Solar Back Up Battery Use with Mach E

[fzadnik]

Is anyone using one of these solar backup battery systems (Ecoflow, Jackery, etc.) to charge their Mach E? We have solar on our house but our local electric company limits the amount of power we can generate (idiots). I am wondering if I could supplement what we produce with one of these backup systems and use it to charge the car. Any thought or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and stay safe!

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[Jerrytball]

Is anyone using one of these solar backup battery systems (Ecoflow, Jackery, etc.) to charge their Mach E? We have solar on our house but our local electric company limits the amount of power we can generate (idiots). I am wondering if I could supplement what we produce with one of these backup systems and use it to charge the car. Any thought or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and stay safe!

I have both solar generators you mentioned, 2 eco for 7200 kw small jackery 600 for small things, only had the one Eco when I got the car and I did get the attachment they had I think I was able to add about maybe 10 or 12 miles with a full charge on that one generator 3600 KW can’t remember, but it did charge it, and I got the solar panels for it I may try hooking up both and see how much it’ll charge the car run them both dead and then see how long it takes for the solar panels to charge them back up.

 

[fzadnik]

Thanks for the info. I'm just trying to find as many ways to use the free power source (the sun) we have. I might give it a try. Thanks again.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Those small portable units probably aren't going to make a dent because they only hold a couple kWhs. I'd recommend setting the car to charge during the peak solar hours if you want to capture more energy (energy goes into the car instead of the grid). Otherwise you're talking about Tesla Poweralls which are very expensive.

 

[fzadnik]

We do that and it does definitely make a difference with our electric bills. Thanks for the info.

 

[JHAZ]

Those small portable units probably aren't going to make a dent because they only hold a couple kWhs. I'd recommend setting the car to charge during the peak solar hours if you want to capture more energy (energy goes into the car instead of the grid). Otherwise you're talking about Tesla Poweralls which are very expensive.

I have solar also, but you need to understand your rate structure, which will differ for everyone. With the plan I am on, the electric company buys power from me for more than I buy it back from them at night. Therefore, it’s actually cheaper for me to charge my car at night and sell them my excess energy during the day.

 

[Iceslicer39]

Time for electricity math, the battery in the picture is a 3600Wh, divide that by 1000 to get to kWh which is the standard measure for our batteries and utility power. 3,6 kWh is not much in a 91 kWh battery.

ALERT, long post to follow: ?

Also, utility rates vs. solar purchase rates. . Historically it was easier PR to raise the energy a small fraction on energy than to raise the meter charge a larger omount. Use 1000 kWh as the example, a $.001 kWh increase is the same as $1. Before self generation, everybody is a customer and with this structure, the big users pay more, and “the little old lady at the end of the line” pays less, so it helps the PR on that end as well. This created a shift of the fixed cost, like power lines, trucks, buildings and employee costs to the energy side.

The reason why there are limits is to keep rates from unfairly charging non solar more than solar. If these fixed charges have been shifted into the energy charge and the energy charge is avoided, the remaining kWh sold needs to take up the shortage (non-solar end up paying for more fixed costs).

Think of wholesale vs. retail and the local grocery store. In WI, tomatoes in garden all seem to ripen in August. Imagine a grocery store that buys tomatoes wholesale for $1 per pound and sells them for $3 per pound. The difference in the price goes to pay employees, building costs, spoilage, and profit (in the investor owned utility world, may up to 10%, rural coop, 0%). If I walk in with a bushel basket of the freshest perfectly ripe tomatoes, can they afford to pay me $3? Not if they expect to cover all of the other expenses. They lose $2 on every pound. Possibly more due to spoilage since the usable lifespan may be very short. If a few people do it with 1 basket, they could absorb it, and maybe put them in a special section and charge $4, but what do they do when a couple people catch on and back in the pickup truck load in exchange for that (retail) value in hamburger and milk?

in our area, energy is the most expensive in the evenings, about 5-8 PM but it is dark before 7 now. Solar is generating at noon when energy is cheap and gone when they can off set high needs/cost. Utilities are still businesses and need to set costs and supply resources appropriately to stay in business.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[fzadnik]

This is all great information! Thank you for all of the resources and responses!

