Transportation > Electric Vehicles
Charging EV with solar
lighthunter:
I now have plenty of extra solar generating capacity and would like to use some of the extra to fuel the car. To do this with my current system I would need to
A:) Use large battery and leave the car home when the sun shines.
B:) Use two smaller removable battery packs and switch daily.
C:) grid tie all my solar and do net metering with utility.
So far i have kept utility and solar generated power separate and it would be great to keep it that way. Having a day job and solar ev charging arent so compatible though. Is anyone else doing net metering? Im guessing its not so bad, i just like the independence of the off grid system. It would kinda make sense for EV charging though.
Suggestions welcome :)
WooferHound:
What Voltage and Current do you need to charge that thing ?
lighthunter:
It requires 262.5v @ anything up to 20 amps. 75 series LFP cells.
9.6kwh for 35-40 mile range. On a sunny day we get at least 40kwh and only use about 15kwh. Its not a huge return on investment but if you can "why not". I love how quiet electric is to drive. I also snagged a 3phase pmg from a hybrid. Its capable of about 25hp, i wanna strip the gas engine and associated pieces out of a small car and convert it. It wont be quick off the stop but it should be enough to get normal road speeds.
WooferHound:
My Goodness, I didn't know those cars used such a high voltage.
Since I mainly use a bicycle I recommend to leave the car at home on sunny days and take the bike. But I live in-town and rarely need to travel more than 3 miles one way, about 20 minutes. The rain, heat and cold can be inconvenient. Been riding for more than a year now, the positive benefits of health and weight should also be mentioned.
Having 2 batteries sounds appealing, but expensive and possibly difficult and time consuming to change. Combining 2 batteries with occasionally leaving the car on sunny days sounds like the ultimate in reliability.
Grid Tie isn't real for me, or cheating. I want to use the same electrons that I made, a closed system.
solarnewbee:
LH you helped answer a lot of my questions about my lfp’s and consequently later on found out one charge controller was not programmed correctly and the banks were not filling up fully. Now the ac can run all night and still charge the mini ev’s in the morning.
When you say 75 series, do you mean 75ah? How many cells?
For me I stay off grid, no grid tie, but I have an inexpensive ats on standby when the inverter gives up. Typhoon / rainy season we run off grid one day and charge up on grid one day with whatever light we can get and grid power alternating day to day. Our biggest power bill since kick off day in January this year has been $8.
As far as grid tie goes, I’m kinda Leary if it. I think it’s one of the reasons some gti’s Smoke fets. I sort of think I know what you mean by net metering. Your idea of switching out batteries in the ev sounds novel if the weight is not prohibitive. Maybe if you have carts that accommodate sliding out the batteries as a pack without killing yourself. Best of luck to ya!
Pic of my ats switch on the left. I know, green wire, ya get what ya can find in the Philippines. Got this this off of eBay. It’s motorized and switches mighty fast for the money.
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