in the shade to fill it – Carports Curtains which protect vehicles from the heat of the sun and rain caused by driving, they often have a flat roof which seems to be the perfect place to install Photovoltaic units To recharge electric vehicles and in general to produce green energy. However, the effectiveness of this solution can be affected by the macroscopic time difference between the use of the system and the use of the electric vehicle: if the latter is used by a passenger, then during the day we will have the electricity but not the vehicle loading during the evening, especially in winter, the vehicle returns under The shelter but there is no longer any sun. It is certainly possible to channel energy towards the home and the idea of using one is also applicable storage battery, which “fill up” during the day and charge the car during the day / night. Given an average consumption of 5 km / kWh, this would mean that covering 100 km (the Italian average daily distance is much less) would take at least. 20 kWh from accumulation. At this point, the painful notes arrive: a 20 kWh lithium battery costs no less than 10,000 euros.
Technology at a discount – By adding PV panels, inverter, wall box to charge the car and the shelter itself, the total price increases more. How does the German soloport To present the shelter kit (with generous dimensions), 5 kW photovoltaic modules, 30 kWh storage, inverter, 7 kW wall box, electrical panel and various accessories including LED light with motion sensor approx. 11,000 euros including charging? Because the system is born isolated from the network, it also does not require contacting the network manager. Soon the riddle was revealed: the savings lie precisely in the accumulation, which does not depend on lithium but uses Lead gel batteries: 12 elements at 12V/280A arranged in series-parallel so that they charge at 48V, which is a voltage typical of PV systems.
These items are much cheaper than lithium but they do contain some the negative side, such as weight and depth of discharge, with the latter affecting the former. If the lithium elements can be discharged to close to 0%, the lead elements cannot go down to that level, because their useful lives are greatly shortened: which is why the Soloport’s nominal storage capacity is 40kWh but that Exploitable drops of up to 30 kWh. These additional elements bring the total weight of the simple batteries to 800 kg: add inverter, wiring, sturdy cabinet and light wall box You get about 1000 kg: for comparison, a 5 kWh lithium unit weighs about 50 kg (complete with management electronics): even using 7 (for 35 kWh) the weight would be about a third.
From the shelves to the carpet – The cargo box can be adjusted to Loading with a power of between 1.8 and 7 kW In order to extend the life of lead-acid batteries: Slow overnight charging promises to extend the useful life in order to make it comparable to the long-life lithium-iron-phosphate cells used in conventional PV accumulators. Standard equipment also includes 2 220-volt sockets for charging bicycles, power tools and utilities, but both the shelter alone is available for 2,200 euros and the system without a battery for 4,000 euros.
Tailor-made solutions – This solution is actually very well thought out to optimize costs but perhaps too much for those who travel – this is the vast majority of Italians – 25-30 km per day, considering that being off the grid You cannot use power in a home connected to the grid. By designing a grid system, So it can also be used at home, one might think of charging the car from dawn until time of use, using the rest of the daily production for domestic consumption, and charging a smaller storage tank with excess energy than that of the Soloport. Blinds are available already equipped with photovoltaic modules – eg made by Italian companies Comfa, Kit.Solutions, CoverMet, Gibus, Metexa – Or install the modules on general or ready-made blinds such as those proposed by Giulio Barbieri Srl.
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