Solar PV vs Actual Grid Usage

[Solargreg]

I’ve been looking at home Solar Pv system for a little while but can’t evaluate how good the return actually is going to be. The higher the rates go now in the UK I think it will help.

To explain our (family) consumption is about 8000 kWh mainly because we have an EV and that constitutes a high proportion of our usage, maybe about 40%

I’ve been looking at getting a 4-6kWh system plus at least 6kWh battery. Most of our usage is higher on evening time when kids/wife are home and more appliances get used so direct draw will be limited during the day and more reliant on battery. The biggest concern I have is the EV but I think it may be possible to partially charge each day from battery (we only do about 15 miles) or use the Octopus overnight rate for four hours.

We do sometimes need a full charge at a weekend for long journeys which can need 9-11 hours depending on current EV charge.

Does anyone have experience of a similar scenario and being able to maximise stored battery power? Would it make sense to go for a larger size battery system?

 

[johnb2713]

In my view yes, go large on the battery.

I have a 7kWh battery and use Octopus GO tariff. I charge 2 x EV and the battery at night @ 7.5p per kWh. The net result is we have only used a handful of peak units, the bulk of my energy is either free or 7.5p. In terms of numbers, you save 29.2-7.5p=21.7p per kWh. About 6.1 available unts so saving you £1.32 per day MINIMUM. Thats just short of £500 per year saving.
For the EV, install a ZAPPI charger, it will dump any spare energy into the EV at a variable rate.

 

[Solargreg]

Thanks that’s useful to know. Was looking at the Zappi but already have a POD unit installed as the faculty option for my EV deal. If I can change at low cost I may consider as well.

 

[johnb2713]

Thanks that’s useful to know. Was looking at the Zappi but already have a POD unit installed as the faculty option for my EV deal. If I can change at low cost I may consider as well.

Easy enough to sell what you have and swapping to ZAPPI very straight forward.

 

[Solargreg]

Where can I sell it? EBay/Facebook?

 

[johnb2713]

Where can I sell it? EBay/Facebook?

Facebook EV drivers is a good one as well as the individual groups such as BMW i3, Hyundai I5 etc. Ebay is always good too, not forgetting Gumtree.