Solar and electric vehicles (EVs) are growing, though it’s fair to say that they are typically considered as separate. If the operators of a site happen to save money charging EVs when it’s sunny that’s more through luck than by design.
Yet, when they are co-optimized, solar combined with EV installations present many opportunities for businesses and owners/occupiers of apartment complexes – as well as charge point operators and installers. Together they are a valuable solution that offers more than the sum of its parts.
Some sites have both on-site solar and EV charging but don’t realize any economic benefits because they’re not co-optimized using intelligent energy management platforms.
By controlling vehicles charging schedules, however, it’s possible to improve self-consumption of on-site solar resulting in dramatic cost savings. You can access cheap renewable energy when the sun shines, limit your exposure to energy price volatility, and when the sun isn’t shining, use time-of-use pricing from the utility by shifting charging to the cheapest hours.
The task is complex in apartment buildings or commercial sites that need many chargers for more and varied types of vehicles. On top of that, employees, residents, or fleet vehicles may need to be charged differently – some free, some at a ‘guest’ rate.
Truly smart energy management systems are capable of prioritizing different vehicles, predicting their long-term charging patterns, billing them appropriately, and optimizing self-consumption of solar before using grid energy.
Environmental and social wins
From an ESG perspective, projects with on-site renewables are better than simply offsetting emissions through carbon credits because they reduce demand on the electrical grid. So too does using your solar energy on site for charging rather than exporting it, which incurs transmission and distribution losses.
With a significant share of EV drivers charging at work, co-optimizing is a more cost-effective employee benefit than installing charges alone. This helps attract and retain talent, while also building a company’s reputation for sustainability.
What’s in it for solar and EV charging installers and operators?
Solar and EV charging make for a great partnership when co-optimized to work hand-in-hand, but awareness of EV charging management systems and the above benefits is still low. Yet, some 44 million Americans live in apartments. This is a huge emerging market for COPs and installers ready to engage with smart energy management systems.
Providers who can deliver the intelligent layer of an integrated charge point management platform as part of an installation package, alongside solar and EV charging hardware, can demonstrate economic and environmental benefits that can differentiate their value proposition. In doing so, installers and CPOs can provide more to their customers and stand out in an increasingly competitive and growing market.
