EV Car ordered - Options for potentially using solar to charge?

hollie.weimeraner

I moved from Sheffield to Lincoln this year and lost my beloved solar panels.  Anyway I have a relatively energy efficient house but no solar panels. I will be taking delivery of a Kia E Niro in January and am having a Zappi charger fitted that is supposedly compatible with solar panels.
I know solar panels themselves are no longer financially viable but the car will be charging in a garage with a South facing roof so wondered at options for having some installed as cheaply as possible.
Any suggestions? (Garage is detached and no room for panels on the house roof)

Spies

hollie.weimeraner said:

I know solar panels themselves are no longer financially viable 

This isn't exactly true.

tacpot12

Will the car be at home during the day? If not, you will also need battery storage which may make a solar PV installation uneconomic. 

hollie.weimeraner

Yes I work from home now so charging would be whilst the sun is out 

Reed_Richards

hollie.weimeraner said:

... the car will be charging in a garage with a South facing roof so wondered at options for having some installed as cheaply as possible.

You should not need scaffolding so that should bring down your installation cost.  But you won't get many panels on a typical garage roof and car batteries are very hungry for energy so the panels might not make much of a dent in your total charging requirement.  

Coastalwatch

Just a thought Hollie, if there is no room for panels on the roof how about some in the garden if sufficient room and aspect!

sjcsystems

hollie.weimeraner said:

I moved from Sheffield to Lincoln this year and lost my beloved solar panels.  Anyway I have a relatively energy efficient house but no solar panels. I will be taking delivery of a Kia E Niro in January and am having a Zappi charger fitted that is supposedly compatible with solar panels.
I know solar panels themselves are no longer financially viable but the car will be charging in a garage with a South facing roof so wondered at options for having some installed as cheaply as possible.
Any suggestions? (Garage is detached and no room for panels on the house roof)

Hi Hollie
I'm expecting an e Niro next week.  Originally I was told there are black only, but now I understand there are blue, white and black.  Some have the new Kia logo on them so are newer build, but still old shape.  I'm intending to put solar on my bungalow for some charging during the sunny months.  I've got my Zappi coming in a fortnight.  
The thing with garage roofs is often they are not built to take the weight of solar.  Be careful if you have an asbestos roof, and also if it's flat.  You can get cradles but panels must be weighed down.  You're really looking at an off-grid solution but you need proper advice.  Try Bimblesolar or pluginpower etc.

Bluebell1000

Hello, Kia eniro owner in Lincoln here 🙂 with the chargers you need to be generating 1.2-1.3kW before you can charge fully on solar, they have a minimum charge level. We can mostly run on solar approx Mar-Oct, with a 3.5kWh system of panels (though our mileage isn't very high). If your possible panels are quite low powered you might not get much useful electric for the car. Octopus Go at 5p per kW on their EV tariff for 4 hours overnight may well be a better solution... We use that tariff for charging through winter.

hollie.weimeraner

sjcsystems said:

Hi Hollie
I'm expecting an e Niro next week.  Originally I was told there are black only, but now I understand there are blue, white and black.  

I'm taking delivery of a Perl White Niro 4 MY2020 which I know is old stock but has only delivery miles on it and as it isn't registered will be registered as a 2022 vehicle.  My test drive was in a MY2020 4 so I'm happy with what I'm getting.  The new 3 which is supposedly the 4 equivalent doesn't have the heat pump and the 4+ was too expensive for me. The car has 4k off the list price and 2nd hand are selling for more than I'm paying so hopefully it'll be ok. Sourcing a charger has been problematic in so much as the grant is ending and everyone is busy + some minor issues with my electrics even though the house is only 5 years old.

Heedtheadvice

....as per the above comments, plus...

The Zappi (I don't know about others in detail) is good for charging with low solar output levels as it can be set to make best use of solar with additional power from grid when required. Also it can be set to use periods of overnight cheaper energy (if you have that and suitable connections).

Not the cheapest charger but very flexible.

Martyn1981

Just a general thought for PV charging - Eric has mentioned that he has a variable granny charger that can operate at half the watts, which would be very useful for us in the shoulder months. And also some cars can vary the amps when charging, ours now let's us choose 5A or 10A on the granny charger, and 16A or 32A from the 7kW charger, which will make life easier next year from Mch(ish) onwards.