Off-Grid Power: The Challenge for Electric Car Charging in South Africa

For South African homeowners seeking to charge an electric vehicle (EV) at an off-grid home, they would have to grapple with immense costs, upward of R225,000 on their backup power measures. Apart from the hefty price, the issue of battery capacity emerges as another hard nut to crack, as most EVs operate on large battery packs, storing more electricity than an average South African household consumes daily. Electric car models like the Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin, with a plausible range of 340km on a single charge, have been the focus of extensive tests.

In a typical off-grid home, battery energy stored during the day must power the household needs at night. This is despite the regular night-time consumption rate standing at around 60% of the estimated 30kWh that South African households consume daily. For instance, to meet both power needs for a home and maintaining an electric vehicle's charge for an average 44km commute, it would necessitate a minimum of 27.68kWh of capacity.

One would additionally require a hefty inverter to support the usual 7kW charging speed, although off-grid homes might need an 8kW inverter. While grid-tied homes can shrug off stage 6 load-shedding, the situation is different for off-grid houses, who lose out on the cost benefits of using their solar energy to run their cars.

Lastly, overcast weather can be detrimental to charging EVs. Grid-tied homeowners also experience their fair share of challenges, especially during load shedding, as they need to have sufficient energy to power both the house and the electric vehicle.