General EV Discussion

[AuSammy]

The problem with using a charger that can solar divert independent of a solar/battery setup is that there will be are 2 CT clamps on the grid side of the meter box - 1 to charger, the other to inverter/energy controller of battery. R. Which one takes priority? Or maybe both do not know the other is there.

Example: excess solar and system starts to export 5kW. The CT clamp to charger and CT clamp to house battery detects that excess. Both would use 5kW by itself. What happens if both turn on at the same time. Both would then detect zero export then turn off. Rinse and repeat.

I suggest having a EV charging solar divert system that is integrated with the gateway of the Solar/battery or at least can communicate with the solar/battery inverter

Alternatively use a 3rd party app like ChargeHQ which communicates with the charger EV and the solar/battery via their respective API to control solar diversion.

Good points to consider if and when we install home battery. We don’t have one at present and based on current and projected power usage the payback period is >10years and not sure I want to invest.

Trying to juggle the balls in my head on competing priorities of not over capitalising, minimising energy expenditure, the evolution of technology (we are on the cusp of a few things such as V2H, battery technology etc), limited time government subsidies, mitigating impacts of power outages and others.

Edit: googleAI has suggested a method to avoid the stalemate of 2xCT clamps by prioritising the clamps and settings to prevent the home battery supplying the car. It has suggested amended wording for electrician quote request in preparation for future home battery installation and avoid rework.

 

[AuSammy]

And in the ACT, the electricity distributors are ok to deal with.

Yes, seems SA ACT WA and NSW are much more advanced regulatory wise than QLD

 

[Quickstatus]

Edit: googleAI has suggested a method to avoid the stalemate of 2xCT clamps by prioritising the clamps and settings to prevent the home battery supplying the car.

Tharlt requires the battery gateway to have 2 ports for separate loads. 1st port for house and 2nd port for EV charger as an example. Still, can only have 1 CT clamp.

If you are not getting a battery then 1 x CT clamp would work. Make sure that the CT clamp wire length is short.
What is your solar inverter brand?

 

[AuSammy]

That does not happen that way. A EV charger is just another load in the house . Ordinarily there is no way for a battery to send power to a specific load within a house and no battery can prioritise more than one CT clamp AFaIK

If you are not getting a battery then 1 x CT clamp would work. Make sure that the CT clamp wire length is short.
What is your solar inverter brand?

2xSunGrow5kw in parallel being fed by theoretical 13.3kw roof array.

 

[Quickstatus]

SunGrow

Have you considered Tesla Model Y RWD . it has much more cargo space. Approx same price

 

[tgh]

Interesting that there is a Tesla Body shop at Eagle Farm just near the distribution centre.
Cars with volume on the road may (arguably ) be better supported in terms of service and repairs compared to the sea of wannabees flooding our docks

 

[Quickstatus]

Tesla Body shop

Lots of third party Tesla accredited body shops.

The issue of repairer of choice in an insurance smash repair becomes moot when a Tesla is involved. This is because Tesla will only supply parts to Tesla accredited body shops. So if NRMA wants to send your Tesla to a random shop, they won't be able to get parts or repair procedures.

 

[DeKa]

Thanks. Important and interesting information, hadn't thought of that.

We are a couple, no kids in the later stages of life We, including luggage, would be less than 220. So unlikely to be a concern.

Out of interest, would the "performance" model have an improved payload with dual engines? (approx $10K more)

Premium and Performance both have the same payload of 410kg (which is GVM minus kerb weight).

https://bydautomotive.com.au/brochures/BYD-SEALION-7-2026.pdf?v=1

Sounds like you won’t have an issue.

PS engines burn fuel. Motors use something else such as electricity.

 

[AuSammy]

Have you considered Tesla Model Y RWD . it has much more cargo space. Approx same price

I have a personal aversion (some might debate irrational) to purchasing anything from that company.

 

[moa999]

Lucky your in Qld as in every other state a decent amount of peak night time power will be coming from a Tesla big battery.

I also wouldn't look too far into the political leanings of BYDs founder Wang Chuanfu, or any other car company.

 

[OZDUCK]

Lucky your in Qld as in every other state a decent amount of peak night time power will be coming from a Tesla big battery.

