Charging
EV Charging
Home and workplace charge points planned with the solar installation and the available electrical capacity, rather than added to the building afterwards.
EV charging
Charging that works with the rest of the energy system.
A charge point is one of the largest single loads most properties will ever add, and one of the few that can be told when to run.
Treated as part of the energy system it can absorb generation that would otherwise be exported. Treated as an appliance bolted on afterwards, it competes with everything else for the same capacity.
01
Home charging
One vehicle, usually charging overnight or through the day depending on how the household drives. Simple to install, easy to get wrong on capacity.
02
Workplace charging
Several vehicles, parked through exactly the hours the array generates. Often the strongest technical case for combining solar and charging.
03
Future charge points
The second and third charge point are far cheaper if the containment, the capacity and the board space were reserved for them.
Planning
What has to be settled before a charger is fitted.
01
Electrical capacity
The first question is what the supply and the board can actually carry once everything else in the building is running. This is the constraint that most often decides the specification.
02
Load management
Where capacity is limited, a charge point can be set to draw only what is spare, and to reduce its rate when the property is busy. That is usually cheaper than upgrading the supply.
03
Solar integration
A charge point can be configured to favour periods when the array is generating. How closely it can follow generation depends on the equipment installed and on how the vehicle is used.
04
Position and cable route
Parking position, cable length, protection, weather exposure and how the vehicle is parked in practice all belong in the design rather than in the installation.
Considerations
Where charging projects usually go wrong.
Capacity assumed rather than checked
A charge point installed without a capacity assessment is the most common cause of nuisance tripping. The check takes an hour and prevents a rewire.
One charger, no room for the second
The first installation is the cheap moment to run containment and reserve a way for a second point. Adding it later usually means opening the same walls twice.
Charging assumed to be solar powered
A vehicle parked at home overnight cannot charge from that day's generation without storage. How much of a charge actually comes from the array depends on when the vehicle is present.
Monitoring left out
Without monitoring there is no way to see how much of the charging was covered by generation, which is exactly the thing most owners want to know.
Charging questions
What we are asked about charge points.
Compatibility and performance vary by product, so this demonstration site describes principles rather than naming equipment.
You can charge while the array is generating, and a charge point can be set up to favour those hours. Whether the energy comes from the array or from the grid at any given moment depends on generation, on what else the property is using, and on whether a battery is fitted.
Not always. Load management often makes a charge point workable within the existing supply by limiting its draw when the property is busy. Whether that is enough depends on your capacity and on how quickly you need to charge.
Compatibility depends on the connector and the vehicle, and both change between models and model years. It is confirmed against your specific vehicle during design rather than assumed. This demonstration site names no products, so no compatibility is claimed here.
Yes, and this is where load management earns its place. Multiple points sharing a managed capacity limit is usually far more practical than sizing the supply for every point charging at full rate simultaneously.
Next step
Plan EV charging alongside the rest of the system.
Tell us about the property, the vehicles and where they are parked. Capacity is the first thing we will check.