Can you use solar panels to charge electric cars?

How does solar panel charging work?

Getting a solar PV system installed can allow you to generate renewable energy during the day to power your home:

1. The photovoltaic cells of the solar panels absorb sunlight as direct current (DC) energy
2. A solar inverter converts this into alternating current (AC) energy so it can be used by your home
3. This energy comes into your consumer unit, where it is then used to power your appliances

If you have a battery storage system, any excess energy that isn’t used by your home can be stored for later. Or, it can be sold back to the energy grid to make use of it.

Do solar panels work with EVs?

The short answer is yes: you can charge any electric car, whether it’s fully battery electric (BEV) or a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). However, to do this, you’ll first need to get a compatible home electric car charging system.

Some EV home chargers can take the excess energy generated by your solar panels and divert it into your car. This is of course provided your panels are generating more energy than your home needs, and enough to charge the car. - usually a minimum of 1.4 kW.

What are the benefits of using solar panels to charge your EV?

There are already many benefits to driving an electric car instead of a petrol or diesel car. For example, their maintenance costs are typically lower as their drivetrains are simpler, and new technologies are making batteries last longer than ever. Being able to use renewable solar energy to charge them makes them even better: 

Clean energy 

Electric vehicles are already inherently very green and better for the environment than cars with an internal combustion engine (ICE). By powering it with solar energy, you can go even further to make it greener and lower your personal carbon footprint. 

Savings 

Apart from the costs of buying and installing solar panels and a compatible charger, energy generated by solar panels is effectively free. After all, you don’t have to pay the sun (or anyone else) to use its sunlight! This means that EVs, which already have lower charging costs versus traditional fuels like petrol or diesel, can be even cheaper to run. In fact, if you were able to charge exclusively using solar energy, you could in theory charge completely for zero cost and zero carbon. Better still, some energy tariffs allow homeowners to sell back their surplus energy to the National Grid. So even if your EV is full, you could still financially benefit by getting solar panels installed.

Convenience and flexibility

The majority of EV charging at home takes place overnight. During this time, energy demand is lowest, and so is the unit cost of electricity. By charging overnight, EV drivers can wake up to a fully charged battery every morning, with the car stopping charging once the battery is full.

Having solar panels to charge during the day adds an extra layer of convenience for EV charging. This means you can either charge overnight and take advantage of cheaper energy, or charge during the day time with clean and renewable energy.

Grants and schemes

The UK Government has promoted renewable energy source for many years. Although there are no grants that currently directly reduce the costs of installing solar panel systems, there are a couple of other grants that EV drivers can take advantage of:

Energy Compliance Obligation (ECO4)

This scheme runs until 31st March 2026, with the government allocating £4bn to improve the energy ratings of UK homes.

It’s open to any low-income, fuel-poor or vulnerable household receiving benefits with a home energy rating of D to G, which accounts for around 450,000 homes. Using the scheme, households can replace older heating systems with more efficient and eco-friendly versions, which includes solar panels, capped at £5,000.

Those that qualify could reduce their average household energy bills by as much as £1,600 per year

Smart Exports Guarantee (SEG)

This scheme focuses on households with solar panels, enabling them to sell any surplus energy their panels generate back to the energy grid. In order to receive the grant, your home must have a solar panel battery and a smart metre, as it works by creating an export tariff.

The grant currently has no end date, and energy suppliers with over 150,000 customers must offer the tariff. The export price isn't a significant amount, but it could still help reduce monthly energy bills.

0% VAT

From April 2022, the then-government introduced zero VAT on the materials and installation of any measures to improve the energy efficiency of a home.

This applies not only to solar panels, but also heat pumps, insulation, and other energy-saving systems, with some relatively simple requirements for households to be eligible.

The VAT removal was slated to run for 5 years, so by 2027 the VAT rate is expected to return to its standard 5% rate.

Things to consider with solar panels

Although there are many upsides to having solar panels, there are some things you will likely want to take into consideration before committing:

Initial costs

Installing both a solar array system and a compatible home EV charger can be expensive, although there are some grants available to reduce the installation costs of the charger.

Whilst solar panels and smart EV charging can reduce energy bills, it can take a number of years to break even on the investment, even after accounting for any reductions in costs.

Practicality

Solar panels have certainly become more efficient as new technologies have enabled better energy collection and more efficient storage solutions.

Battery storage solutions in particular can make solar panels an even better investment, as you can directly store the excess energy at your home and use it when you need it – or sell it back to the grid for a profit.

However, there’s still a significant limiting factor to how efficient and practical solar panels can be: sunlight. Simply put, the less sunlight there is, the less energy solar panels generate. This impacts the savings their produce and their ability (or lack thereof) to charge an EV.

This is a not-insignificant problem in the UK. That said, your solar panels will still generate some energy even on a cloudy day. This means you can still use them during the winter, just like any other time of the year. The only thing you’ll need to bear in mind is there are fewer hours of daylight during the winter, so they will still be overall less efficient as solar panels don’t work at night.

However, governments and businesses across the globe have recognised this as an obstacle to an otherwise excellent energy source, with some developing innovative solutions to tackle the problem.

Can Pod Point chargers integrate with solar panels?

Yes, our Solo 3S chargers can integrate with solar panels. Our most advanced charger yet allows you to redirect excess solar energy, so you can charge your car with both zero cost and zero carbon. 

How does it work I hear you ask:

How many solar panels does it take to charge an EV car battery, and can you charge it using just one panel?

Technically speaking, you can charge an electric car battery using a single solar panel. However, that would take an incredibly long time.

For example, a typical car battery has a capacity of 60kW, so it would take about 60 hours to charge from empty to full if the solar panel was supplying a steady 100W. This assumes perfect weather conditions, so it's likely it will take longer as the charging rate will fluctuate as the weather change (which is very common in the UK).

So whilst you could in theory use just one solar panel, it’s not very practical. Fortunately, a typical 4kW solar panel system will be made up of around 14 to 16 panels, which is enough to power a 3.6kW home charger. But again, this depends on the weather conditions.