Case study – Electric Car Charging 2017-11-22T16:03:56+00:00

Case study: Solar panels, automatic solar electric car charging, Tesla Powerwall battery

Nissan Leaf automatic electric car charging, Immersun, Tesla Powerwall 2 AC, SolarEdge optimisers, JA Solar smart modules

Installed in Torquay, Devon

Customer requirement 1

  • Use solar energy to charge electric car.

Solution 1

  • A 6.3kW solar system was proposed, using the most efficient solar panels available in production (21% module efficiency).  This maximised the use of roof space.

  • Since Western Power Distribution only permitted a 3.68kW system to be installed, we included export restriction.  This means that if the solar system sees more than 3.68kW going back to the grid it reduces the output of the solar system.  This allowed the customer to use the 6.3kW of energy from the solar system for charging the car.

Solar charging electric car
BMW Wallbox Pro

Customer requirement 2

  • Automatically charge electric car using excess solar energy.

Solution 2

  • The customer installed a BMW Wallbox Pro charging unit.  The customer enters when he needs the car on his iphone and the system automatically charges with solar energy when it is available.  If there is not enough solar energy the Wallbox pro pulls in energy from the grid.

Customer requirement 3

  • Automatically divert excess solar energy to heat hot water

Solution 3

  • We installed a power diverter to diverted excess energy to heat the hot water.  The solar energy was designed to feed the house first then divert to the hot water tank and finally to charge the electric car.

Immersun
Tesla Powerwall 2 AC

Customer requirement 4

  • Future proof for Tesla Powerwall battery

Solution 4

  • The system was installed using an inverter compatible with the Tesla Powerwall 2 battery.  This will enable the customer to store energy in the battery while out driving during the day and then charge the car from the battery in the evenings.

Other benefits

  • Module level monitoring via App or computer.

  • Remote error reporting.  Totnes Energy are emailed if there is a fault with any of the solar panels and it even lets us know which solar panel has a fault.

  • Graphs showing solar energy generated, energy being consumed and energy being exported.