Yes. You can charge an electric car with a portable solar panel. The modern solar panel provides enough energy supply to power up the car batteries. As you charge your batteries to use home appliances, the portable solar panel can produce needed electricity. A solar panel array with only ten solar panels generates sufficient charge to the batteries.
How many solar panels does it acquire to charge an electric vehicle?
The number of solar panels needed to fulfill the demand would depend on the size of your electric car’s battery. Let’s take the example of the Standard Tesla Model S that comes with a 75 kWh battery.
To understand how many solar panels would charge the Tesla model s, you need to get the information about each solar panel energy generation capacity.
When you have the details, you can easily calculate the number of solar panels you would require to charge the Tesla model s fully.
Remember that the solar panel decays over the period, so the charging capacity would go down as you start using it.
So consider the reduction in the power generation over the period. Your solar panel would be less efficient compared to the new solar panels.
A typical solar panel that you can buy easily from the market would generate 250 watts. These solar panels would produce around 30 to 42 kWh of AC per month.
The base solar panel has approx 1 kWh a day of AC electricity.
You calculate the solar panel’s approx power generation capacity of the solar panel, and you would require 70 solar panels to produce need electricity to charge your Tesla Model S.
So if you are planning to have the solar panel grid on your home roof, then first calculate the solar panel’s power generation capacity and know the efficiency and maintenance cost of the whole system.
It is a good idea to have your clean energy source ready to supply your home and car’s required energy.
However, it may not suit all. The cost of installation, place, and yearly maintenance would take a lot of time and energy, which may not be fruitful for everyone.
You can charge your Tesla car in a nearby charging station for free of cost.
Can you charge a Tesla vehicle with a portable solar panel?
Technically it is possible to charge your Tesla car using the portable solar panel. However, you need to understand that the portable solar panel is not very efficient in generating energy. It may be useful to charge small appliances or power your home.
Still, when charging a large-size battery pack, you would require several portable solar panels combined to produce approx 75 kWh energy.
In a rough calculation, if we consider one portable solar panel is capable of producing the 1 kWh energy per day, then you would require around 75 portable solar panels to charge the Tesla car batteries every day from 0% to 75%.
The whole solar panel system would require considerable space for installation, efficient management, and added maintenance cost, making the Portable solar panel an efficient method to charge your car batteries.
On the positive side, if you have solar panels on your roof that generate electricity every day and store it in the backup batteries, you can use them to charge your batteries on some occasions.
You may not be consuming much battery power than what your solar panel generates every day. In this case, powering your Tesla model using the portable solar panel may work.
In essence, charging car batteries is entirely depending on how much energy you are generating every day from your portable solar panel system.
If you have a large size setup where the energy generation is not a big problem, you can charge any batteries and fulfill your need.
You can save the non-utilized power to your backup batteries and use them at night to charge your car and control your home.
How to charge an electric vehicle with solar power?
In this video tutorial, you would know how the solar panel works and the procedure to power the vehicle using solar energy.
Solar Panel and EV Charging System
Modern solar panel technology is become more advance and efficient in producing clean energy. The combination of the Solar panel and EV charging system would make the power generation cost-effective.
You will always have the alternative at your home that would give you an efficient way to power your home and the car.
The good thing about the solar panel is they generate energy on a cloudy day as well. Once installed, the solar panel able to generate power throughout the day.
You can also have the battery backup setup in the backyard, which will store the energy during the day and use it at night when the consumption is high.
You will able to save a good amount of money on electricity bills.
What are the Equipment needs for the solar panel system?
You would require solar inverters that convert the direct current generated from the solar panel into an alternate current. AC is safer and offers an efficient way of powering your home.
Next, you would require the charging port installed and connected to the inverter to pass the electricity from the grid to the charging port.
It can power your electric car and provide you with clean energy during the night. When you wake up in the morning, your car batteries would be sufficiently charged.
Future Vision when installing the portable solar panel
You will find different types of portable solar panels in the market. It is easy to get confused about which type of solar panel you should choose from the list of the brands you find in need.
When you decide to power your home and car using clean energy, you must know that the power consumption would go up as you start using the solar panel to power your equipment.
It would be best if you made the decision based on future requirements.
Choose the solar panel that permits you to upgrade the whole solar panel system in the future. Each solar panel must have connectivity for the new solar panel.
Your solar panel project should not limit you from adding new panels in the future. So consider this point and keep this at the top of the list when buying the solar panel.
Final Verdict:
Charging your electric car with a portable solar panel would be an efficient way to get the most out of your solar grid.
You can have a solar panel set up in your home with a battery backup capacity. You would be able to generate more power than what you consume over the period.
It is estimated that the new solar panel technology will take down manufacturing costs and allow the user to have installed a cheaper solar panel that would generate enough electricity to power your home.
While setting up your solar panel system, always use the panels that allow you to install more panels in the future.
The solar panel should also connect with any other brand solar panel, so you do not have to stick to the one manufacturer.
The compatibility with the other solar panel equipment would make future installation easy. You will install more panels and generate much-needed electricity to power the home, electric car, and other equipment.
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Eng. Matthew Joseph Nandirio is the Founder of walkingsolar.
After graduating from the University of Houston in 2002, matt started working as a Solar Electrical Engineer for several multi-national solar energy companies.
He has a wide range of experiences including solar system requirement analysis, planning, maintaining, debugging and even solar device development through research.
He now shares his 20 years of expertise through his articles on the walkingsolar website.
Further, he is also the author of two books on Solar Technology, “Solar Power for Villages” and “DIY Solar System for Dummies”.