaptec, go-eCharger, Tesla, Wallbox,
or a plain
binary_sensor/switchyou template yourself. Both proper binary sensors and single text-status sensors (Easee-style) are supported natively — see Configuration. - Electricity price: Nordpool, Tibber, ENTSO-E, Energi Data Service, or a custom template sensor
- Notifications: the official Home Assistant Companion App on Android and iOS (actionable notifications required)
Plugged in
🔌 EV plugged in Charging is scheduled for the next cheap electricity period.
[⚡ Charge now]
Charging (persistent, updates in place)
⚡ Charging 🔋 Battery: 58% 💶 Price: €0.18/kWh 🕒 Started: 22:46 ⏱ Duration: 00:18 ⚡ Power: 11 kW 🔌 Energy added: 5.2 kWh
[⏹ Stop charging]
Finished
✅ Charging finished 🔋 Added 18.4 kWh ⏱ Duration 2h 35m 💶 Average charging price €0.17/kWh
Add your own screenshots to images/ and reference them here — e.g.:
Does this support multiple vehicles?
Not out of the box — the integration only allows a single config entry,
and the package's helpers are single-vehicle. For a second car, duplicate
config/packages/smart_ev_charging.yaml and every entity ID inside it with a
different prefix (e.g. ev2_), duplicate custom_components/smart_ev_charging
under a new domain, and import a second blueprint instance pointing at the
new helpers/entities. True multi-vehicle support is on the
roadmap.
Why is there no "charging efficiency" sensor?
Efficiency (AC energy drawn vs. DC energy stored) needs two separate
meters. Most integrations only expose one energy sensor, so a computed
"efficiency" would be misleading. If you have both readings, it's a
small addition to custom_components/smart_ev_charging/sensor.py.
Can I use a fixed price threshold instead of a "cheap" binary sensor?
Yes — create a small template binary_sensor that compares your price
sensor to a threshold, and point the integration's "Cheap electricity"
field at it (Settings > Devices & Services > Smart EV Charging >
Configure).
My charger (e.g. Easee) only exposes one status sensor, not separate "connected"/"charging" binary sensors — do I need to write a template? No. Point "Vehicle connected" and "Charging active" at that same status sensor; the config flow then shows a "Status sensor states" screen where you tick which raw values count as on for that concept (see Configuration). No template YAML needed.
Can I send notifications to more than one phone? Yes — the blueprint's "Notify Devices" field accepts multiple devices. Every device gets the same actionable notifications (plugged in, charging, finished), and pressing Charge now / Stop charging on any one of them works the same way, since the button-press listener isn't tied to a specific device.
What happens if Home Assistant restarts mid-charge? All helpers restore their last state automatically. If charging was already active before the restart, the blueprint backfills session tracking on startup so duration/energy/cost stay accurate.
Does the "Charge now" button disable smart charging permanently? No — it only overrides the current session. It resets automatically when you unplug.
Why does my car start charging the instant I plug it in?
Smart charging is switched off. Turn on "EV Smart Charging Enabled"
(input_boolean.ev_follow_price) from the dashboard, or run
script.ev_enable_smart_charging — while it's off the system is in
Manual mode and deliberately starts charging immediately on plug-in.
From v1.7.0 the integration raises a Settings > System > Repairs notice
while the toggle is off so this can't be missed.
My charger auto-starts a few seconds after plug-in — is the brief burst of charging before it pauses normal? Yes. Most chargers (including Easee) begin drawing power on their own the moment the cable is seated, before Home Assistant has even seen the "plugged in" event. Since v1.7.0 the automation pauses an auto-started charge within ~5–30 s when the price isn't cheap. To avoid the burst entirely, disable the charger's own auto-start (for Easee: enable its own scheduler/smart-charging and let Smart EV Charging drive it).
Why did "today"/"this week" energy & cost tiles reset to zero on upgrade to 1.7.0? The utility meters were re-sourced from the live charger energy meter and a continuous cost integral (they now move during a session instead of only when a session closes). Changing a meter's source resets its accumulated value once — this is expected. The meter values rebuild from the new sources going forward.
How do I get the dashboard into my sidebar?
The dashboard is opt-in but automatic: Settings > Devices & Services >
Smart EV Charging > ⋮ > Options > Install or update the dashboard. This
registers the bundled native dashboard as a sidebar tab and refreshes it on
each Home Assistant start (as long as it stays installed). Installing it is
safe — it uses the same storage-mode Lovelace registration the frontend
component uses for built-in dashboards, so it never touches your other
dashboards' data. The same actions are available as the
smart_ev_charging.install_dashboard and
smart_ev_charging.uninstall_dashboard services (e.g. from an automation
or the developer tools). Blueprints are different — they're just files
Home Assistant reads from disk, so they install the moment the file lands
in the blueprints directory.
