Residential solar/charging times

[Tdub]

Good Day,
I am a proud owner of a 2023 Lightning Lariat for about 3 weeks now. My question;

With a home solar system putting out 52 KWh a day, would it be best to charge during daylight hours, say starting 0900 hrs, or charge at night, after midnight, til morning?

I am really enjoying this forum and learning a lot while reading the threads

Take Care, Happy Driving

Tom

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[hturnerfamily]

as you are 'retired', as your signature/profile suggests, and assuming you are home most days, SURE, let the solar be your primary charging power whenever you need it... as it is 'free'(well, we know that solar is not really 'free', of course, you paid a LOT to have it!)... so make use of your own power.
If you have a VERY LOW overnight 'time of use' EV charging rate from your utility, like I do, then that works, too, as mine may only run about $1 per night, on average. I don't charge every night, as I am similar to your situation, but the $1 per night is about on par with what the utility has charged, thru most any given month, with little else 'running' during the overnight hours.

I have no solar, but a Three-Tier 'Plug In Vehicle Time Of Use' rate plan with Georgia Power, and really APPRECIATE that I do:

7am to 11pm: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Normal KWH charge of 8 cents

2pm to 7pm, during June, July, August: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, HIGH KWH charge of 20 cents

11pm to 7am: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, EV Overnight charge of 2 cents

 

[Tfarrell73]

I have solar and hourly billing with time of use rates. My solar gives me credits during the day for power I send back to the grid. I charge my truck at night when the rates are cheapest from the credits

 

[luebri]

I have solar and hourly billing with time of use rates. My solar gives me credits during the day for power I send back to the grid. I charge my truck at night when the rates are cheapest from the credits

100% this. If you have net metering there is no point to try and charge during peak solar. Especially if you have time of use electricity, I always charge at night, no matter what my solar is doing.

 

[Joe.....Montana]

It 100% depends on what your utility "gives" you for your solar production. I am 1:1 net metering so it doesn't matter when I charge. But as others have said, if your utility company "pays" you for your production, timing may matter.

 

[G-Zeus]

Check with your utility on the best option for your particular situation. For me, my solar co-gen rate was not as good as their special evening EV charging rate. So for me to get both rates, I had to have another meter installed just for the EV rate. This gave the added benefit that I could tap off the power right off the street and maximize the amps to my charging station (and be already pre-wired for a 2nd station when we get a 2nd EV in the future), and not touch any of the amps going to the house. In other words, I have one incoming line and rate for EV charging, and then everything for the house is tied to the solar generation and the co-gen rate for net metering. A bit more of an expensive option, likely negating the cost benefit of the EV rate... but i'm in for the long haul and want to do it right the first time!

 

[Truaz]

Good Day,
I am a proud owner of a 2023 Lightning Lariat for about 3 weeks now. My question;

With a home solar system putting out 52 KWh a day, would it be best to charge during daylight hours, say starting 0900 hrs, or charge at night, after midnight, til morning?

I am really enjoying this forum and learning a lot while reading the threads

Take Care, Happy Driving

Tom

Any time you can use your own energy is always best. But depending on your electric company policies you may benefit charging overnight. Every company and plan is different. Mine works best if I charge while the sun is up until 2:00 (when we enter peak time). Read your plan and do some calculations to see where you benefit most.

 

[Adventureboy]

I do like @hturnerfamily, @Tfarrell73 and others do. I pump solar into the grid during the day for financial credit in peak periods and charge using low rates at night.

In addition to better personal financials, it is better for the grid. Peak use is the time the grid needs power added. Overnight is when there is an excess of cheap power so the utilities prefer this since it helps balance the grid and it helps keep pricing lower for everyone.

Another thing that is helpful to the grid is to postpone your charge start as long as you can so you are charging in the middle of the night/early morning to get to SOC by morning. Everyone kicking in chargers at 11pm for example, causes heavier loads from 11pm-2am and lighter loads from 2am -7am. Some utilities will give you credits if you allow them to manage this so they can better balance the grid overnight. It would be good to have a "Charge to SOC by time" setting that could do this automatically.

 

[Fastnf]

I have solar in California like you. Net metering is different here and there is still charges for importing vs exporting energy. So it cheaper to self consume then to export. My off peak rates are $0.26/kwh and on peak is $0.65. Charging off peak is still expensive. I produce around 40 kwh per day. I generally charge between 10:00 am 5:00pm though in the winter with shorter days it more like 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Still I have been able to keep the charge easily topped up .

Emporia and Enphase make chargers (EVSE's) that will track excess solar producion automatiacly and send it to the truck for charging.

Also because there is a signiifcant anount of solar energy production in California our off peak time is 8:00 am to 4:00 pm not over night. So this changes the whole apporach from other areas that have off peak at night.

Our peak times are 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

 

[keswhisk]

As mentioned by several others it all depends on the Utility setup you have. I was also under the impression that 1:1 Net Metering meant it did not matter when I charge. However, once I got my first bill I noticed something interesting. I would get the credit back for energy I sent out during the day that I took back at night when charging BUT I am still taxed on Delivery for the energy when I take it back at night.

Example, if my total price per kWh is say 15 cents and the energy part of this is 8 cents. I would still be charged 7 cents for that kWh when I grab it at night. The Utility does not credit for the Tax when I supply out

I have a flat rate plan so cost is always the same price. After I realized this I started charging as soon as I returned home around 4-5pm to catch that last bit of daylight. This prevents the tax since the energy stays locally with me. If I had a variable rate plan then the math could change.

 

[invertedspear]

If you have an Enphase system, they have a charger that integrates and only charges when you're producing more than you're using. Hard to justify the price tag on it as it would take years to provide any ROI over just keeping the charger I have or hooking up the FCSP that I have sitting in a box. But if I had no charger, I'd seriously consider it.

https://enphase.com/store/ev-chargers/connected-ev-chargers-home/iq-40-ev-charger-hardwired-32

 

[Citizen0]

It 100% depends on what your utility "gives" you for your solar production. I am 1:1 net metering so it doesn't matter when I charge. But as others have said, if your utility company "pays" you for your production, timing may matter.

2nd this. My rate is .12?kWh, but if I installed solar and sold it back to my EMC they would only credit me .02 making my cheapest effective rate .10 (with no discount hours). It would all depend on when your grid electricity is cheapest.

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