Charge HQ has closed. Here's the honest answer on whether we fit.
Charge HQ closed on 2026-09-07, and their alternatives page is upfront that there is no drop-in replacement. That is true, and it is true of us too. So this page starts with who we are not for.
SolarSmartCharge does one thing: it watches your rooftop solar and matches your Tesla's charging amps to the surplus, so the power goes into the car instead of onto the grid. Software only — no Powerwall, no hardware, no electrician.
30-day trial, full access, no credit card.
Read this part first
We fit if you have
- ✓ A Tesla — we control the car directly
- ✓ Rooftop solar of any brand
- ✓ A US utility tariff, especially NEM 3.0
- ✓ No home battery — none is needed
We do not fit if you have
- ✗ A non-Tesla EV, or you charge through an OCPP wall charger — we have no OCPP support
- ✗ An Australian tariff, or you relied on Amber wholesale prices
- ✗ A preference for self-hosting with no cloud service
If you are in the second column, Charge HQ's own alternatives page is the better starting point. Amber for EVs is the closest successor for Australian users, Overflow EV covers Tesla plus OCPP chargers across many inverter brands, and EVCC, ChargeHA and WattSnatch are free and self-hosted if you are happy running a Raspberry Pi. We would rather point you there than take a subscription you cannot use.
What carries over, and what does not
| Charge HQ | SolarSmartCharge | |
|---|---|---|
| Surplus-solar charging | Yes | Yes |
| Hardware required | None | None |
| Home battery required | No | No |
| Vehicles | Tesla + many brands via OCPP | Tesla only |
| Wall chargers | OCPP | Not supported |
| Solar systems | ~11 inverter brands | Tesla Solar, SolarEdge, Emporia Vue monitor — plus estimate mode for any other array |
| Market | Australia-first | US-first, built for NEM 3.0 |
| Time-of-use aware | Yes | Yes |
| Charge by a deadline | "Ready by" | Yes — a grid-backed floor, with a verdict on whether the deadline can still be met |
| Price | Closed | $10/month |
Charge HQ details are taken from their own public pages as of 2026-08-31. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
You probably do not need us to support your brand
Charge HQ read about eleven inverter brands directly. We read three — Tesla Solar, SolarEdge, and any array at all through an Emporia Vue energy monitor. Enphase is coming soon.
Everything else works in estimate mode. You enter your system size and location, and we model production from live irradiance and cloud cover for your location. Fronius, Growatt, Solis, SolaX, GoodWe, Sungrow, SMA, or a string inverter with no API at all — all of these are estimate-mode systems, and the estimate is what the controller acts on.
We are deliberate about this distinction elsewhere in the app: a modelled reading is never drawn as a measurement, and while the model is uncertain the controller holds rather than guesses.
We charge $10/month, and we will tell you why
Several new apps in this category are free right now, and that is a fair question to put to us. Charge HQ's own history is the answer: they charged about A$7/month, and when Tesla began charging developers for API access in October 2023 the margin between what a subscription cost and what it saved a user stopped working.
Every app that talks to a Tesla pays that same bill. Our answer is to name a price and then keep it payable: the dashboard makes no billable calls to your car at all, and the controller reads the stream your car pushes instead of polling it for answers.
30 days, full access, no credit card. Cancel in one tap.
Common questions from Charge HQ users
When exactly did Charge HQ close?
2026-09-07, the date their own site gave. Subscription charges stopped on 6 July 2026 and new sign-ups had closed before that. Charge HQ was acquired by Amber Electric in January 2025, and Amber has said its focus moved to vehicle-to-grid and whole-of-site optimisation.
Can I export my Charge HQ history and bring it over?
No. There is no import path, and with Charge HQ closed its own export is no longer retrievable either. We start your history fresh from the day you connect, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Do I need a Powerwall?
No. That is Tesla's own Charge on Solar feature, which lists a Powerwall among its requirements. This works from your solar production directly, with no home battery.
What does it actually send to my car?
Charging commands only — amps, charge limit, start and stop — plus a wake so the car can receive them, and two housekeeping commands so our schedule and Tesla's own do not fight. Never lock, unlock, climate or drive. Superchargers are detected and never interfered with.
What if it turns out not to suit me?
Cancel in the app. The trial takes no card, so doing nothing costs nothing.