Electric Vehicle - Charge your EV Free from the Sun

how do electric vehicles work?

All-electric vehicles (EVs) have an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine. The vehicle uses a large traction battery pack to power the electric motor and must be plugged in to a charging station or wall outlet to charge. Because it runs on electricity, the vehicle emits no exhaust from a tailpipe and does not contain the typical liquid fuel components, such as a fuel pump, fuel line, or fuel tank.

The potential benefits of EVs include:

Reduced fuel costs,
Lower maintenance costs,
Enhanced energy security,
Reduced air pollution (with associated health benefits),
An improved driving experience.
Greenhouse gas emissions can be eliminated if EVs are charged using renewable energy.

How the Gswitch charges an Electric Vehicle

The Gswitch has multiple ways to charge your EV:

By setting a simple schedule your EV will charge at the requested time that is set in your user dashboard. Solar generated by roof top solar systems can be used to charge EVs, this is called, “Solar Optimisation” when the generation is available it will trigger the electric vehicle to charge.

Wholesale pricing is now a viable option, with Energy retailers offering new tariffs. The electric vehicle is charged when the wholesale price is low, or it can be set for a combination of wholesale and solar optimisation. If you cannot charge your electric vehcle during the day, then wholesale price may be a better option for you. With wholesale pricing, overnight power is at it’s cheapest and Gswitch will find the most cost-effective way to charge the electric vehicle.

In the graph to the left, the red line is the charging of a Tesla car, 15 kwh of the solar generated from the roof was diverted to the EV. Other appliances were set to “solar soak” the remaining roof top generation with a very high self-consumption for the day of over 80%.

Schedule your EV to charge using wholesale pricing

If the Energy Retailer is offering a Demand Tariff this is more cost-effective as the network charges are lower: In Qld the flat rate tariff network charges are 8.4 cents. Demand tariff network charges are as low as 3 cents, factoring in other costs and charges including generation. The Gswitch can charge your electric vehicle for as little as 9 cents per kilowatt and less if the price is negative. These negative events happen more frequently on weekends.

Graphs show:

Dotted line: Average Price of Power
Solid Black line: Actual wholesale price
Pink graph lines: Power being consumed

These 2 graphs show that the electric vehicle is being charged at the lowest possible pricing point.