I also wouldn't look too far into the political leanings of BYDs founder Wang Chuanfu, or any other car company.

Car company founders do often have questionable political leanings. Or in the case of Henry Ford unquestionably horrible political leanings.

 

[tgh]

Is not BYD underwritten by the Chinese guvmnt ?

 

[AuSammy]

Started a steep learning curve today following my earlier post and reply comments above.

After a couple of hours interacting with googleAI i have received “advice” the best choice for a Sealion 7 and my single phase + solar panel setup including warrantee, reliability, programming features, location and other factors to have a evnex wall charger with included 8m tethered cable, Type A RCBO, physical isolation switch and provision for a CT clamp and hard wired data cable to the main service line. I think I understand most of it.

Is googleAI “on the money”?

Arrrrh AI

Today I did what I should have done in the first place and consulted with the company that originally did the solar installation.

I am no expert in this but the gist of the conversation is .....

Sungrow have a compatible intelligent EV wall charger and an App programmable iHome Manager black box that is mounted in the switchboard that can manage all the loads in the house.

We won't have issues with clashing clamps or whatever.

The pair of smart hybrid Sungrow invertors we already have talk to the manager system and the manager manages the load.

When we have heaps of surplus power (most days) it will charge the car at full pelt. If I turn the a/c on, or the clothes dryer, or the HWS starts up, the manager will detect and work out what's best to do and if necessary command the EV wall charger to drop to an acceptable charge rate not to impact the operation of the house.

If we had batteries it will stop the car ever drawing from the house batteries. It has a "Eco" setting on the iPhone app which will never allow the car to draw from the grid or batteries and only ever use solar unless I override the setting. in the App.

Waiting for the formal quote but likely to be less than the AI generated estimate for a sub-optimal setup.

iHomeManager - SUNGROW

iSolar-Product-iHomeManager by Sungrow provides high efficiency, proven reliability, and advanced features to meet diverse clean energy needs.

www.sungrowpower.com

 

[kookaburra75]

Arrrrh AI

Today I did what I should have done in the first place and consulted with the company that originally did the solar installation.

I am no expert in this but the gist of the conversation is .....

Sungrow have a compatible intelligent EV wall charger and an App programmable iHome Manager black box that is mounted in the switchboard that can manage all the loads in the house.

We won't have issues with clashing clamps or whatever.

The pair of smart hybrid Sungrow invertors we already have talk to the manager system and the manager manages the load.

When we have heaps of surplus power (most days) it will charge the car at full pelt. If I turn the a/c on, or the clothes dryer, or the HWS starts up, the manager will detect and work out what's best to do and if necessary command the EV wall charger to drop to an acceptable charge rate not to impact the operation of the house.

If we had batteries it will stop the car ever drawing from the house batteries. It has a "Eco" setting on the iPhone app which will never allow the car to draw from the grid or batteries and only ever use solar unless I override the setting. in the App.

Waiting for the formal quote but likely to be less than the AI generated estimate for a sub-optimal setup.

iHomeManager - SUNGROW

iSolar-Product-iHomeManager by Sungrow provides high efficiency, proven reliability, and advanced features to meet diverse clean energy needs.

www.sungrowpower.com

That's good to know. We have a Sungrow invertor, and it will be interesting to see how things develop over the next 12 months. From what I've found, getting a V2H charging unit is about $10k+. What EVs Support Bidirectional Charging in Australia? PSC Energy
That wouldn't stack up financially for our situation. Currently our electricty bills are $500/year all up, and given we're in our late 60s I can't see we would get the value out of a V2H unit. Still, costs might come down as more units roll out.

 

[AuSammy]

That's good to know. We have a Sungrow invertor, and it will be interesting to see how things develop over the next 12 months. From what I've found, getting a V2H charging unit is about $10k+. What EVs Support Bidirectional Charging in Australia? PSC Energy
That wouldn't stack up financially for our situation. Currently our electricty bills are $500/year all up, and given we're in our late 60s I can't see we would get the value out of a V2H unit. Still, costs might come down as more units roll out.

Yep north of $10k needs a lot of usage to justify.

The rep I spoke to said its a bit of a crystal ball but he speculates that give it around 24-36 months and regulations will settle, potential user base will grow, bidirectional chargers will come down perhaps by 30-50% and installers will be competing for work.

