The Complete Guide to Solar EV Chargers for Home & Travel
According to the US Department of Transport, Charging a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) at a public charging station via Direct current fast charging (DCFC) will take 20 minutes to 1 hour to boost it from zero to around 80%. This is arguably the fastest EV charging option, but it's actually the most expensive, sometimes even edging out the cost of using gasoline fuel.
So does it make sense to charge your EV at the public booth? Although EVs are undoubtedly a significant upgrade on gasoline-powered cars, there’s a need to refine their powering to ensure lower charging costs so that owning one makes economic sense in the long run.
The solution? A Solar EV Charger can make all the difference, especially for a car owner who wants the autonomy of running their show and not just relying on the grid option (which is often subject to outages and fluctuations in rate prices). But how efficient are solar EV charging systems, and can we depend on them as millions of electric vehicles enter the market today?
Join us as we explore this discussion where we’ll highlight everything you need to know about powering your EV via Solar energy. Let’s get into the details.
Traditional EV Charging Options
Times are fast changing, and in the EV industry, many of what were once regarded as groundbreaking innovations are now in the shadows. This is actually the case for the ‘soon to be’ traditional EV charging options. There are currently three main options for powering your EV:
It's the least efficient method that uses a common residential 120-volt (120V) AC outlet to power up your EV. The technique takes 40 to 50 hours to fill your BEV from zero to 80%, which is quite a lot of time, especially if you are a daily car user.
The duration is shorter for a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle but again, this method has an overarching downside. It exerts a lot of pressure on your car’s battery chemistry and is thus not the best for the long-term well-being of the battery system.
This is a step up from level one charging and can be installed at home, at work, or even at a public charging station. It charges EVs using 240V outlets in residential settings and 208V outlets in commercial settings.
The upside to a level 2 charging station is that it can fill an average EV battery from zero to 80% in between 4 and 10 hours and a PHEV in about an hour to 2 hours, depending on the battery size.
Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC)
It's the alpha of EV charging thanks to its super-rapid rate, requiring between 20 minutes and an hour to fill an EV’s battery to the brim. That’s pretty fast, huh? Well, yeah, but it also comes at a higher cost per kWh than either of the above options.
So, is it really the go-to option? Well, compared to the aforementioned ‘traditional’ charging methods, this is actually the best, especially in heavy-traffic charging stations. But again, its costs are so high that many may not find the economic sense of applying this technique.
This is why solar EV chargers are worthwhile considerations, especially as more EVs enter the fray. This will undoubtedly balloon the demand for charging stations that are not expanding at a similar rate.
What's Solar EV Charger?
It's an EV charging system that utilizes solar power as opposed to the old-school charging methods that rely on grid power. To use a solar EV charger, you need to have a few components in place.
First, you need solar panels and a solar battery to store the charge. Solar batteries are essential because solar panels fetch sun energy during the day, and often you will not be charging your car in the daytime. Rather, the most convenient charging time is at night, and therefore, a battery is crucial for storing this power.
Next, you also require a solar inverter to facilitate charging. This component converts the solar battery's stored Direct Current (DC) energy to Alternating Current (AC), which is the primary prerequisite for EV charging.
How to charge EV with solar EV charger?
Charging your EV with a solar EV charger is actually similar to charging it via grid electricity, as the only difference here is the power source. You can do this in two main ways.
You can opt for a standard plug (120V) that you simply connect to your home power supply and the other end to your EV. However, most standard plugs are Level 1 chargers, and they’re quite slow, requiring up to 50 hours to fill your EV battery.
The second and most dependable option is installing a home-charge point, which is easily a 240V power outlet (Level 2) that charges more rapidly and can fill up your car battery over one night of charging.
Why Choose the Solar EV Charger?
So why should you just ignore your grid EV powering option and switch to solar? This is undoubtedly the question on many people’s minds, especially those who don’t yet have a solar power unit in place and are wondering if it makes sense to make the big investment.
