SolarEdge EV Charging Inverter

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One less piece of equipment on the wall is always a good thing but I'm looking forward to the day when it could operate as both EVSE from the panel to charge the car or as an inverter from the car to power the panel.
 
Sounds a bit dubious to me. If your EVSE craps out, you then have to buy a new solar inverter? Or vice versa? Also, placement of your EVSE is chosen to make it easy to plug into the car and your solar inverter placement is usually chosen to make the install easy, cheap and aesthetically pleasing. How often are those in the same place? I guess there's an edge case where it keeps someone from having to upgrade their panel, but...
 
Good points Davewill.

I thought solar inverters were usually on an outside wall to help with cooling. Aren't EVSEs usually inside the garage for convenience to the EV and to keep them dry?

I looked at a townhome complex that had solar pre-installed for every unit. The inverter was in the garage. But those were really small inverters as the amount of solar for the home was maybe 2.4kw in panels. So heat management for the inverter probably wasn't that much of problem given the small amount of power being handled.

I'm not an engineer so I could be quite wrong on these points.
 
I don’t see much benefit to this aside from saving a panel upgrade. I’m sure this thing is pricey as well offsetting some of the other EVSE install costs.
 
Phatcat73 said:
I don’t see much benefit to this aside from saving a panel upgrade. I’m sure this thing is pricey as well offsetting some of the other EVSE install costs.
I'm not sure you couldn't accomplish the same thing by putting an EVSE and a solar inverter together on a subpanel, anyway.
 
All good points. I still think such a unit may work well for smaller solar arrays (less than 5-6kW?) and lower installation costs, given the EVSE and the inverter can be in one place. It has a 12 year warranty and SolarEdge is doing pretty well these days, I doubt they will be going out of business any time soon. Extended warranties are also available, and many often buy them for the inverters, the fact it also covers the EVSE is a nice bonus IMO. Not sure if all cities allow solar to be on a subpanel.
 
I just started looking at this today, I'm trying to determine if this is worthwhile, or a waste of money. As I understand it, it is a 7600W grid-tie inverter and a level 2 EVSE combined into one unit. I chatted with a rep at wholesalesolar about it, and told me that it will prioritize usage of power coming from the solar panels like this:
1) first priority is to charge your car
2) second priority is to feed the grid in your home (it connects to your main breaker and will feed power to whatever appliances are running in your house)
3) third priority is to feed the utility grid (sell power back to the power company)

That makes sense to me, and it could be especially advantageous if you are able to charge your car during the day and if your utility pays you a low rate for electricity that you feed back into the grid. For example, if you pay $0.12 per kwh and your utility buys back power at $0.03 per kwh, then this device would be effectively charging your car at the $0.03 per kwh rate, netting you a savings of $0.09 per kwh.

Downsides include: there's no option for a battery backup system, as this is a grid-tie inverter only. Your car would need to be able to charge in your garage during the daylight hours for the above scenario to work (so doesn't makes sense for someone that commutes to work in their EV). There's also a slight bit of extra wear and tear on the EV battery, since you would be charging during the hottest part of the day. Also your EVSE would be permanently installed in your garage, and not portable. You would need a second inverter if your solar system was over 7.6 kw.

I think this device could make a lot of sense for a solar carpark, something that a business might offer its employees. I'm not sure it makes sense for the average person to have at home though.

For me personally, I work from home, so I would be able to charge during the daylight hours most of the time. I live in the Pacific Northwest and charge in a garage, so temps wouldn't be an issue. But we have long, cloudy winters here, so I think it would only really benefit me during the summer months.

Initial cost is pretty high, the unit costs $2400 at the moment ($2k for the inverter, $400 for the EVSE cable...they are sold separately). An equivalent 7600W grid-tie inverter (by the same manufacturer) without the built-in EVSE costs $1575. So effectively you're paying $825 for the EVSE component of it, which seems pretty steep to me, especially since it isn't portable. It is a 40A EVSE, which is higher than most (can the Leaf handle charging at 40A?).