 

[markis10]

Did a trip down to Port Macquarie for the long weekend, having done it numerous times in an EV last year I was curious to see what the situation was with public chargers. Normally I stopped at Ballina and Coffs on such a trip, while I bypassed Ballina as I was in a Van I noticed a long line up for Chargefox at Coffs and Port, really need to get the charging facilities expanded 10x.

Ex Govt EVs in QLD are going for 50% off purchase price 4 years later, ie Hyundai Ionia and Konas

 

[RB]

Did a trip down to Port Macquarie for the long weekend, having done it numerous times in an EV last year I was curious to see what the situation was with public chargers. Normally I stopped at Ballina and Coffs on such a trip, while I bypassed Ballina as I was in a Van I noticed a long line up for Chargefox at Coffs and Port, really need to get the charging facilities expanded 10x.

Ex Govt EVs in QLD are going for 50% off purchase price 4 years later, ie Hyundai Ionia and Konas

I still drive a petrol car in Port so I don't have any experience but most times I go past the chargers at Lord St behind the council chambers there seems to be space available

 

[Quickstatus]

noticed a long line up for Chargefox at Coffs and Port, really need to get the charging facilities expanded 10x.

For Port:
Maybe they should charge at the Sovereign Place Town centre x12 superchargers - these are open to non teslas (just off the pacific Highway near near Thrumster)
(There is another Tesla supercharger at Cassegrain Wines but is Tesla cars only)

For Coffs:
x16 tesla superchargers open to non teslas at the Big Banana.
x6 tesla superchargers open to non teslas atPark Beach Plaza.

Non tesla cars can pay a casual rate of 68c/kWh or pay $10 to be a Tesla member for 1 month and access the tesla rate which is 48c/kWh during that month.

The reason some Tesla supercharging sites are open to non tesla cars is because a condition of NSW Govt co-funding of charging infrastructure is that the chargers must be open to all EVs. Some Tesla supercharging sites are co-funded by the Govt and therefore open to all EVs, and some are entirely funded by Tesla. I would not be surprised that over time all Tesla superchargers will be open to all EVs.

No other Ev manufacturer is currently paying to install fast chargers in Australia

 

[TheRealTMA]

For Port:
Maybe they should charge at the Sovereign Place Town centre x12 superchargers - these are open to non teslas (just off the pacific Highway near near Thrumster)
(There is another Tesla supercharger at Cassegrain Wines but is Tesla cars only)

For Coffs:
x16 tesla superchargers open to non teslas at the Big Banana.
x6 tesla superchargers open to non teslas atPark Beach Plaza.

Non tesla cars can pay a casual rate of 68c/kWh or pay $10 to be a member for 1 month and access the tesla rate which is 48c/kWh during that month.

The reason some Tesla supercharging sites are open to non tesla cars is because a condition of NSW Govt co-funding of charging infrastructure is that the chargers must be open to all EVs. Some Tesla supercharging sites are co-funded by the Govt and therefore open to all EVs, and some are entirely funded by Tesla. I would not be surprised that over time all Tesla superchargers will be open to all EVs.

No other Ev manufacturer is currently paying to install fast chargers in Australia

Perhaps there should be a federal mandate that for every X EVs a manufacturer sells into the Australian market, they must install Y public chargers.

 

[moa999]

Some Tesla supercharging sites are co-funded by the Govt and therefore open to all EVs, and some are entirely funded by Tesla.

Tesla have received some partial (max 50% of site costs) funding in NSW and Qld, but nothing in other states.

As of today Tesla has 153 Supercharger sites Australia wide with 114 open access., of which they received part government funding for 40. In Europe open access is close to 99% now.

In general the sites that aren't open access are city sites that are super busy (like Macquarie and Broadway in Sydney) or the older highway sites like Gundagai and Goulburn visitors which mostly now have duplicated larger and faster open access sites.

A good map of superchargers can be found here.

https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/findus?bounds=6.631986113372383%2C152.53978443750003%2C-50.645903347595%2C115.01048756250003&filters=tesla_exclusive_superchargers%2Copen_to_all_evs_superchargers%2Ccoming_soon_superchargers%2Call_superchargers