Solar Charging your EV

I'd have to move to Jordan to find this which is as common there, (or will soon be,) as ....(you fill in the blank,) is here.

Great article on todays Green Car Reports website.

Solar panels are about 40" wide. The picture shows 6 across. That's 20 feet wide!
My roof panels are 39"x66". To modestly cover my leaf the roof would be 3 panels wide by 2 deep (about 10'x11').
6 panels (@250W) is 1.2Kw (20% derated) or 9.6 Kw over 8 hours (assuming perfect conditions). It might work.

Do solar panels now really have clear glass behind the cells so that you can see the cells and spaces between them in their shadow? I have not see any such panels. Even the ones where the backing is translucent and you can see the shadow by looking at the back of the panel scatter the light and don't cast shadows of the cells several feet away. Computer generated image?

Most home charging of EVs is probably at night, so solar charging wouldn't be very useful. Solar power to the grid in the day, then charging from the grid at night, would be useful, but that is nothing new to a lot of folks here.

There are translucent panels; though most are opaque. At most latitudes, it would be better to have the panels tilted at an angle close to the average angle to the sun, at noontime up to 2-3pm; for higher peak output. Also, if you live where there is snow, sloping the panels would help clear them.

This is non-coal burning solar LEAF charger.

It’s not as pretty as the one above.
I used to get so tired of people saying “how much coal does your car burn?”

And while I ignored them; mocked them and questioned whether their parents were ever married, and subscribed to 100% renewable energy from my power supplier, in the cold privacy of my silent car, I understood that with a coal fired power station 5 miles away, the actual electrons pushing their way into my battery are in all likelihood being pushed there by coal.

I went with 16 ET255BB Black/Black Mono Panels and the new Enphase M250’s with internal engage harness ground. 26 degree elevation and due South orientation.

I completed it in December 2014.

4kW max calculated for June.

My instantaneous Max so far was 3kW, and with a less than 20 degree sun angle here at this time of the year I'm pretty happy.

I’m seeing 8 to 12 kWh per day right now.
In June /July the sun angle should be perfect.

I know lots of you out there have done this type of install.
Many with far more ambitious project sizes, but this was my effort, and I wanted to share it.

I am officially jealous! That looks great and better yet, it is the picture of the future...now. Great work. any advice to others on your panel choices, power output, other components? I ask because I am leaning towards solar as a goal in 2 years, or so.

thanks,

Curt

alanlarson said:

Do solar panels now really have clear glass behind the cells so that you can see the cells and spaces between them in their shadow?

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Yes, but I forget now who it was that introduced them a few years ago. They are great for roof overhangs or other applications where some reflected light will hit the underside of the panel, which raises the efficiency of the panel 1-2% if I recall.

Dumb question from a solar newbie.

What do you do with unused capacity? Do you sell it to the utility Co.? Can you only charge when the sun is up?

How expensive/complicated is it to add power storage (batteries) to the mix?

asemeco said:

Dumb question from a solar newbie.

What do you do with unused capacity? Do you sell it to the utility Co.? Can you only charge when the sun is up?

How expensive/complicated is it to add power storage (batteries) to the mix?

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Generally utilities have what is called net metering. So what generally happens is you replace your normal meter with one that has two meters in it. One measures power delivered to you (like your old meter) and then the other measures power delivered to the utility. Then at the end of the month your utility takes power delivered to you and subtracts power you delivered to them. This can result in a negative amount. Depending on your state this negative amount can be carried over to the next months bill. Such that in the summer you produce too much and then in the winter you use up these credits. Then there is a scheme where these credit either reset and are lost or the utility pays you a wholesale rate for them.

Every state is different but that's the general idea.

Yes, IMO adding batteries is expensive and complicated and if you are grid tied doesn't really get you much.

The best is the 50 KWH public solar powered fast charger in Joshua tree Ca. . the Andromeda power solar charger is in Joshua Tree Ca. 92252. A guy named Dave has built this unit for us to use for free! The public charging station opened up a nice day trip though Joshua tree national park to Indio. It would be nice to see more like this.

Yes, IMO adding batteries is expensive and complicated and if you are grid tied doesn't really get you much.

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Absolutely !

Solar with Battery storage is a whole different animal, and in my opinion, 99% of the time that decision needs to be made long before you even start a project.

Unless you are not going to be tied into a power grid at all, it usually doesn't make sense$$$$

I'd love to get into that, but using the grid as your storage battery is just so easy.

I'd love a shack on an island in the Caribbean with about 24 kW of tracking panels and a couple of disassembled Leaf batteries to store it for night use, but ..........

This thing was so simple.
Plug and play for the most part.

With these little microinverters, I could literally prop a panel against the wall outside, plug it into the microinverter, plug the microirverter into a 240 outlet, and I have a small grid tied power generation station.

Seriously that simple.
almost

KillaWhat said:

With these little microinverters, I could literally prop a panel against the wall outside, plug it into the microinverter, plug the microirverter into a 240 outlet, and I have a small grid tied power generation station.

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I admit if some extra panels landed on my doorstep I would do just this. Since I already produce more than my usage actually going through the work to install them on my roof (and I've run out of prime real estate anyway) would be a waste but I couldn't just let panels sit around not producing