evcc, the open-source energy manager that charges electric cars from solar surplus, released version 0.318.0 on 24 October 2026, followed by the bugfix release 0.318.1 on 25 October. The headline change is an automatic mode for the optimizer. There is also local support for Tuya-based wallboxes, a guided first-run setup and a few breaking changes worth reading before you update.

The optimizer stops only giving advice

Until now, evcc's optimizer calculated suggestions and displayed them. With automatic mode switched on, it acts on them. The switch is off by default, so nothing changes until you turn it on. According to the pull request description:

  • in the pv and minpv modes the optimizer decides when charging starts and stops, while current and phase selection stay with the loadpoint;
  • off and fast charging remain your decision; the optimizer plans around them and never overrides them;
  • the home battery is controlled too: normal, hold, charge and hold-charge states come from the optimization instead of the grid charge limit and discharge control;
  • charging plans keep working, with the plan goal becoming a constraint of the optimization;
  • the optimization runs every five minutes, and immediately after you change a plan, a limit or a mode or plug in a car.

Settings that the optimizer takes over, such as smart cost limits and battery grid charging, are greyed out in the interface while automatic mode is active. Stored values are kept and return when the mode is switched off. If the optimizer result is missing or more than two slots old, loadpoints fall back to plain solar surplus charging and the battery is released to normal operation.

Tuya wallboxes without the cloud

A new charger driver talks to Tuya-based wallboxes over Tuya's local LAN protocol (versions 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5, detected automatically). The pull request lists chargers sold under the dé, Feyree, Absina, EcoPower, Goodcell, iSIGMA and Kolanky names. Operation needs no cloud access and no Home Assistant. There is one catch: the device ID and local key have to be read once, for example with tinytuya wizard, which requires a Tuya IoT platform account.

Other additions include the Grizzl-E Mini Connect charger over OCPP, CHINT DTSU666 meters, SENEC .Home V4, the Mazda 6e and CX-6e, and new tariffs: EDF Tempo, Frank Energie, Great Britain in the price forecast and a Home Assistant solar forecast.

Easier first setup

The configuration interface now opens with a guided first-run flow. It asks for an admin password, site details, then the home battery, solar system, grid meter and a charging point or heater. A "Complete your setup" checklist then shows what is still missing, such as tariffs or the solar forecast.

Check before updating

The release marks four breaking changes. The most visible: each installation now announces itself over mDNS as evcc- plus eight hexadecimal characters instead of plain evcc, because several instances on one network were fighting over the same name. The evcc app matches by prefix, but other tools that look for the old name need updating. The SofarSolar G3 battery modes now write maximum charge and discharge power, battery limit plugins expose their errors, and the help text for the Home Assistant battery direction has changed.