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Direct Tesla Connect On DIMO Mobile

March 25, 2022

Last week, we quietly launched the DIMO Mobile app on the Apple App Store! (Android is coming 🔜)

It’s not anywhere near complete (check out all the new features coming soon here), but we couldn’t wait to get it out because it unlocks one MASSIVE new feature for our single biggest group of users: Tesla owners!

Tesla: Green suits you

Tesla owners can now connect directly to their vehicles using the mobile app (no hardware required!). This is an upgrade from the Smartcar facilitated connection on the webapp (app.dimo.zone) and Tesla owners can follow the upgrade path in the app to switch over their connection.

This step will allow us to build more advanced features into future versions of the app:

  • Trip tracking - allowing you to remember the big road trip, or track vehicle usage for tax savings or expense reporting
  • Software version history tracking
  • Lock Unlock & Climate Control (if you want to enable it)
  • Deep battery performance insights (more on that below)

This new feature means a 280x improvement in data collection and best-in-class security. Soon it will be able to help answer important questions:

  • How much worse does your range get in colder weather?
  • Worried about battery degradation with frequent supercharging?
  • Want to make sure you’re charging during the most optimal time for the electric grid?

Want to learn how we’re building the best 3rd party app experience for Teslas? Read on about security, additional features, and all the awesome data you're going to be able to collect.

Not a Tesla driver? The app also supports the same list of Smartcar compatible cars - so you can have a dashboard with your whole garage!


Want to get Started?

iOS only today, Android in April


Connecting Your Tesla Via the DIMO Mobile App

Getting started with the upgraded Tesla connection is easy, whether you're already signed up or if you're adding your Tesla to DIMO for the first time.

We've Designed This Integration Around Security

Here's how it works -

  • You enter your Tesla credentials into the Tesla website; DIMO never receives these
  • DIMO stores a limited access token just as the official Tesla app does
  • These tokens are encrypted at rest and in transit using AWS KMS, which performs all cryptographic operations in dedicated hardware modules

Best In-Class Performance & Battery Drain

  • We issue a wake-up command to the car upon first connection, so that as long as the vehicle is connected via cell or wifi, you should see data right away; we will never wake up the vehicle remotely again
  • When the car is online but idling (neither driving nor charging), DIMO switches to using Tesla's streaming data API to monitor the car for activity
  • This API returns enough information to detect activity and will not keep the car awake

Tesla appears to wake up the car every hour or so, independent of DIMO, so you'll usually still get regular data.

Protect Your Privacy: DIMO knows users value their privacy, particularly for their location and driving habits. More info on privacy here, including instructions on how to set your privacy fence.

What kind of data is available?

When the car is driving around and charging, we get a data point every minute (240x the frequency of existing software-only DIMO connections)

Tesla provides many fields on your charging and battery performance - they show up like this:  

Don't worry, we're keeping track of it all. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg -  there are a ton of additional fields available!

Keep an eye out for some nice time-series charts in the mobile app - for now, you can see them on the web. Just add your vehicle via iOS app, then login to app.dimo.zone once you've driven around a bit.

All the data. 

Tesla is really leading the pack on open data available from their vehicles, with only one exception: tire pressure data. It's the only major way we've seen their API lagging behind Ford, GM, and other OEMs.

You won't see tire pressure data until Tesla adds it to their API. 

The DIMO-verse is just getting rolling. We hope you enjoy using the DIMO Mobile App. There are a few ways to help too:

Do You Know a bunch of other Tesla owners?

Help grow DIMO, and earn more by referring your friends! Go to app.dimo.zone, log in, and grab your referral link.

We’re growing our core team

With these new integrations, we’ll be collecting a mountain of valuable data and want to put it to work helping DIMO users save time and money.

If you are (or know) someone who would be a great fit for the role - reach out!

Jobs.DIMO.Zone

Written by: Alex Rawitz Cofounder

Alex Rawitz has spent 10 years in and around startups in the crypto and IoT world, and is always looking to put these technologies to work making people’s lives better. Prior to DIMO, Alex worked with exchanges, defi protocols, and fintechs at Chainalysis. Before that he worked in sales at Servato, an IoT company in the telecom space. He started his career at a startup accelerator, The Idea Village, in New Orleans.

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