22 kW EV charger with solar battery backup
A new three-phase home in Pimpama with a 10 kW solar system, one electric car, a second on order and an owner who works from home. We installed a 22 kW charger and a 13.5 kWh home battery with backup, so the cars charge from the sun and the office stays on when the grid goes down.
Location
Pimpama
Service
EV charger and battery
Duration
2 days on site
Client
Private homeowner
The brief
The owners built this home in one of Pimpama's newer estates with three-phase power and a 10 kW solar system already on the roof. They drive one electric car now, have a second on order, and one of them runs a design business from the home office, so a power cut during the day means lost work.
They asked for a fast charger that could keep up with two cars, and a battery that would store their daytime solar for the evening and keep the essentials running in an outage. They were exporting most of their solar to the grid for very little, then buying power back at night at full price.
What we did
Josh Tane designed the system around their actual usage, using a month of smart meter data and the specs for both cars. He was upfront that their current car accepts 11 kW on AC, so it would not charge at the full 22 kW, but the second car on order can, and a three-phase 22 kW charger costs little more than an 11 kW unit when the supply is already there.
We mounted the battery on the shaded side of the garage, clear of the car's path, with the gateway next to the meter box so the switchover to backup happens automatically in a fraction of a second. The charger and battery talk to each other, so the car does not drain the battery overnight unless the owners choose to let it.
Left: the car on the new three-phase charger. Right: wiring the backup circuits at the switchboard.
The result
In the first three months the household used about 70% of its own solar, up from roughly 30%, and the evening power bill dropped to almost nothing on sunny days. The car now charges mainly between 10am and 2pm, from the roof, while the owner works upstairs.
The backup has already been tested for real: a storm took out power across the estate for two hours in October, and the office, fridges and lights stayed on without a flicker. The neighbours noticed, and two of them have since asked us for quotes.
22 kW
Three-phase charger, ready for car two
13.5 kWh
Battery with backup
About 70%
Of solar now used at home
Project at a glance
Fixed-price quote
Thinking about a charger and battery?
Send a photo of your switchboard and a recent power bill. We reply within the hour in business hours with a fixed price.
What the owners said
“Josh told us straight that our first car couldn't use the full 22 kW, which we appreciated. The storm in October proved the battery was worth it, my office never went down.”
Matt H.
Homeowner, Pimpama · EV charger and battery
The service
EV chargers and solar batteries
Home EV chargers and solar batteries with backup for Gold Coast homes, designed around your real usage by a Clean Energy Council accredited electrician, with a fixed written quote.
The area
Electricians in Pimpama
New estates, young families and more three-phase homes than anywhere else on the northern Gold Coast. See recent Pimpama jobs and arrival times from our Coomera base, just down the M1.
More projects
Related EV and solar projects
Get in touch
Want to run your car on sunshine?
Send us a photo of your switchboard and a recent bill and we will come back with a fixed price, usually within the hour.