Automatic Solar Charging of my EV

For the past couple of months (April/May 2016) I’ve been automatically charging my EV using the relay function in an Immersun unit. This is working brilliantly. If you want to learn more you can check out a Microsoft Sway which I’ve just produced (front cover below).

You can download my EV book – Living with a Plug-in Electric Car in Canberra – from here:

Download EV Book (pdf 4MB)

At the start of 2014 I bought a Nissan Leaf electric car (EV) and have been very pleasantly surprised.  It is a perfect car for carrying out normal day to day urban trips around a city the size of Canberra.  I don’t think I’ll ever go back to owning a conventional car.  EVs do work!  My car will also save me money.

Putting the comfort and usability aside, I bought the car as a tool to reduce my carbon footprint.  As a family we generate more energy from our solar PV system than we use in the house and EV combined.  While this is exciting in itself, I chose to focus the book on Canberra since the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) is now on track to source 90% of its electricity from renewables by 2020.  This opens up the prospect of carbon free land transport across the Territory courtesy of EVs.