Small-scale/low power Solar EV Charging

Probably more of an art project than a really useful thing. But how easy is it to charge an EV using only a few solar panels (not a complete home system) as inputs?

Regular EVs can AC charge (Type 2 connector), or DC charge (CCS connector). These seem to be the two things to take a a look at.

AC charging

Type 2 charging uses a 1kHz PWM signal (CP contact) to show the amount of available power, and according to the specification, the lowest current mode is at 6A (single phase and 3-phase). So the lowest possible charging rate would be around 1.3kW on 230V, or around 700W on 110V. In order to achieve that, we would probably need some batteries inbetween to buffer this.

Solar Panels --> MPPT Charger --> Batteries --> Inverter --> Wallbox --> EV

One could maybe simplify that using a powerstation:

Solar Panels --> Powerstation                            --> Wallbox --> EV

We would need a beefy powerstation to supply the minimum amount of power necessary. Unfortunatly, a lot of power stations have chargers that are smaller in power than their inverters, so even in full sun, there’s no real chance to keep charging for as long as the sun is shining.

Wallboxes

We would need a controllabe single-phase wallbox.

DC Charging

From my understanding, DC charging bypasses the Onboard Batter Charger (OBC) in the EV, and simply connects the battery straight to the DC charger. So you basically have full battery voltage on the DC contacts.

References

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Page last modified: Mar 29 2025 at 12:00 AM.