This is going to be a pretty short article. Unfortunately, it might burst your bubble. The promise of bi-directional Electric Vehicle use for homes, also known as Vehicle to Home or V2H, is great. The idea is that you can plug your vehicle into the house and power everything you need. And you can charge your vehicle battery with solar panels whether the grid is active or down.

It sounds like magic.

Once you get through the hocus pocus of the marketing double-speak, reality sets in. Your EV might be able to race from 0-60 faster than a supercar, but starting an air conditioner is a whole other story. The Enphase bi-directional vehicle charging system specifications lack details at this time, but all indications are that it will have a continuous operating limit of 3.8kW, which is a paltry amount of power, and not enough to start up most central air conditioning systems. Bubble burst. Sorry.

HOWEVER, there are solutions to this. By pairing the V2H system with Enphase batteries, you can have enough power to start virtually any load in your house and then use the massive storage of your EV to power you through the night with ease. Nonetheless, it is important to know that this isn’t going to be a cheap fix. Batteries are still relative expensive, so be prepared to spend some money if you want a solution that provides minimal lifestyle changes when operating off-grid.

On a good note, adding batteries will allow you to run some things in your house while the EV is away from the home, which obviously has its benefits.

The Encharge V2H system is a well thought out concept that uses the Enphase system architecture to seamlessly combine batteries, solar panels, generators, and soon Electric Vehicles. We look forward to offering this to clients once it is released in 2024. If you understand the limitations of this system, you will be in a better position to integrate it into your home backup plans. If you have questions about the Enphase V2H, get in contact with us to plan your system early. You may want to install solar panels now and add batteries and V2H later to maximize your tax credit benefits..

The post Enphase Bi-Directional Vehicle Charging (V2H) and Air Conditioning appeared first on Florida Solar Design Group.