EV daytime charging

Up to now I have been charging my PHEV at full power in the day time to make use of excess PV. As the Passat can only draw 3.6kw it doesn't cause too much of an issue. As long as there is a reasonable excess the house battery doesn't drain too much.
We have just got an EV so if I kept the same arrangement for day time charging we would rain the 9.5 battery in no time even if we have full power excess from the PV. The new car is mainly used by MrsG so I would like the solution for the summer hols to be as logical as possible. We have a SyncEV charge point that isn't smart enough to listen to the GE kit. I could drop the standard charge rate to 3.6 which would make no difference to my charging but would cause issues when we want to fully charge the Ioniq at night.
I like to charge mine every night for the weekday commute so we plan to charge the other car on a Saturday night for normal charging. But it seems silly not to make sue of any export given the low payback rate.
Ultimately we will get a charge point that will do this for us but a certain company are dragging their heels. I'm also unsure if it will be a simple swap of units but that's another discussion.

Did anyone understand my ramblings?

We’re on octopus intelligent and only ever charge the car on the low rate of 7.5p as there is little to gain from faffing about trying to use solar at that price. Also do you actually need to charge every night? Unless you have a massive commute it sounds unnecessary.

Yeah I think that will be the most likely event but MrsG is a teacher and home with the kids during the hols. There will be times where a top up is needed (or she takes my car). Mine is a PHEV and I only get around 26 miles from a charge. This is used up daily hence my daily charge. Much longer term I'll swap mine for a full EV too and we'll be arguing over the charger point much less.

Hi Mark, I’m an installer of both EV chargers and GE. I also have the full GE setup at mine with a EV.
It can be a bit of a headache with the charging. It’s worth pointing out that any chargers (definitely the zappi) require 1.4kw of excess solar before they initiate a charge when in their ‘eco’ mode. So what I do during the day as sometimes the export is 1.0kw which is then wasted essentially, I’ll ramp the rate right down manually and draw the minimum 1.4.

Definitely worth considering swapping the charger out to a more intelligent one, maybe wait for the GE to be released for a better integration. I have the zappi and so have to manage the modes on it for the out of hours top up etc.

Mrs is also a teacher to will be keeping it plugged in for the next 6 weeks in the day that’s for sure

Tommendy (definitely the zappi) require 1.4kw of excess solar before they initiate a charge

AFAIK all EV chargers have a minimum charge limit of 1.4kW. What you describe I believe is the Zappi in ECO+ mode with 100% Minimum Green Level (MGL) - perfect for diverting all surplus to car without any grid import. You can reduce MGL to maybe 50% to allow it to blend some grid with surplus PV of only 700W.

Tim sod that 0 grid is the aim 😆

@Tommendy thanks. Sounds like I am on the right track. Our unit has a minimum of 6A so inline with the 1.4kw minimum. I can set it to that but it needs manually setting and the app isn't the best. A toggle in home assistant would be perfect but the charge point integration is woeful. Crossing everything for a GE release.

I have GE inverter and battery system plus a Zappi for the EV.

Now that the high grid voltage issue has been resolved which messed up the generation and the Zappi it all works more or less as expected and on one day last week managed nearly 25kWh into the car. We have been running the car mostly on solar excess for a while now. On a day-to-day basis, we do not do that many miles with no daily commute as we are retired.

I have the Zappi set to eco+ and 100% minimum green and it seems to play better that way with the GE system.

I think it would be nice to have a fully integrated GE Charger but that is not possible just now. The Zappi is a good product and just like GE I have found the support to be first class from them over the phone.

I thought the 1.4kWh minimum charge level was an industry standard and a limitation in the tech of the car.

Tommendy Yes quite so, I am a grid mizzer too.

MarkyG82 Hmm what if automate and every time you plug your car and switch to eco on zappi you start exporting 1.4kw from battery for 1min. Zappi should startup and you ready to go?

HipHopAst This relies on me having a zappi which I don't unfortunately. Having though it through we are going do the majority charging on the EV at night and I will have to forgo a charge on my PHEV which will be able to cover the mileage on petrol. Considering during the summer hols I don't need to do the nursery run, my car will get to work and back on electric alone when I can charge it, so the once a week or so of having to run the engine will be fine.

Tommendy Hi. If you are installer in Portsmouth what would you be charge for installing extra Givenergy 5.2 or 8.2 battery and ev charger zappi v2.1 as this this is only one interact with solar panels. Regards

HipHopAst as this this is only one interact with solar panels

There are alternatives to the Zappi that can detect and use excess PV generation. The Zappi is far from unique.