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Who doesn’t like something for free?
With more than 1.7 million UK homes having solar panels, the idea of getting electricity for free from the sun is growing in popularity.
So it’s hardly surprising that charging your car from solar is equally popular, which is why solar EV charging with Ohme chargers is possible in two slightly different forms – either Solar Boost or Solar Only, both accessed via the Ohme app. Charging your car with solar power is one of the easiest ways to lower your running costs on charging your car
In this feature we’ll just be explaining how those two different functions work and how you can get the most benefit from them.
Most Ohme Home Pro and Ohme ePod chargers installed from January 2023 onwards and with a recent and complete setup should have solar charging available.
If you go the Settings screen of the Ohme app, then a simple way to tell if you’re eligible is if there is a solar charging toggle there. If not, then it could be that your charger was installed before January 2023 or that a CT clamp (a small transformer usually fitted to measure electrical current) is not providing a reading or not installed. The CT clamp is essential for solar charging and a guide to install one is here.
If your charger is not eligible you can find out your options here.
There are two different ways of solar charging within the Ohme app – Solar Boost and Solar Only. Each does slightly different things, so that you can choose your balance between solar and grid energy when charging your EV.
Solar Boost is the best option for when you want to charge your EV, but also want the benefit of any solar power at the same time.
With Dynamic charging switched on and a target and ready-by time set, Ohme schedules your charging to meet that and uses any excess solar power in or around the schedule. Even once you meet your target, it will continue to charge your EV using any excess solar power while it remains plugged in.
If Dynamic charging is off however then the Ohme will use solar power to help it charge your EV to maximum as soon as possible within the price cap] while also using power from the grid.
Within the Solar Boost function are also two settings for charging when there is enough solar power to charge outside of your schedule and also for using both solar and grid power combined. Both options allow the user to choose whether they want to take advantage of lower solar excess as little as 0.72kW and throw in a bit of grid to get up to 1.44kW to start charging. Or you can wait until there is at least 1.44kW of solar excess and minimise the use of the grid as much as possible.
Both need 1.44kW of power (whether solar only or solar plus grid) before they start charging. You can see how much power solar panels produce here.
As its name suggests, Solar Only, which is coming soon, is exactly that. You simply plug in your EV and Ohme will start charging your vehicle when there’s at or more than 1.44kW of solar power available.
If at any time solar power drops below that 1.44kW threshold, Ohme will use grid power for 15 seconds (to allow for clouds passing), but then pause for five minutes if it continues. Charging will continue again automatically once the settings are met again.
All the details on how to set up your solar charging in the Ohme app are in the Help Centre article here.
Once each charging session has ended, you can then see how much you have saved through using solar power to charge your car and also how much electricity from the grid you avoided having to use.
If you have any other questions, answers can all be found in the Help Centre article.
