If You Have an EV, You’ll Want To Use Solar Panels

Electric vehicles are one of the best things to happen on Earth. EVs produce no pollution or greenhouse gases, and their low operational costs result in smaller annual savings than gas cars. They’re more environmentally friendly because they eliminate the need for gas stations. In addition,

EVs have a lower battery cost than gas cars because the battery only has to be replaced every few years. EVs are cheaper to maintain, safer to drive, and easier to insure.

With this in mind, your electric bills will be the one to suffer after you own an EV today or in the future. It’s much more imperative to have a solar panel system in place in the future as EVs have higher specifications and charging requirements.

A typical home EV charger will charge an electric vehicle’s battery overnight. The charger is plugged into a power outlet. It is important to ensure that the charger can be used safely in the home. It is important to ensure that the charging cable does not get in the way of people or animals or get damaged by furniture or children’s toys.

EVs may add a small amount to a household’s electric bill, but the savings in fuel costs outweigh this increase in most cases. But, you can even eliminate your small electric bill addition and the electric bill entirely by using solar panels to power your home and charge your vehicles.

If you’re curious about this process, you can check out Clean Energy Reviews‘ process on using your solar panels alongside your EV for charging. Read more about it below.

Electric Vehicles currently make up a small percentage of all vehicles sold around the world, but with most major automotive companies now developing Electric Vehicles and plug-in hybrid’s (PHEV), the uptake of EV’s is set to explode over the next 5 to 10 years. Many drivers are already considering an EV as an option for their next vehicle purchase, but concerns about price, charging, and range anxiety is holding many people back. However, with the cost of EV’s dropping, plus the benefits of low maintenance and very low running costs compared to traditional petrol and diesel vehicles, EV’s are looking much more attractive to regular buyers, especially those with rooftop solar.

How To Charge An EV With Solar

Charging an EV using rooftop solar is easy using a regular plug-in (level 1) charger and a relatively small 4 to 5kW solar system. However, the solar system may not generate enough energy to cover the charger’s demand during cloudy or bad weather. Luckily, this is where smart EV chargers can help, as we explain later in this article. Our advanced solar and EV charging calculator can also help you understand EV charging using rooftop solar and home batteries.

One of the big drawcards for those with rooftop solar is the ability to charge an EV using your own solar power. Charging with your own electricity can essentially eliminate the ‘fuel’ cost of an EV altogether. However, in practice, this is not always as easy as it sounds. In this article, we discuss the various home EV chargers available, analyse different solar charging options, and address some of the issues with using rooftop solar and batteries to charge an EV.

EV battery capacity – Kilowatt-hours (KWh)

Before we get into detail about the different chargers and charge rates, it’s necessary to understand EV battery capacity and range. Battery capacity is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), and electric vehicles are available with a vast range of different battery sizes, from 24kWh up to 100kWh or more. Most common EVs have a battery capacity of around 65kWh, which generally provides a driving range of about 350km, depending on the conditions and how efficiently you drive. Each kWh of battery capacity will deliver around 5km to 7km of driving range. For a real-world comparison, lighter, more efficient EV’s can use as little as 12kWh per 100km, while larger, high-performance EV’s can use 20kWh or more per 100km of driving. Driving at higher speeds also results in less driving range. However, most EVs also have regenerative braking, which recovers some of the energy lost to slow the vehicle and uses it to charge the battery. (Continue reading here to learn more)

If you have yet to find a dependable solar panel installation team in Golden, CO, you can always count on us at Roper Roofing & Solar. Contact us today to learn more about everything we can do for you.