How do I set EV charging controlls?

Nicholas Wodzinski

Updated May 22, 2026 05:05

Depending on your site’s setup, your EV controls and layout may look different. See the compatibility guide for more details.

Charging controls

Amber for EVs gives you a set of tools to control how and when your car charges at home.
Here's what each one does.

Charging modes

These are the core automated controls. You can turn them on individually or use them together. Your car will charge whenever any of the rules you've set are being met (reminder if no rules are set, your EV will not charge).

Charge Level

Opportunity Charge

Set a wholesale price threshold (e.g. 10c/kWh) and Amber will automatically charge your car whenever the price drops to or below that level. Charging stops if the current price goes above your threshold.

Recovery Charge

Set another wholesale price threshold (eg.15c/kWh) that will only trigger when your EV battery is below a particular state of charge (soc%). Recovery charge is like a safety net rule that prioritises keeping some minimum amount of charge in your EV, at a higher price than you would normally expect at other times.

Schedule Charging

If you want to limit your charging to only during certain times of the day, you can use scheduled charging.

By setting a start time and end time, in combination with a price threshold, your EV will charge during those times when the price is below the threshold.

Ready-By

Need your car charged to a specific level by a certain time?

Ready-By lets you set a target state of charge (for example, 80%) and a deadline (for example, 8am tomorrow). Amber then builds a smart charging plan to hit your goal using the cheapest available 5-minute intervals.

Minimise Charging from battery

When this is on, Amber automatically puts your home battery into Preserve Charge mode whenever your EV starts charging. That stops the battery from discharging into the car, and helps protect against your home's import limit being exceeded (which could trip your circuit breaker).

The trade-off: your battery and EV won't charge at the same time.

Home Power Setup

Let us know if your home is on single or three phase.

Set the maximum rate at which Amber will charge your car. This is useful for managing your home's overall power use, particularly if you've got a slower charger or want to stay within the safe limits of your circuit.