Charging an EV from off-grid solar — anyone actually doing this full time?

Been mulling this over for a while. Got a decent setup at my cabin — 4kW of panels, Victron Multiplus 48/5000, and a 15kWh Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 bank. Covers the cabin loads no bother, but wondering if it's realistic to add EV charging into the mix without needing to massively upsize everything.

Currently got a Nissan Leaf (24kWh battery, older gen) so not exactly a Tesla Cybertruck. Thinking a slow 3.7kW charge overnight using surplus would be fine in summer, but winter generation here is grim — maybe 2-3 decent hours a day if I'm lucky.

Has anyone actually run this long-term? Curious whether people are using a basic Type 2 EVSE throttled right down, or doing something smarter with Victron's ESS and dynamic current limiting. Seen a few setups using the GX device to monitor SOC and adjust charge rate accordingly but not sure how well it works in practice.

What's your honest experience — is it viable or are you still topping up at a public charger half the time?

MarineCallum | 847 posts

@DodgyDrifter Aye, doing exactly this at my place in Argyll — though I'd say "full time" depends heavily on the season! Summer's brilliant, winter's... humbling.

The key thing nobody mentions is when you charge. I only ever plug the car in when the battery bank's above 90% and there's genuine surplus showing on the MPPT. Victron's ESS assistant makes this manageable if you've got a compatible charger.

Your 15kWh bank is decent but you'll feel it if you've had a few dull days and then need range. I run a Zappi in eco+ mode which responds to surplus nicely.

What car are you running? Some accept much lower charge rates than others, which matters enormously for trickle-charging from solar surplus rather than hammering your storage.