Start charge session

Use this action to start a new charge session on one of your Blue Current charge points. You can optionally provide a charging card ID to start the session with a specific card.

This is handy in an automation, for example, to start charging your car automatically when cheaper night-time electricity rates begin.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To start a charge session from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. From the search box, search for and select Blue Current: Start charge session.
6. Select the Device to start the session on. Optionally, set Charging card ID.
7. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as blue_current.start_charge_session. A basic example looks like this:

action: blue_current.start_charge_session
data:
  device_id: a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4

This starts a charge session on the selected charge point without a charging card.

Options in YAML

Good to know

• When you do not provide a charging card ID, the session starts without a charging card.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: start charging when night rates begin

When the cheaper night-time electricity rate starts, begin a charge session on your charge point.

• Trigger: Night-time tariff helper turns on
• Action: Blue Current: Start charge session

alias: "Start charging at night rate"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.night_tariff
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: blue_current.start_charge_session
    data:
      device_id: a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.