Looking at Solar PV + Battery + EV

[pastrybloke19]

Hi All,

So we already have an EV (i3) and hoping to get a new bigger one later this year; so with all the silly energy prices, I am exploring options for solar on the south roof, plus battery storage. I have done some initial research, but would appreciate any top tips, advice or recommendations?

I have dealt with solar PV in a previous job, so confident I can work the sizing out: but never dealt with batteries, esp ones that can power the house for a period of time? PowerWall are mentioned quite a bit? How do you manage PV/Batteries, with a smart meter?

With an EV, is it worth trying to tie that in to a smart system? Found a few sites mentioning Home energy smart systems (HEMS), but not a lot of actual options.

Is it too early to try and link the above, with the a air source heating system?

Cheers

 

[Chester]

I would look at an AC coupled battery solution so you can use a CT clamp to detect when the car is charging and not drain the house battery. DC coupled/hybrid inverter systems are difficult to impossible to do this. Other than that, there are too many variables (size/orientation/shading of roof, house size/type, occupancy, cooking appliances, current energy demands, budgets, etc) to provide any advice.

 

[oneman]

If your car is mainly at home during the day then have a look at vehicle to home type of system which are starting to appear.

 

[Chester]

From the looks of the difficulties faced by the Octopus Energy trial of V2H, no thanks! And V2G is going to be like the Tesla tariff (for Powerwall users) on steroids, so I won't be going for that either.

 

[pastrybloke19]

I would look at an AC coupled battery solution so you can use a CT clamp to detect when the car is charging and not drain the house battery. DC coupled/hybrid inverter systems are difficult to impossible to do this. Other than that, there are too many variables (size/orientation/shading of roof, house size/type, occupancy, cooking appliances, current energy demands, budgets, etc) to provide any advice.

I fully appreciate there are too many variables at this time, but thanks for the advice, very useful.

I will hopefully get some more dims/layouts/sketches soon.

If your car is mainly at home during the day then have a look at vehicle to home type of system which are starting to appear.

does look very interesting. Looks like it could be a very interesting….but….

From the looks of the difficulties faced by the Octopus Energy trial of V2H, no thanks! And V2G is going to be like the Tesla tariff (for Powerwall users) on steroids, so I won't be going for that either.

Seems there are some issues, couldn’t find much online but figured it was probably a bit early for that tech.

 

[oneman]

From the looks of the difficulties faced by the Octopus Energy trial of V2H, no thanks! And V2G is going to be like the Tesla tariff (for Powerwall users) on steroids, so I won't be going for that either.

Its getting there, hopefully within a few years