The other area for potential savings that they allude to is in the reduced cost of install. I'm planning to install my solar system myself as much as possible, but I'm required to have an electrician hook up all the wiring. With a traditional system I believe I would have to pay the electrician to install a sub-panel in my garage, then wire up a grid-tie inverter and EVSE on two separate circuits on that sub-panel. The cost of labor on all of that might outweigh the added cost of the 'luxury' of everything being in one box, with no additional wiring needed.

Thoughts?
 
I would not buy a solar inverter unless it is made from a company with a proven track record.
 
How long have they been making evse units? I think that may concern me more. I would not go this route and the labor savings seems more made up than real when you look at the total cost of other options and lack of flexibility. More of a marketing idea to make their inverter seem better than others and a fluffy selling point for installers that will likely find it becomes restrictive and less profitable for them.
 
My state (Oregon) does have net metering, but our utility also offered us Time of Use (TOU) when we told them we bought an EV. We decided to stay with flat rate ($0.12 per kwh) because it seemed cheaper and easier to manage in the long run. We don't currently have net metering on our account because we don't have any grid tied solar panels yet, only my homebrew off-grid systems. But I thought that even with net metering the utility might pay you (or credit you) less than you pay them?

I understand EVDRIVER's hesitations...this product being a 'world first' isn't a benefit in my mind, I also would rather buy something with a proven track record. The 'world's first tablet PC' released by Microsoft in 1999 certainly was somewhat of a flop, even though now in 2018 many of us are using tablets regularly (I'm typing this on a Surface Pro).

If I can find a local electrician willing to do the work, I think I'm going to ask them to quote me for the install of this unit, and a second quote for the install of some other inverter plus a 240V outlet (in which I would plug in a portable EVSE), as well as a subpanel if that ends up being a requirement. Then I'll compare the costs, and see if this unit is actually worth the premium. Without knowing the actual cost of labor I don't think it is possible to really evaluate it.
 
NEM is usually symmetric, they must buy the excess energy from you at the same price as they would sell it to you, TOU or not.

EVSE isn't rocket science, I think you can trust the company that has been in the power electronics industry for some time to design it right.
 
Valdemar said:
EVSE isn't rocket science, I think you can trust the company that has been in the power electronics industry for some time to design it right.
Agreed.

I will also say that SolarEdge is not just "in the power electronics industry for some time". In fact, SolarEdge has invented the highest-efficiency single-phase sinewave inverters on the planet at over 99% efficiency. They accomplished this task using silicon power MOSFETs. Most other companies who build single-phase inverters with silicon achieve 95% to 97% efficiency. Other companies who use more-expensive silicon carbide power MOSFETs achieve efficiencies around 98%.

As such, I would say that SolarEdge is perhaps THE world leader in single-phase power inverter technology.

Their "Power Optimizers", which are DC-DC converters that attach to each PV module, also achieve an efficiency over 99%.
 
Given your research, would it be possible to purchase one of these; and easily hook it up to say, 2 of the largest energy producing panels today; and then mount all 3 of these on a single axle trailer?

You could potentially leave this inverter/solar panel trailer out at a remote farm somewhere..... Would this technically work?

TheMagster said:
I just started looking at this today, I'm trying to determine if this is worthwhile, or a waste of money. As I understand it, it is a 7600W grid-tie inverter and a level 2 EVSE combined into one unit. I chatted with a rep at wholesalesolar about it, and told me that it will prioritize usage of power coming from the solar panels like this:
1) first priority is to charge your car
2) second priority is to feed the grid in your home (it connects to your main breaker and will feed power to whatever appliances are running in your house)
3) third priority is to feed the utility grid (sell power back to the power company)

That makes sense to me, and it could be especially advantageous if you are able to charge your car during the day and if your utility pays you a low rate for electricity that you feed back into the grid. For example, if you pay $0.12 per kwh and your utility buys back power at $0.03 per kwh, then this device would be effectively charging your car at the $0.03 per kwh rate, netting you a savings of $0.09 per kwh.

