Solar panel charging

[rnlcarlov]

Maybe the most simple way to charge an EV with solar power is this:
http://myenergi.uk/product/zappi/

It's not exactly cheap (but then again, EVSEs rarely are). Since it can adjust charging current with the amount of PV production available, you probably can't get much more optimized than this. Of couse, the car still has its lower limit of amp charging.

 

[jray3]

Nice to see products like this for places that don't have fair net metering laws, or you just want hang on to your own electrons out of principle.

Seattle EV Assoc had a presentation last night from the Powerflex Adaptive Charging Network http://powerflexsystems.com.s3-website-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/,
which allows full utilization of a building's electrical capacity by ramping EV charging loads up and down according to what is available at that moment after building demands.

Later versions hope to allow different levels of prioritization so that tenants may have some certainty that their car will be charged by a particular time.

 

[rnlcarlov]

Nice to see products like this for places that don't have fair net metering laws,

Tell me about it! Here in Portugal excess solar power can be sold to the grid at the fantastic price of 0.04€/kwh. No wonder everyone here is trying to use all their surplus power in-house. Some people use immersun, which channels that excess for resistive loads. One guy I know configured that device to turn on-off an EVSE as when a determined surplus is achieved. But something like zappi is much better, definitely.

 

[bradleydavidgood777]

So charging at 120V draws half of the 1265 watts?

I am arranging a bank of 4 marine batteries and an inverter charged with a turbine and 2 panels.

Was wondering how many watts the 120v charger draws and didn't look it up yet.

I get most of my charge for free at the parking lot at work, but like to top it off a little in case of detour on the way to work in the morning or longer errands at night. So I can dump the battery charge into the car every night and that would be great.

So 120V draws 632.5 watts?

Is that the minimum watts to get it to charge or will it charge with less watts going in?

I guess it would charge but would be really slow?

 

[phb10186]

Maybe the most simple way to charge an EV with solar power is this:
http://myenergi.uk/product/zappi/

It's not exactly cheap (but then again, EVSEs rarely are). Since it can adjust charging current with the amount of PV production available, you probably can't get much more optimized than this. Of couse, the car still has its lower limit of amp charging.

This product has just been showcased on the latest edition of Fully Charged. Good product, but I would prefer the display panel to be part of an app, rather than on the EVSE - or an app, plus a simple turn dial setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EtegQfZQRw