[electric_journey]

Have remembered another HA feature I make use of for the BMW - if the SOC is below 60% & it's unplugged, I get a notification at 8pm to remind me to plug the car in. This is announced over the Alexa devices I have.

@jono987654321 Cool!

 

[electric_journey]

Yeah. Why would they design it this way - seems such a simple thing to include - if car's locked and a window's down, send a notification.

In the current state (of the BMW API) I'd not invest in HA purely for BMW as it ain't working well this week!

@jono987654321 Ah, gotcha. That's annoying that it's not entirely reliable.

Yeah, from an app perspective, they don't seem to have grasped some of the basic functions that a driver of the car would actually find tremendously useful.

 

[electric_journey]

So, for me, I use it for only a couple of simple things.

My electric provider’s charging process involves me telling it what %age charge I need to add. The provider then creates a schedule.

It’s useful that the HA automation I wrote, checks the SOC of my car and then using the electric provider’s API, does the maths for me by setting the correct percentage (assuming 80% target).

Another thing I use it for is to plot my journeys on a map for the previous 45 days - helps me remember where I’ve been when I come to do an expenses claim.

Oh a third thing is I can get an alert if I’ve left a window down.

@jono987654321 Thanks! For me, the 3rd thing would be super helpful, as I've noticed that even if one of the windows is slightly open, and I arrive home, but forget to close that window, then the car will lock and the alarm will arm, without notifying me on the app that my window is still open.

It's only if I subsequently open the MyBMW app would it show that a window is open, but that isn't a natural step when I arrive somewhere, so I will check out home assistant now.

 

[electric_journey]

Surprised there's no-one here using Home Assistant for their cars. BMW's API is still having issues 24 hours on.

It doesn't seem they've completely blocked access as it'll work for a while then stop again.

@jono987654321 What's the advantage of using home assistant vs the mybmw app (either on the phone or the watch)?