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| "Smart EV Charging" doesn't appear in + Add Integration | custom_components/smart_ev_charging/ is missing or HA wasn't restarted after install |
| Blueprint not listed under Settings > Blueprints after adding the integration | Check the "Smart EV Charging: setup" notification confirmed it was synced; verify blueprints/automation/smart_ev_charging/smart_ev_charging.yaml directly |
| Creating the automation from the blueprint fails with "Message malformed: value should be a string for dictionary value @ ...['action']" | You have a pre-1.3.1 copy of the blueprint. Restart Home Assistant once (the integration re-syncs the blueprint file on every restart, unlike the dashboard) or delete blueprints/automation/smart_ev_charging/smart_ev_charging.yaml and restart to force a fresh copy |
| Helpers/sensors from the package don't exist | configuration.yaml is missing the packages: include, or HA wasn't restarted |
| Scripts fail with "not found" | configuration.yaml is missing the script: !include_dir_merge_named scripts include. Add it and reload. The automation itself won't break without the debug script (script.ev_debug_log) — it only skips the debug-log lines — but the notification/booking-keeping scripts must exist. The integration copies the scripts into config/scripts/ on setup; if they're still missing, add the include (and the packages: include) to configuration.yaml and restart |
sensor.ev_battery_percentage / sensor.ev_charging_power / sensor.ev_energy_meter don't exist |
That field was left empty in the integration's config flow — expected, it's optional |
binary_sensor.ev_vehicle_connected etc. show "unavailable" |
The source entity picked in the integration's config flow is itself unavailable — check it directly |
binary_sensor.ev_vehicle_connected/ev_charging_active never turn on, even though the source status sensor changes |
No "matching states" were marked for that source in the config flow's "Status sensor states" screen, or the ticked values don't match your source sensor's actual ones — re-open Configure and pick the exact states (matching is case-insensitive, but must otherwise match exactly) |
| Notifications never arrive | Confirm the device is still listed under Settings > Devices & Services > Mobile App, and that it's actually selected in the blueprint's "Notify Devices" field |
| Blueprint's "Notify Devices" field is empty or missing | Your Home Assistant version is older than 2026.5 — this field needs mobile_app notify entities, which didn't exist before that release |
| "Charge now"/"Stop charging" notification buttons do nothing | Confirm the Companion App has notification permissions and background access; check input_text.ev_last_notification_action in the Debug dashboard section to see if the event even arrived |
Dashboard shows "entity not found" for automation.smart_ev_charging |
You renamed the automation created from the blueprint — update that one reference in the dashboard YAML |
| Duration/cost sensors look wrong after a restart | Confirm input_boolean.ev_session_tracking reflects the actual charging state — toggle charging_active off/on once to resync |
| "Smart charging is installed but disabled" repair notice in Settings > System > Repairs | input_boolean.ev_follow_price ("EV Smart Charging Enabled") is off, so the system is in Manual mode. Turn it on from the dashboard or run script.ev_enable_smart_charging to clear the notice |
| Today/this-week energy & cost tiles freeze mid-session (stay at last session's numbers) | You're on v1.6.6 or earlier. Upgrade to v1.7.0 — the utility meters now track the live charger meter and a continuous cost integral instead of only updating when a session closes |
Long-term statistics start time is in the future / unit-mismatch warnings for cost/energy long-term statistics |
Statistics were compiled before the sensor had a unit. In Developer Tools > Statistics > Fix the issue, update the unit for sensor.ev_charging_cost_accumulated (and any merged duplicates), or delete the old statistics and let them rebuild |
| Upgrading from v1.6.x doesn't apply the new package YAML (meters/charts unchanged) | The package is copied once into config/packages/ and never overwritten. After upgrading, manually replace config/packages/smart_ev_charging.yaml with the new copy from the release and restart, so v1.7.0's re-sourced meters take effect |
Turn on input_boolean.ev_debug_logging and watch the Logbook, or check
the "🐞 Debug" dashboard section — it surfaces every raw helper, every
template sensor, and the automation's last decision in one place.
- Native
custom_componentsintegration with a UI config flow (no manual helper editing) - Multi-vehicle support (multiple config entries, prefixed entities)
- Direct Energy Dashboard cost integration
- Built-in fixed-price-threshold helper (no separate template needed)
- Additional language translations for notifications and the config flow (currently English only)
- Home Assistant Energy Dashboard "EV charging" native card support
- Automated tests (
pytest) — unit tests for the config-flow state-picker and binary-sensor state parsing; run withpython -m pytest(see the Testing section below). Apytest-homeassistant-custom-componentharness / CI YAML is still not in place, so the tests exercise the pure logic against stubbed Home Assistant modules rather than a running instance
The integration ships a self-contained pytest suite for its pure logic —
the config-flow "matching states" pickers and the binary-sensor state
parsing. It depends only on pytest (Home Assistant packages are stubbed
out), so it runs anywhere without an HA install:
python -m pytest
The tests cover: which entity sources get a matching-states picker, how
possible state options are collected and de-duplicated, the structure of
the resulting select-selector schema, and how comma-separated/list
"on states" are normalised.
Issues and pull requests are welcome. Please keep YAML changes consistent with the existing style (comments explaining why, not what; shared logic in the scripts/packages YAML, not duplicated across the blueprint).