Are you considering the acquisition of an electric motor vehicle? If that’s the case, you’d be part of the majority. Recent surveys have indicated that three out of every five people in Australia are open to the idea of purchasing an electric vehicle in the future.
The adoption of electric vehicles, however, is now lagged behind the rest of the world. Currently, 1.5% of vehicles sold in Australia are electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles, compared to 28% in Germany and 85% in Norway.
The primary barrier has been cost because Australia has a dearth of reasonably priced electric vehicles. Other nations, including Germany, the UK, and Norway, have laws in place to encourage car owners to move from gasoline and diesel vehicles to electric ones. In these nations, the situation is different.
Yet in Australia, there is currently no official backing for electric vehicles. In order to increase the affordability of electric vehicles, the newly elected Labour Government has promised to offer an electric car discount.
With greater government-backed pricing incentives, Australia should become a more alluring EV market for automakers. In turn, this should lead to an increase in the number of EV models available and more aggressive pricing.
Car owners’ worries that the charging infrastructure is insufficient for longer trips have been another major impediment to adoption. Fast chargers are fortunately beginning to appear in Australia’s metro and rural areas, which is a good sign. On Australia’s main transportation routes, there should soon be fast charging stations every 150 km according to the Labour Government’s proposal to invest in a nationwide electric vehicle charging network. The future of electric vehicles in Australia thus appears to be promising.
In order to set up your home for effective EV charging, the following should be noted:
- Where is best to install your charger?
- Is there enough power available?
- Is it possible to charge an electric vehicle for nothing with solar power?
- What are your options, apartment dwellers?
Where Is Best To Install Your Charger?
Your electric vehicle charger should be installed in the garage or carport.
Essential factors include:
1. Make sure that your signal is good before you decide to fix it.
For your car to receive instructions on when to charge, EV chargers must interact with the app on your smartphone. It’s crucial to make sure you have a strong WiFi signal where you want to place the charger because most people do this over WiFi.
2. Which side of the garage or carport would you prefer to have the charger installed?
- Make sure you are familiar with the location of the charging port in your vehicle. The port is located in the front of certain electric vehicles while it is on the side or in the back of others.
- Keep in mind how you regularly pull into your garage when figuring out how this will function. If you generally drive straight in or reverse in, for instance. To avoid tripping over the charging cable, make sure it may be positioned such that it can readily reach the port.
3. The garage should have a roof, right?
- The majority of EV chargers are completely weatherproof, therefore it’s not necessary to have a roof over your garage or carport.
Is There Enough Power Available?
1. Which power supply should you use: three or one phase?
- The first thing you should do is determine whether your home is connected to a single-phase or three-phase electrical source. Most older homes have single-phase electricity, but many contemporary properties have three-phase electricity.
- Visit your switchboard and measure the width of the primary switch to determine the type of power supply installed in your property. A single-phase power supply has a “pole” that is one width; a three-phase power supply has a “pole” that is three widths wide and resembles a triple switch.
2. How soon can an electric vehicle be charged using single-phase and three-phase power, respectively?
- An electric automobile should be able to be charged at 7.2kWh, which adds around 40 kilometer’s of range per hour, with a single-phase power source. When using a typical power outlet, this is comparable to about 12 kilometers of range per hour.
- Faster charging, at about 22kWh, or 120 kilometers of range per hour, is possible if your home is powered by three phases.
- According to the battery and car model, these numbers will undoubtedly change.
3. Does installing three-phase electricity on your home make sense?
The answer is typically yes if you’re building anything from scratch. This is so that installing three-phase does not incur significantly higher installation costs than single-phase. And if you intend to convert your home to an all solar-powered, electric system, the advantages of having three-phase power may much outweigh the expense.
4. A dedicated circuit?
Yes, a technician will have to establish a special circuit from the switchboard to the position of your charger in order to abide by the necessary regulations.
5. Cabling
The distance between the switchboard and the charger, as well as the routing of the wiring, must be taken into account. Can you run it through your ceiling or beneath your home? If you have any doubts, it is probably best to get the opinion of an electrician. On the other hand, if the switchboard is located in close proximity to the charging station, then there shouldn’t be a problem.
Is It Possible To Charge An Electric Vehicle With Solar Power?
1. Solar Panel System Installation
You should be able to charge most EVs for nothing during the day by increasing the capacity of your rooftop solar panel system by 5 to 6 kW. This should be sufficient for the usual daily commute for the majority of EV vehicles.
2. Solar Battery Storage & Capacity
When you install a house battery, you may use the solar energy you’ve stored to recharge your electric car all night long. If you want to make more out of your excess solar electricity than just exporting it to the grid in exchange for a meagre feed-in tariff yet aren’t home much during the day, this could be excellent.
What Are Your Options, Apartment Dwellers?
1. Brand-new apartment buildings
In order to accommodate EV charging infrastructure, the majority of new apartment complexes have been constructed. The setup for rapid charging may already be in place, so it is worth asking.
2. Old apartment complexes
- Depending on what your owner’s corporation or strata manager will permit, these can be more difficult for EV charging, but there are a number of choices.
- A direct connection between your apartment’s EV charger and metre, for instance, would be achievable. The configuration of the apartment complex’s metering will determine everything.
- If the apartment complex has an EV charging policy, it’s worth asking the body corporate about it. Most likely, you won’t be the only person in the apartment who wants to charge an electric vehicle!
Do You Need Assistance With Solar Power And Ev Charging For Your House?
Get in contact if you’re interested in learning whether it’s possible to install a solar-powered, effective EV charging system at your house.
A perfect pairing is solar power with at-home EV charging. You might get an even larger return from a rooftop solar system if you have a home electric vehicle charger. For the simple reason that if you can utilize solar energy to run your car, it’s worth is significantly higher.
Not only do we at Sunburn Solar specialize in anything related to solar panels in Victoria, but our team is also knowledgeable about EV charging.