 

[rhougey]

We have solar on our house but our local electric company limits the amount of power we can generate (idiots).

I don’t live in Florida, but are you saying your power company won’t let you build/install a solar system with production that matches your annual consumption? If that’s true, it’s really messed up!

 

[fzadnik]

Yep. Ocala Electric Utilities will only allow you to produce 92% of your average monthly useage. They take the previous year's monthly bills and average them to figure out how many panels they will allow you to put on your own house. Ridiculous scam...

 

[Jerrytball]

This is all great information! Thank you for all of the resources and responses!

Like I was saying mine is mainly for 2 to 3 day power outage down here in the Gulf Coast where knock on wood. We’ve been pretty lucky this year Florida. I can’t say too much about them and my God, North Carolina when I lived in North Carolina people in the mountains didn’t worry about the coast getting hit by a hurricane, but they do the job around the house here I would like to get my smart panel hooked up where I could just plug them straight into that And not have to run extension cords everywhere and just pick 10 circuits that I want to charge or energize when there is a power outage .

 

[hartmms]

Utilities are still businesses and need to set costs and supply resources appropriately to stay in business.

In my area, the my utility (SRP, a co-op serving a lot of Phoenix) charges a $32 grid access fee for net metering (solar buy back). They only pay $0.0281 per kW to buy any excess solar. They immediately sell that same kW to my non solar neighbor for at least 3x more ($0.06).

I'm all for covering costs (this is a co-op, not for profit), but $32 seems excessive given they also have a 3x mark up on what they buy from me. The $32 fee per month really delays the solar investment break even point out by a lot. I think my utility hates customer owned solar.

For now, I just subscribe to the SRP "solar choice" plan where I pay on average $10 extra on $340 bill to "have 100% of my energy supplied by solar". I'm not sure how well that fee is audited to really substantiate that claim.

 

[fzadnik]

I've thought about doing the same thing for my detached garage. I just need to find someone who will do it off the record...

 

[Jerrytball]

So I know we talked about these EcoFlow solar generators, charging the car and what not vice versa, using the wall charger to charge them up in an hour in case you do have a little bit of power at the time or powering them back up, rather charging them back up with solar panels that come with them. Would be easier if you do look at TikTok I’ve got a profile out there just like my name here jerrytball, And did a little Experimenting with all the hurricanes, and I’m very happy with the results. I’ll just give you a little indication what I’ve done.
So I have the Delta Pro 3600. I bought the extra battery. Which is the same so I’ve got combined 7200, so I plugged them in yesterday morning at 4:30 in the morning and I plugged in my 65 inch TV my DIRECTV box my Internet box my 29 square-foot Samsung refrigerator, sorry that’s the largest refrigerator I could find at Best Buy. I plugged in a bug light a floor fan and then I did a load of laundry in a brand new Samsung washer all while having this hooked up at the same time also have 120 V fry skittle that I cooked on the counter plugged into that and the biggest draw, one cup of coffee that will really suck a lot of energy out of that thing, but it comes back. Anyways, all that hooked up stayed up till 1 o’clock this morning watching TV so everything was running woke up this morning. Still have five hours before the batteries need charging, to me with all that stuff on there, give me a lot more confidence. Let’s say a three day power outage. Some of the stuff like the grill I would not run that really draws a lot of power and I probably would not wash any clothes, but believe it or not that washer and the refrigerator were hardly pulling anything! I have a dual surface gas grill for the back porch with two full propane tanks. with the amount of time it takes to recharge these speaking with other people that have the same set up I have I could go 4 to 5 hours charging them up on the solar panels maybe even less or if they happen to be an EV station open with power I could go charge them down there in one hour or less, I know it only takes an hour and a half on my wall charger here two hours and a half in the house through AC that’s for both batteries. So push them to shove if I forgot to charge my car I could probably get about 30 miles out of two batteries charging my car and that would be enough to maybe get me somewhere there’s electricity to recharge those so I’m happy, I’m sold on the EcoFlow. I feel confident now during a power outage now just need to see what the actual charging time is in the bright sun today.



This is what I need to get put in. I’m not confident doing it myself. It’s probably about a $1200 job.

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