Solar Panels and EV Car Chargers

Solar Panels and EV car chargers go hand in hand.  The first thing you need to know is that you don’t need great weather to make it work,  just think about how solar panels are used in Germany which has a very similar solar resource to Ireland, i.e. you get similar amounts of energy from solar panels in Ireland as you do in Germany.

Your EV car as a solar battery

solar panels and ev car chargers

Solar panels and ev car chargers

Solar panels and EV Car chargers in one system includes  solar panels mounted on your roof or on a car port, a suitable EV car charger and an optional battery pack.  The battery pack is optional for the moment due to cost but will soon be a very beneficial part of the system, for now we can use your EV car as the battery.

When the sun shines the solar panels start to generate electricity,  this goes firstly to your house or building's electricity supply and feeds anything that is using electricity at that time,  the washing machine at home for example or computers / machinery  if you are in a work setting.   However if the solar panels start to produce more electricity than is required at that time they either spill the excess energy onto the grid (you give it away for free..)  or you just stop generating, either way you do not benefit from this excess.

No Waste

By including EV Car Chargers in your system you can eliminate some or all of this waste.  This can happen by one of two ways.  You can simply plug in your car to the EV car charger and this increases the electricity load which will decrease the chances of exporting any excess onto the grid.  Or the EV car charger can communicate with the solar panels inverter, and tell it that there is a car ready to be charged,  this system turns on the EV car charger automatically and charges your car using the  available electricity from the solar panels.

Like Charging a Cell Phone

When you get an EV Car you will go through a fundamental change in how you think about refueling your car.   We currently have a a "gorging" mentality where we get a lot of energy in a very fast time. But an EV car charger calls for a "grazing" mentality often called "opportunistic charging." Eventually, you’ll charge your car the way you charge your phone: while you sleep or work, and just about anytime you don’t need it in your hand.

The problem at the moment is that we’ve got 100 years of cultural norm that teaches us that we have to pull over somewhere to refuel in three to five minutes.  That will change with the introduction of more EV car chargers.  You will charge you car at home or at work and bypass the filling station altogether. Today’s children will think us silly that we ever pulled off the road to charge.  - why bother when you can do at home using your own solar energy?

Here is a good video showing how solar PV and EV car chargers can interact, from the USA but very similar to Ireland..