Sean Wallbridge
Sure, I could pull out my phone, open the Tesla app, and remotely adjust the temperature, every day, for every trip. However, I’d rather not spend my time poking at the screen like some plebeian commoner. I’m more than a moderately trained monkey with a nice car. 🙂
We’ve cracked the code, using the Microsoft Office 365 suite because that’s where we live and work at Regroove – our ‘suite spot’.
Why not innovate? Why not automate?
Sean Wallbridge
Picture This…
Imagine it’s a cold, frosty winter morning, much like they are here in Victoria, BC Canada from November through March.
You get up, get dressed, throw back a coffee, and scramble out the door to find your car parked in the driveway covered in frost. You pry open the frozen car door, fire up the defroster, and start scraping away at every window in the bitter cold.
Imagine skipping all the hassle and having a warm, defrosted, comfy car waiting for you when you step outside. Your seats can be warm and ready for your bum with zero effort from you or any other human intervention.
That was my dream, and now it’s a reality with this personalized Microsoft Office 365 Power Automate flow.
I got my Tesla Model 3 in October 2019 and I have been blown away at how very unlike a typical car it really is. You can read more about the car here.
It’s like driving an iPhone, it’s just not like other cars.
Full control of the Model 3 though the Tesla app is one thing, but I wanted to automate the entire process.
WARNING – Nerdotopia
Buckle up, it’s about to get all nerdy in here…
Sharing is Caring
Inspired by a post originally from the user Pål-Andre Kjønikse (sadly it appears his blog is no longer online) and referencing this Tesla API, my colleague Rob and I created and shared this template (an exported Flow as a ZIP): “TURN ON TESLA CLIMATE SYSTEM” and we have submitted it to the power automate gallery as the building block for creating your own automated Tesla functionality. Hopefully it will be approved shortly so you can create your own Flows right from within Power Automate vs uploading this template – stay tuned!
“Turn on Tesla Climate System” gives you all the logic you’ll need to access the climate controls in your vehicle using only your Tesla username & password, and Power Automate and implemented as a ‘button’ for manual testing (for now). What you do with it after is up to you!
Be sure to read the details in the FAQ below regarding licensing as the basic Flow/Power Automate plans for Office 365 won’t give you the goods to run this unfortunately.
About My Personal Tesla Flow
From the above primer that we are sharing, we then took the concept further to satisfy my own needs. We took the provided foundation and personalized a Power Automate flow that then reads my Office 365 Exchange calendar, determining by means of finding a “Comfy Car” appointment which means I want the car to be cozy in advance of a particular appointment.
Once “Comfy Car” is detected, the flow then identifies the current temperature outside of the vehicle using tech built into the Model 3. I didn’t want it to simply assume a temperature where I live (in this case, specifically Brentwood Bay, BC), as I might not actually be there with my car. So it made more sense to get the outside temperature of the car, which was easily obtainable via the Tesla interface.
Knowing when I plan to leave (the ‘Comfy Car‘ appointment), how warm the car will need to be (20’C) if the outside temperature is uncomfortable (10’C or under); the flow turns on the climate in the Tesla at the desired time and temperature as well as turning my heated seat on (I have a delicate bottom) making for an awesome, personalized experience.
Finally, it wouldn’t be me if…
It wouldn’t be me if this process ended up a little sassy. As the ‘cherry on top’, I get sent text notifying me that my ‘Chariot Awaits!’, done in a manner that always gives me a giggle when it arrives.
How Flow will you go?
What will you do with your flow?
We used the template to create a personalized comfy car and get notified when it’s ready to go; how will you personalize and automate your ride with the template?
Get started today with the Power Automate Turn on Tesla Climate System template. And please share with us how you extend it to suit your own needs!
Frequently Asked Questions
I know I’m going to get feedback, both positive and negative on this. Tesla is hot hot hot right now (duh) and for good reason. This flow was actually created some time ago but we’ve been too busy to find the time to tell the story until now. Anyways, on to the questions I’ve already had or I have anticipated.
Nope. Nada. No free support or warranty. We produced the fancy flow to warm my butt (that wasn’t shared as it has personal stuff in there). The smaller version (the template) contains the pieces you should need to get started on your own Tesla automation journey. There is no warranty either – what you do with it, is up to you and on you.
That said, if you want to pay us to help you do more with your Tesla, or automate and empower your business and/or business processes using Office 365, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, PowerBI – then giddy up. Let’s do that because that’s what we do at Regroove. Drop us a line!
I looked into a number of SMS/Text actions for Power Automate and came across this helpful article by Pieter Veenstra that helped narrow my search. In the end, we went with https://www.plivo.com.
Yep, sure do. Actually, as a nod to John White and his shark attack tracker, the next step is to output the date, time, temperature and location of when Comfy Car kicked in so that we can all track how often I warm my butt … because that’s some interesting shit! 🙂
Yep. And see the next note about Power Automate licensing. We made this for use with Office 365/Power Automate. This is absolutely possible using Zapier, IFTTT, etc. but this post and our core expertise is about using Office 365 to empower people and businesses so that’s why we chose Office 365.
Great question, because this is very confusing and Microsoft is NOT helpful in this regard. The moving target of PowerApps licensing and Power Automate licensing (and renaming) is enough to make your head spin). If you are looking for a comprehensive (and lengthy) overview, check out this post by Jussi Roine.
You WILL need the more powerful/capable Power Automate plans (Power Automate per user plan or Power Automate per flow plan) to interact with your Tesla as it is using web services to function.
If you don’t have sufficient licensing, you’ll get the following when you attempt to import the template: “One or more resources didn’t import. See the error details to resolve the issues, and try importing again.” and ” The user ‘long_cryptic_guid’ does not have a service plan adequate for the non-Standard connection.”