Solar and electric vehicles

khris210

Further reply! Sorry, fat finger problem. My panels produce 2100 kWh PA not 2700!

GreenBo

pinnks wrote: »

That's true and I think the Smappee can also do something similar, though I don't have one so could be mistaken.

Thanks piinks, you're right, I just found it now. I can switch one of their Comfort Plugs on or off depending on a threshold you set for the solar production. e.g. solar over X then switch on EV charger, solar below X then switch it off again. Guess I should have read the manual

zeupater

khris210 wrote: »

If you charge an EV .... mostly on the timer from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm. Summer will extend the early morning hours when we are not otherwise using power, so it will be fully charged by 8 am. Result! The figures are interesting but don't get uptight about them.

Hi

Charging an EV from a pv system which generates around 2100kWh/year and you seriously expect it to be fully charged in early morning light between sunrise and 8am ??? .... :think:

HTH
Z

EricMears

It's an old thread but still relevant so I'll keep using it.

If you use a type 1 charger lead (i.e. one with a 13A on the end) it will only draw 10A anyway so unless your wiring is very dodgy should be fine in a 13A socket on a ring main (providing rest of ring isn't too busy). But if you're worried about it, most such leads can be adjusted to 6A output anyway.

Most EV owners are happy to use an E7 supply anyway (because they want to be out driving when the sun is shining and may not have a long enough lead for that ) but if you are at home during the day, using own solar electricity will be free providing you've an excess of at least 1.4kW (@6A or 2.4kW @10A dependent on mains supply voltage which I assume close to 240V but could quite legally be anywhere in range 220V - 250V). Even if you have less 'spare' than that, part solar, part mains will be cheaper than E7 if you've got more than half of those amounts (the 'half' is nominal - some RECs drop price more than half; others give only a small discount).

An Immersun (or similar) sounds a good idea - but is only really good for seeing how much spare you have. Dropping voltage by too much (or phase shifting if you're a 'poor relation') may give unpredictable results.

I've heard today from Immersun that they now have an EV of their own and are working on a project to see if they can offer an 'add on' specifically for EV charging. But don't hold your breath - the MyImmersun project seemed to take forever and I still don't consider it finished.