Well, here’s the deal. Solar power has many benefits that you cannot afford to ignore, especially if you’re an EV owner looking to go Green in everything.
Cheapest Charging Option Ever
Talk of the cost and here you have the cheapest option ever because, with solar, you will incur a measly $0.06 per kWh. Absolute peanuts!
For comparison, relying on home grid power will cost between $0.10 and $0.40 per kWh. Add this to the hectic task of timing off-peak hours for lower costs, and solar comes just at the top. It's even worse if you charge at an EV charging station, where you’ll incur between $0.31 and $0.69 per kWh. The worst of it is, of course, gasoline.
For context, while it would cost you around $235 to power your EV via solar per annum, the cost of gasoline would rise north of $1,570. This is just a crazy difference, and even if you factor in the high cost of solar installation, it still trounce all the other options economically in the long run.
Optimal Convenience
Gas-powered cars have always been reliable because one is assured of getting a charging station almost anywhere. Well, with EV public charging stations, this is not guaranteed, and if your EV runs out of power while at home and you don’t have a nearby charge replenishing point, you’re in big trouble.
However, with a solar EV charger and a home charging station, all these worries are gone because all you need to do is plug in your car at home for overnight charging.
Cleanest Power Source
It's quite obvious that solar energy is arguably the cleanest energy source, emitting only a measly 321 lbs of carbon per annum. Compared to 8,135 lbs of carbon emitted by gas-powered vehicles and 1,837 lbs for public charging and home grid systems, solar is just too clean.
Guaranteed Energy Independence
We all want stability, and no EV owner enjoys the unpredictability of grid power prices because they’re just so undulating. And this is just what utility rates have not managed to achieve, rising at unpredictable rates year in and year out thus hampering long-term planning.
Gas prices rise and fall so rapidly that you cannot predict what to expect in the future, and so does electricity rates.
With solar power, that is not expected because once you set up your system, you’re assured of a constant stable low power rate for up to 25 years, and even more depending on your energy usage. This independence and stability is just what every EV owner wants.
Can solar EV Charger Charge All types of EVs?
Yes, with a solar EV charger, you can actually charge almost all EVs as long as you have the compatible plug. Therefore, fitting a solar EV charger means your partner’s or visiting friends’s EV can also be charged from the outlet.
It’s simply a one-size-fits-all system. The only difference from the typical home charger is that with this one, you’ll be sourcing energy from a solar battery. Therefore, to ensure compatibility, first, you must connect an inverter from the solar battery to the EV charging station, which is essential in converting the power to AC.
Next, you just need to connect the solar EV charger to the system and the other end to the car’s charging port.
The Cost of Using A Solar EV Charger
As mentioned earlier, there’s no cheaper method of charging your EV than using solar power. The reason is simple: You’re relying on natural sunlight to create electricity, and the sun is free!
However, this will also depend on whether you’re in a solar-friendly state. For instance, states like Massachusetts have policies such as the solar tax credit, which essentially means you can get a discount of up to $1,000 for investing in solar. Other policies like the virtual power plant programs (VPP) mean you get more savings incentives when you invest in solar and allow the State to use some of the power during peak demand times.
So just how cheap is solar EV charging?
Well, considering you’re in a solar-friendly State such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Illinois, you’ll be charging your car at a rate of around $0.06 per kWh. This will total up to around $22.50 per month, which is actually cheaper than home grid charging by around $40, making solar the undisputed cheapest EV charging method.
Future development of EV Solar Charging
When EVs first came, many dismissed them as unsustainable, but they’re proving to be the way to the future as the world looks to tone down on fossil fuel reliance. The same will be the case with solar EV charging, which is expected to spike in the coming years as many people embrace the technology thanks to its guaranteed sustainability and effectiveness in environmental conservation.
Of course, there are apparent challenges with solar charging, such as the variability of solar power, which is indeed unavailable at all times, high installation costs and the struggle to find a reputable solar installer. But these will be streamlined as we move along, and the future is promisingly bright for the EV solar industry.
