By direct connection: almost certainly not. You need match the voltages and current-handling.

EV batteries accept whatever the BMS allows, but at typically 400V or 800V architectures.

You could charge directly from solar if the battery charge acceptance was less than the solar panels could supply at, say, 400V.

My EV will charge at 100kW for most of the time, right up to 80% SOC.  My domestic solar panels will only produce about 2-3kW @ 400V (at the most favourable times). Therefore, no chance unless a huge array or a 400+V battery – to supply the solar power.🙂

Nearly all home EVSEs are single phase AC and typically can charge at rates between 1.2kW and 7kW.  Next question?

I dont think you can charge directly from the solar panels or inverter but you can charge from solar if you have a Zappi charger. I have done this a few times. I have battery storage as well and if this is fully charged and its decently sunny I can plug in the car and set the Zappi to ECO mode and any spare energy, ie not supplying any household loads can be sent to the car.

Same for parking machines, if it won’t accept credit card, parking will be free

I may be wrong but I think the EU did mandate that public chargers shall offer card payment  – and that was before the UK left it so we have no excuse.

I notice one or two do have the facility, though not owning (and likely never to own) an EV my observations have been for interest only.

The main point I saw is that perhaps uniquely this is the only retail “product” for which no price has to be displayed prior to sale; but I also inferred that the idea of using a “smart”-‘phone to pay is so middle-agencies can take a shre of the £/unit cost set so as to profit them as well as the electricity-suppliers.

””

The lack of incompatibility highlighted by Duncan is presumably a predictable result of competition, each car manufacturer creating cosy ties with charger manufacturers. This is something the authorities, usually oh-so-keen on Type Approvals and OEM and all that rhubarb, signally failed to grasp right at the start.

No-one has said they don’t like EVs.

The original question was about how to charge them at home – which of course many motorists could not do anyway.

There were also comments on commercial sharp practice by the vehicle and charger manufacturers.

Although digressing from the original purely technical question, these are among many genuine practicality and cost concerns that do need addressing if electric cars are to become universal.

None condemned electric vehicles per se. Rather, they asked about improving their use.

Nor were they an invitation for snide accusations of lying and dying.

I wonder if the manufacturers of both the vehicles and the chargers will converge – of be made to converge – to the point that all chargers are universal; and all public chargers are fitted with car-readers not “apps”.

Both would certainly help.

I read the original question as meaning a domestic array.

Assuming most recharging will be nocturnal, I’m sure with a suitable converter and battery bank it would be feasible electrically. Would it yield a useful amount of power (kW/h)? It could be quite expensive too so not a very attractive an investment; but perhaps usefully lessening the electricity taken from the mains.

This would particularly suit owners who are retired or do not need the car for commuting; or are commuting by car but do not drive much at weekends. So plenty of daylight hours available for charging.

It may not really suit daily own-car commuters whose active private lives entail frequent, significant weekend mileages (forget that “now we all work at home” stuff). For example, for some years I regularly knocked up 250 miles a week of commuting and social driving, and not on a manager’s salary.

This point is when you can recharge the car, affecting the best way both technically and financially. If you can only recharge it at night a solar array etc. may be insufficient. If forced to use only public chargers, your best chance of finding a charger free might be in the wee sma’ hours.

What of charging the car from the mains, leaving the solar panels for the household electricity? No need to buy the extra charging equipment to plug into the sun-power, so the combined running costs of home and vehicle including the array’s capital and write-down costs might be reasonable, even advantageous.

One fly in the ointment might be future “fuel duty”. An EV owner told me a plumbed-in domestic charger has to be fed through a dedicated “smart” meter, making me think immediately that will be to allow compensation for falling liquid-fuel revenue.

These are all really only the individual owner could establish as it will depend on so many variables, but worth investigating if you own an EV.

(Oh – and can charge it at home – so that’s most of the residents of my street excluded, even those with solar panels on their rooves!).

‘no new-build homes are connected to the gas main’

This is not true!

I have not paid attention to Rachael from accounts new pay per mile scheme for EV’s as I don’t have one but I assumed this was to replace VED.  I read an article last week that suggested this was not the case and the pay per mile was on top of the VED?  I believe exemptions from VED for EV’s has already gone South?  Anyone know if that is correct?  That must surely skew the equation slightly?  I also saw a report that to replace a headlight ‘bulb’ in the new defender, cos it’s an intelligent LED device means a complete headlight at North of £2k with labour!  With fuel rationing on the horizon and the issues with gas supplies unless we have a sunny summer with plenty of wind neither fossil fuel or EV’s will be going far soon……..  Thankfully I have about a ton of coal in stock so the steamer is safe, it’s just going to take me a long time to get anywhere!

I understand from the specialist company producing high current chargers for vessels I am involved with that the latest ISO protocol for the CCS2 charging standard (most new EV’s I believe) provides within its software a facility for the the vehicle to be recognised and for automatic payment for charging to be taken from a nominated account when you plug in.  No card or ‘app’ required.  No idea if it is being utilised anywhere yet?

Paul.

Charging an EV may be “simple” but access to a charger may not be. Many home do not have dedicated parking places. The number of chargers in many long distance destinations like hotels is inadequate even now. I kow of employers who used to allow free charging of employee cars but have now stopped for various reasons.
Obviously the statement ” new commercial and new HGV sales are due to be phased out by 2040 ” is incorrect as it stands, presumably it refers to pertrol and diesel vehicles.

The relief on Road Fund Licence for EV’s is reduced from April this year. The amount depends on the type and age of the vehicle. Mine has gone from zero to £10 a year.
The proposed “pay per mile” tax is to offset the loss of income from fuel duty. At the moment it is proposed to dase in on estimated mileage. Last time I checked nothing has been finalised.

As a side note it will be interesting to see how well the current rush of  “never heard of them before” EV cars from the far east will fair on reliability and re-sale value. There are already reports of difficaulty in getting spares and accident repair parts.

Robert.

Bazyle, if not done already, test the battery under load – I repaired a battery pack for a friend a few years ago which showed a full charge when tested off the bike, but the battery control circuit was faulty, dropping it to a fraction of the 48 volts (I think, may have been 36v) it should have been as soon as you tried to use the bike. A new board – pretty generic – was about a fiver on Ebay and easy to fit.

Rob

I was reading an article on some of the new EVs coming in from China and that some insurance companies are refusing cover due to difficulty in obtaining parts.