Smart charging - solar only

Introduction

Charging your vehicle at home can be quite taxing on the electrical installation. With Smappee smart charging - solar only you can ensure that only the surplus export of solar production is used to charge your vehicle. 

Features of Smart charging - solar only

Using smart charging - solar only could be technically difficult if you have a full EV. These type of cars usually charge on all 3 phases of your electrical installation. That also means that you would need a lot more export then for example, a hybrid vehicle that will only charge on a single phase. 

An electrical vehicle will always require a minimum of 6A per phase to start charging. This is not determined by Smappee or by the charging station and is a technical limitation of an EV (IEC 61851-1 standard). Lets look at some of the numbers to better understand this: 

  • Single phase charging requires at least 6A or 1.4 kW. 
  • Three phase charging requires at least 18A (3x6A) or 4.2 kW (3x1.4kW).

In order for your EV to start charging on surplus solar production as soon as possible we have introduced 2 features:

Automated switching between single phase and three phase charging

What is it? 

We've built a new feature to maximize the use of surplus of self-generated solar power for homes and businesses. Now the Smappee EV chargers will automatically switch from 3-phase to 1-phase charging when the solar power generated drops to 6 A or less per phase. 

Example

You connect your electric vehicle which can charge on a single phase and on three phases. When there is room in the vehicle battery, dynamic phase switching can automatically between 1-phase and 3-phase charging related to the surplus of solar power generated.

Total surplus  
of solar production 
[kW] 

Charging of your EV 

0 

No charging until there is again more than 6 A on a single phase 

1.4

Single-phase charging at 6 A 

3.6 

Single-phase charging at 16 A 

5.5 

Three-phase charging at 8 A per phase, 24 A in total 

8 

Three-phase charging at 11 A per phase, 33 A in total 

Requirements

  • This feature is only available on the latest generation of Smappee EV chargers. If the serial number starts with one of the following, then you have dynamic phase switching:
    • EV Wall: 6220, 6221, 6120 or 6121
    • EV One: 6521 or 6522
  • This is only available if you have a three-phase – star (3 x 400 V) charging station installation. This is not available for any other electrical network such as three-phase – delta (3 x 230 V) or any foreign networks. Having doubts? Please refer to your installer who will be able to determine if your installation is compatible.
  • This function is only available during surplus charging:
    • The Solar only mode
    • The Schedules and surplus as part of the Smart charging mode 

Extra information

  • Switching between single-phase charging and three-phase charging will occur automatically during the charging session depending on the amount of surplus solar production generated.
  • After switching from single- to three-phase charging or vice versa, the dynamic phase switching cannot switch back for 15 minutes. This is to prevent wear to your electric vehicle and charging station because of excessive switching. 
  • When the charging station is preparing to switch between single- and three-phase charging and vice versa, you will notice the charging speed will slow down and finally be paused for a very short moment.
  • The dynamic phase switching feature is fully compatible with the surplus percentage feature detailed here below.

 Minimum surplus percentage

For users that are unable to use switching functionality between single phase and three phase charging or for the users that want even more control over their installation, we also implemented a slider function to manage minimum surplus percentage. 

This is where you can set how much of the minimum required current (6A or 3x6A) must be provided by surplus export of solar production. With this, you can reduce the minimum percentage of surplus necessary to start charging. 

Slider configuration [%]  Charging of your EV 
0  the charger will always charge at minimum speed (Single phase: 1.4kw, Thee phase: 4.2kw) and will go faster as soon as there is more then the minimum needed solar
25 25% needs to come from the solar panels and 75% from the grid (Single phase: 0.35kw export, Three phase: 1.05 kw export)
50  50% needs to come from the solar panels and 50% from the grid (Single phase: 0.7kw export, Three phase: 2.1kw export)
100  100% needs to come from the solar panels (Single phase: 1.4kw export, Three phase: 4.2kw export)