Downsides include: there's no option for a battery backup system, as this is a grid-tie inverter only. Your car would need to be able to charge in your garage during the daylight hours for the above scenario to work (so doesn't makes sense for someone that commutes to work in their EV). There's also a slight bit of extra wear and tear on the EV battery, since you would be charging during the hottest part of the day. Also your EVSE would be permanently installed in your garage, and not portable. You would need a second inverter if your solar system was over 7.6 kw.

I think this device could make a lot of sense for a solar carpark, something that a business might offer its employees. I'm not sure it makes sense for the average person to have at home though.

For me personally, I work from home, so I would be able to charge during the daylight hours most of the time. I live in the Pacific Northwest and charge in a garage, so temps wouldn't be an issue. But we have long, cloudy winters here, so I think it would only really benefit me during the summer months.

Initial cost is pretty high, the unit costs $2400 at the moment ($2k for the inverter, $400 for the EVSE cable...they are sold separately). An equivalent 7600W grid-tie inverter (by the same manufacturer) without the built-in EVSE costs $1575. So effectively you're paying $825 for the EVSE component of it, which seems pretty steep to me, especially since it isn't portable. It is a 40A EVSE, which is higher than most (can the Leaf handle charging at 40A?).

The other area for potential savings that they allude to is in the reduced cost of install. I'm planning to install my solar system myself as much as possible, but I'm required to have an electrician hook up all the wiring. With a traditional system I believe I would have to pay the electrician to install a sub-panel in my garage, then wire up a grid-tie inverter and EVSE on two separate circuits on that sub-panel. The cost of labor on all of that might outweigh the added cost of the 'luxury' of everything being in one box, with no additional wiring needed.

Thoughts?
 
mxp said:
Given your research, would it be possible to purchase one of these; and easily hook it up to say, 2 of the largest energy producing panels today; and then mount all 3 of these on a single axle trailer?

You could potentially leave this inverter/solar panel trailer out at a remote farm somewhere..... Would this technically work?
No. There are two main reasons why this will not work:

1) SolarEdge Inverters require a minimum of eight PV modules to function.
2) This inverter is grid-interactive and contains anti-islanding features which prevent it from operating when the AC grid is not present.
 
I installed a PV system last year with a SolarEdge inverter and a Powerwall 2 battery. The inverter is the high efficiency model and has worked flawlessly. The inverter cannot operate when the grid is down however when coupled with the Powerwall 2 battery which has a separate 5 kw inverter the PV system will operate when the grid is down. When the grid goes down the battery disconnects the system from the grid and turns on its own inverter. The SolarEdge PV inverter than thinks the grid is up and continues to operate normally. The folks living in the house are so impressed with solar power they are now shopping for an EV. I wish this inverter/EVSE combination was available was available when I installed the system because I wouldn't have to rewire for a separate EVSE.

BTW, last year this system was able to supply 98% of the power used totally from the sun!
 
LKK said:
I installed a PV system last year with a SolarEdge inverter and a Powerwall 2 battery. The inverter is the high efficiency model and has worked flawlessly. The inverter cannot operate when the grid is down however when coupled with the Powerwall 2 battery which has a separate 5 kw inverter the PV system will operate when the grid is down. When the grid goes down the battery disconnects the system from the grid and turns on its own inverter. The SolarEdge PV inverter than thinks the grid is up and continues to operate normally. The folks living in the house are so impressed with solar power they are now shopping for an EV. I wish this inverter/EVSE combination was available was available when I installed the system because I wouldn't have to rewire for a separate EVSE.

BTW, last year this system was able to supply 98% of the power used totally from the sun!
Thanks, LKK. That's good information!

However, that information does not apply to the SolarEdge inverter which is the subject of this thread since it cannot be connected to a Powerwall battery.
 
If you do this at the time of the solar install then you get the inverter/evse charging rolled into your tax incentive.

So that provides an additional financial benefit.

I am about to have solar installed and am therefore seriously looking at this inverter.

Ashley.
 
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