We are extremely privileged to UK test site for the brand new Solar Edge combined inverter and car charge point – the first of its kind in the world.  The uniqueness of our site combining the UK’s largest specialist electric cars dealership ‘Drive Green’ with our not for profit green technology advice centre and showroom ‘Completely Green’ has made our site the perfect location at which to trial this brand new and innovative device. Not only is it a Solar PV inverter it enables a car to be charged using the maximum it can of your very own solar generation, thus minimising the cost of charging your electric car, and also meaning you will be using on the very greenest of home produced solar power to do so.

As of this week (Oct 2018) we have the first fully functioning combined Solar inverter and car charger operating very successfully at our Drive Green site, with bespoke made solar car port, made especially for us by our friends who made our wonderful showroom eco cabin.

The car port was designed and built by Mark Wilson, Tom Cherry and our friends from Rockaway Park.  After making our wonderful eco build cabin that is our green technology showroom and advice centre, they very kindly agreed to take on the design and build of our new car port.  As usual they applied their creative talent as well as their practical skills and produced a stunning structure that we can now easily replicate for anyone who requires a bespoke solar car port.  Made using local materials and local talent, the aim once again is to make as green a structure as possible.

The car port is the ideal structure on which to mount a solar pv panel system for electric car owners, or micro homes where there is not enough roof space to accommodate a suitable sized pv system.  The structure is idea to accept the new LG BiFacial solar panels which are capable of the very highest outputs for a great value cost.  They achieve this by being able to generate electricity  from light reflecting onto the rear of the panel.  Our car port structure enables the very highest level of rear generation, particularly when there is a white or silver car parked under the car port.  These panels are the perfect partner to our car port.

The solar panel installation was undertaken by our  friend and the best electrician I know – Richard Godderidge of Avon Domestic Electrical, who has also worked with us on the eclectics of our eco cabin.

The final part of the solar installation was the installation of the new SolarEdge Inverter car Charger and the monitoring system.  Installed by Jason from SolarEdge this is the first working unit in the UK. Despite this it was installed easily and seamlessly and worked immediately.

The final part of the installation and evolution of the Completely Green Solar Car Port, was 2 days of intensive testing of the Solar Edge Charge Point Inverter.  The 5 man team from Solar Edge HQ flew over to test the unit on our extensive stock of Electric Cars.  As the UK’s largest specialist stockest of electric cars, we managed to test the charge point on pretty much every EV on the market.  Nissan Leafs, Renault Zoe’s, BMW i3’s, Mercedes B250E’s, Tesla’s,  and Smart ED’s.

The new charge point inverter aced all tests, charging the perfectly and mostly importantly utilising the solar power generated by our solar car port.

This is a fantastic new product and we are thrilled to be its UK testing site.

A big thank you to everyone at Richard, Jason, Elad, Daniel and everyone at Solar Edge; Mark, Tom and Mark at Rockaway Park, And Richard from Avon Domestic Electrical for making the car port project happen.