EV Charging with Solar: The Complete Guide

Electric vehicles and solar panels are natural partners — and together, they represent one of the most powerful combinations available to reduce household energy costs and carbon footprint. If you're considering either an EV or a solar system, there are compelling reasons to do both at once. This guide explains how solar EV charging works, what hardware you need, and what the numbers look like in the Antalya context.

Why Solar + EV is Such a Powerful Combination

An electric vehicle is essentially a large mobile battery. A typical EV's 60–90 kWh battery needs charging regularly, and that electricity has to come from somewhere. If it comes from the grid at ₺3.50–₺4.00/kWh, charging costs add up quickly. Drive 15,000 km/year in an EV averaging 18 kWh/100km, and you need 2,700 kWh/year for charging — costing ₺9,450–₺10,800 annually.

Now put a smart EV charger on a solar system. Your panels generate surplus electricity every sunny day — electricity that would otherwise be exported to the grid at a low feed-in rate. Instead, that surplus charges your car for free. On a good summer day in Antalya, a 10 kWp system can generate 50–70 kWh, easily covering most owners' daily or weekly charging needs.

The annual saving on EV charging from solar: ₺9,000–₺10,800. This alone shortens the solar system payback by 1–2 years.

Types of Smart EV Chargers

7 kW Single-Phase Home Charger (Type 2)

The most common home EV charger. Adds approximately 30–40 km of range per hour. For most drivers who charge overnight, this is more than sufficient. Compatible with all modern EVs sold in Europe and Turkey.

22 kW Three-Phase Home Charger

Faster charging: approximately 100–120 km range per hour. Requires three-phase electrical supply (most larger homes and businesses in Turkey have this). Ideal if you need to charge quickly or have two EVs.

Smart vs. Dumb Chargers

A regular charger simply charges the car whenever it's plugged in. A smart charger communicates with your solar inverter and battery management system to determine the best time to charge. This is what makes solar EV charging economically optimal.

How Solar-Priority EV Charging Works

Our smart EV charger integration works as follows:

• The solar inverter measures how much surplus power is available beyond the home's current consumption
• When surplus exceeds a set threshold (typically 1.4 kW — the minimum the EV charger can use), the charger activates automatically
• The charger modulates its power draw to match the available solar surplus in real time — so if a cloud reduces solar output by 30%, the charger reduces its consumption by 30%
• If solar alone is insufficient to complete charging before departure time (set in the app), the charger switches to grid power to top up
• All session data — energy delivered, solar share vs. grid share, cost saved — is logged in the app

With and Without Battery Storage

Without battery: Solar EV charging only works during daylight hours when there's active surplus. On a weekday where you're using home appliances, the surplus available for EV charging might be 4–6 hours. This still covers most charging needs for drivers who return home midday or leave the car plugged in during the day.

With battery: The battery stores surplus during peak generation, then the EV charger can draw from the battery in the evening or overnight. This significantly increases the solar share of EV charging — from typically 40–60% (solar only) to 70–90% (solar + battery).

EV Charging for Commercial Properties

Hotels, restaurants and shopping centres with parking lots have a significant opportunity. Installing 4–12 EV charging stations powered by rooftop solar creates a guest amenity while using otherwise-exported surplus electricity. For a 200 kWp hotel rooftop with 6 EV chargers, the chargers can be powered almost entirely by solar during the day, providing free or near-free charging to guests and staff while eliminating the infrastructure cost of grid-connected charging.

Cost of Adding EV Charging to Your Solar System

• 7 kW solar-smart EV charger + installation: ₺22,000–₺30,000
• 22 kW three-phase smart charger + installation: ₺35,000–₺50,000
• Annual saving (15,000 km EV, solar charging): ₺8,000–₺11,000
• EV charger-only payback period: 2–4 years

When bundled with a new solar installation, the combined payback for panels + battery + EV charger is often no longer than the solar system alone — because each element contributes to the whole.

The Future: Vehicle-to-Home (V2H)

The next frontier in solar-EV integration is Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) charging, which allows a bi-directional charger to draw power from your EV's battery to power your home. In a power outage, your car becomes a large backup battery. In the evening, surplus solar stored in your car during the day powers your home through the night. V2H-compatible chargers are becoming available, and Nexo Solar is already scoping V2H installations for early-adopter clients.

Getting Started

If you already have solar and want to add EV charging, our engineers will assess your existing inverter for smart charger compatibility and recommend the right charger. If you're installing solar and already own an EV (or are planning to buy one), we'll design your system from the outset to maximise EV charging from solar.