Tesla automation

Last updated 27-Feb-2024

Tesla have made extensuive changes to the 3rd party app access but thankfully also to the shortcuts that can be embedded in iOS and Android devices which means 3rd party apps are required less than they used to be.

We've created a video on iOS shortcuts and scheduling, and while this is not as flexible as our previous approach where you could embed our requests in a variety of tools, you can now only retrieve car data. That said, the data can still be used in an iOS routine for automation.

Why can I not call the Tesla API myself?

You can, the API is documented on the internet, however it is not that straightforward.

To execute a command such as start charging, the following steps are required:

• Obtain the API token. These expire every 8 hours or so, but can be regenerated from the Refresh token
• Wake up the car if it is asleep. You need to know the car Id to do this, although if you're able to generate the API token, you'll be able to get this information too.
• Wait for the car to report that it is awake.
• Send the request
• Retrieve the data

To make life easier, we perform all these steps behind the scenes, youjust provide the refresh token and the request, optionally the car Id if you have multiple cars on the account (otherwise we default to the first car on the account) and then report back success or fail. If the request is for information, then we return the information in JSON format enabling the information to be used in other programmes.

Token generation

We have created a utility to generate a Tesla token. This utility uses a Tesla feature so we do not need your Tesla user name and password, and will return the Tesla token and the vehicle ID for each car on your account.

The only way to expire a refresh token is to change your password on MyTesla.

For the purposes of the examples below we will use [token] to represent the use of the API token, and [refresh] the use of the refresh token.

Command builder

You can generate your own command to get car data using the simple command builder below. We have removed support for sending requests as these are being retired by Tesla and replaced with a new approach which is more complicated and requires various approvals. Tesla are also leaving the door open to charge for the use of this approach and as we provide our services for freem this is not something we can sustain.

Tesla have started to reorder the cars on your account and it's now not always safe to assume the order if you have more than one car. While we will default to the first car on the account if no car is specified, and this is fine for accounts with only one car, it is prudent to provide the car id to be sure the right car is used when there are multiple cares on an account.

Finally, some of the commands are dependant on state, e.g. the heated steering wheel and heated seats require the HVAC to be turned on first.

Example of the results

We have created a fairly simple API which in practice just looks like a web page URL. The format for the API is as follows, which will work on the first car on your Tesla account (for most people this will be their only car on the account).

https://tesla-info.com/api/control_v3.php?refresh=[refresh]&request=get_data

An example of the response is:

{"car":"MyTeslaCarName", "response":{"battery_heater":false, "battery_heater_no_power":null, "climate_keeper_mode":"off", "defrost_mode":0, "driver_temp_setting":20.0, "fan_status":0, "inside_temp":8.7, "is_auto_conditioning_on":false, "is_climate_on":false, "is_front_defroster_on":false, "is_preconditioning":false, "is_rear_defroster_on":false, "left_temp_direction":906, "max_avail_temp":28.0, "min_avail_temp":15.0, "outside_temp":5.5, "passenger_temp_setting":20.0, "remote_heater_control_enabled":false, "right_temp_direction":897, "seat_heater_left":0, "seat_heater_rear_center":0, "seat_heater_rear_left":0, "seat_heater_rear_right":0, "seat_heater_right":0, "side_mirror_heaters":false, "timestamp":1637933181574, "wiper_blade_heater":false}, "token":"qts-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"}