Wallbox Inspection - Evaluating Solar Controlled Charging of EV Charging Equipment

To make electric mobility possible and acceptable on a large scale, it is necessary to integrate electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in residential energy systems. Solar surplus charging, a special case of controlled charging, is a popular and promising operating mode of installed systems. Comparison of different home energy management systems (HEMSs) in combination with a dedicated EV charging station reveals differences in control quality. Within the research project Wallbox-Inspektion, a test setup has been developed. The derived procedures determine the main criteria for evaluating the quality of solar surplus charging. The core question is: “How well does the EV charging power follow the reference?”. This contribution explains the tests for standby consumption and control quality of control steps and presents an approach to determine the impact on use case scenarios. Further, different solar charging systems (i.e., charging station, HEMS, energy meter) available on the market are compared and discussed regarding the quality of implemented solar charging strategies.