Can you charge a Tesla COMPLETELY off Grid with Solar and Powerwalls?

If you lost grid power, could you charge a Tesla? Today we find out.

[ghostwavewrider]

Can you make an off grid system using nothing but panels a charge controller and the batteries in your ev?

[That-Guy_]

We have to same Tesla solar system 😎
My Model 3 is due in August so this video was super useful

[arnelwilson]

Florida Gator??? I knew I liked your videos for a Go From an old Gator in California

[mrgreen]

Thanks for the video. How often do you use the powerwall to charge your tesla and what percentage of the powerwall is dedicated to the car?

[rjcardenas]

So if 2 powerwalls is 27kwh of storage, and I’m averaging about 50kwh a day to charge my model 3, would that be enough storage? I’m pretty sure I’m doing that math wrong and I know kW and KwH have different meanings across the board. But if I have 2 full powerwalls when the sun goes down and I get home from work to plug in my Tesla. I can only charge up to 27kwh (less depending on backup reserve) and the rest from the grid ?

I was told 2 powerwalls should be plenty for charging my EV but the math doesn’t add up. If someone could help explain I’d appreciate it!

[deahrw]

Thanks for this video. In this setup. Did you connect the wall connector to the mainline or to the gateway in order to charge from solar?

[GoodwinPhotoBlog]

Who is this? Where are the wigs? You are speaking in complete sentences. What did you do with Jeremy?

[skylerlewis]

One day one day I really really want a tesla one day 😂

[fransquiso]

can you charge your tesla without a gear selector? mine has fallen off about 15 times now and i'm tired of having to put it back in and having to bike everywhere while my big toy car charges

[secret.]

Normal people work in the day during peak solar hours.

[hughcourchesne]

So to sum up how much power did you need for your Tesla plus your home?

[istair]

Nice test, however 90% == 90%
!= COMPLETELY
!= FULL
Thank you for stressing that it was the Powerwalls doing the direct charging, not the solar panels; IE, battery-backup reservoir is essential.
Did I hear correctly that both powerwalls are routinely charged to 100%? If so, I am curious why you preserve the car battery longevity by not exceeding 90% but you take the powerwalls to 100%? I read talk that some apps might have an element of built-in protection by claiming to charge to 100% but the physical reality is less than that, obfuscated from the owner.

[DmstFinsT]

This is dope how much of your roof is covered by solar? Room for more?

[litestuffllc]

You have a very costly system with 30 solar panels and two 13 kWh battery packs. Your question was, can you charge with solar? It wasn't could you use 27 kWh of battery storage to keep a house going and also partly charge a Tesla. You started charging in daytime; a very unlikely senerio for most people coming home from work. You also only have 1 car; most people have 2. It will be night and you'd be totally dependent on your 27kWh packs to put 20kWh in your car leaving just 7kWh for the house. By morning; you'd have used all your battery power. If it was a cloudy day in Seattle; you'd get nearly no sun to charge your batteries and you're house will be out of power; when you get back home your car would be out and you'd be dead in the water with nothing working. Even this assumes your power walls were 100% charged; if they were at 50% you'd run out that night; not achieving enough charge even 1 car to commute. So you didn't answer the question. The answer is totally about how much sun you have and how many solar panels you have.

[BFArchn]

You should have the size of your solar in the description.

[kantameena]

Amazing panels should be made mandatory for new homes in states that get lots of sun year around

[dqc]

Come on J. Clean the cobwebs off your Power Wall. Show some respect.

[JustMeTalking]

I have a very similar setup in the UK...

Works great 👍

[caseyat]

Great test!

It is cool to be able to use an EV as extra backup during peak solar production!

When our powerwalls get full, I try to plug in a car, or do a load of laundry. I'd rather use it than sell it to the grid for 3 cents a kWh honestly.

It's that time of year in Arizona, when we are starting to get more clouds for monsoon season, with temps still above 110⁰. We don't remain off grid 100% like we did in the winter, thru May.

I am able to stay off grid when peak pricing hits, 20-25 cents a kWh, between 2-8 pm. But our powerwall usually depletes just in time for our super-off-peak pricing to kick in, at 11 pm, at 6 cents a kWh. Then the sun is back up around 5-5:30 am, restarting the cycle.

I did plan for that to happen, just for June-August. I would need 30% more panels and 1-2 more powerwalls to get thru the extreme days grid-use-free. Just not possible.

Keep up these vids! I don't have the skills or talent to make these videos, so I live thru yours! Haha

[Madsci-zywm]

You should never charge an EV with one of these high frequency, transformerless inverters, because they provide absolutely no galvanic isolation between its DC boost stage and its AC output. Without galvanic isolation, all it would take would be for a single MOSFET or IGBT to short to ground and this inverter can pass high, high amperage DC current straight though your EVSE and on to your EV's onboard charger, and that can not only damage your EV's onboard charger, but can even set your EV on fire. If you want to safely charge your EV with solar, you should be using a low frequency, transformer based inverter instead.