[Zeke54]

Introduction, Hi, I'm a farmer in central Illinois who has a solar panel and wants to use that to charge an ev. Test drove a Bolt this weekend and fell in love. Hope to learn from you guys and gals.

 

[surgeonFWW]

Welcome aboard! We hope to learn about solar panels and EV charging from you.

 

[stuartm]

In general you will need to have enough solar capacity to run inverter(s) that supply enough AC amperage to charge the vehicle. You won't be able to connect the DC output of the solar panel directly to the Bolt if that is what you are asking. e.g. I have 10.5 kw worth of solar panels that drive inverters and even with that, depending on the time of day and cloud situation I may not generate enough to supply the amperage the car wants to pull on the charger. I find with grid tied inverters that in sunny months my generation roughly equals house+car usage plus a little but I suspect in winter I will use more power than can generate.

 

[Zeke54]

No, I can't charge directly from panels as I am simply hooked to grid anyway. It will just be a way to use excess electricity that I get paid squat for.