Solar for Charging Purposes

[SunnySide]

I was thinking about getting solar at my house for charging purposes does anyone have solar or thought about getting solar because Im getting a great deal on it and was wondering if you guys thought it was worth it or not?

 

[SaratogaLefty]

I was thinking about getting solar at my house for charging purposes does anyone have solar or thought about getting solar because Im getting a great deal on it and was wondering if you guys thought it was worth it or not?

I have solar and I've been very happy with it. I installed it in June of 2017 and on an annual basis I have not paid an electric bill since. In fact I have received a check every year from Silicon Valley Clean Energy so I'm actually making some money from my solar. The payback on my installation was around five years. All of that said I have not really been charging our two EV's at home yet. Almost all of my charging has been done with the "free" EA DCFC chargers. I only have one more year left on my Lucid and two more years on my wife's Genesis. So once I start charging at home I will most likely incur some cost.

 

[borski]

Yes. For me, solar and batteries were extremely worth it, but I’m on NEM2 here in CA. I do not know about NEM3 basically at all.

 

[Lucken]

I have solar and I've been very happy with it. I installed it in June of 2017 and on an annual basis I have not paid an electric bill since. In fact I have received a check every year from Silicon Valley Clean Energy so I'm actually making some money from my solar. The payback on my installation was around five years. All of that said I have not really been charging our two EV's at home yet. Almost all of my charging has been done with the "free" EA DCFC chargers. I only have one more year left on my Lucid and two more years on my wife's Genesis. So once I start charging at home I will most likely incur some cost.

So you’re not overly concerned about impacts to battery longevity as the result of frequent DCFC? For the record, I think the impact is minimal though probably not negligible.

 

[metallic]

I have solar panels on my roof and I am a big advocate of solar energy. The geography of your home/roof is a major factor however and needs to be assessed.

Be very wary of all the solar scams out there. Those scams are practically ruining the residential solar industry. If anyone offers you "free" solar panels or solar panel leasing options, kick them where the sun don't shine and slam the door!

 

[borski]

So you’re not overly concerned about impacts to battery longevity as the result of frequent DCFC? For the record, I think the impact is minimal though probably not negligible.

We grabbed data from the API about current battery capacity (which you can do too, by using either the Python bindings or installing the Home Assistant integration), and @SaratogaLefty had a little more than others in the same time span, but not anything really significant.

 

[Lucken]

We grabbed data from the API about current battery capacity (which you can do too, by using either the Python bindings or installing the Home Assistant integration), and @SaratogaLefty had a little more than others in the same time span, but not anything really significant.

Can you quantify that at all? Very curious.

 

[borski]

If @SaratogaLefty allows, I’m happy to post his stats. But that’s up to him.

 

[hydbob]

Can post mine.

 

[DeaneG]

I was thinking about getting solar at my house for charging purposes does anyone have solar or thought about getting solar because Im getting a great deal on it and was wondering if you guys thought it was worth it or not?

Many EV owners have solar PV installed on their home. It's a great feeling that you are driving on sunshine rather than wherever else your power came from.
That said, whether it actually makes financial sense, and how long it will take to break even on the investment (if ever), depends completely on the utility rate structure and installation costs where you live. One way to find out more is to ask three to five solar installers for bids, and ask them pointed questions. I prefer to own the PV system outright (pay for it up front) rather than having the installation company or your power company "own" it, as these options are more open to financial shenanigans.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

So you’re not overly concerned about impacts to battery longevity as the result of frequent DCFC? For the record, I think the impact is minimal though probably not negligible.

No I am not overly concerned about battery longevity. I currently have just under 14000 miles on my Dream edition and I'm coming up on two years ownership in a little over a month from now. I have been charging exclusively on EA DCFC chargers and typically I charge up to around 90-93% each time, occasionally going to 100% before a long trip. According to the information provided by the API I have lost a little over 8%. Not a big deal for me.

 

[Shane_SLC]

We grabbed data from the API about current battery capacity (which you can do too, by using either the Python bindings or installing the Home Assistant integration), and @SaratogaLefty had a little more than others in the same time span, but not anything really significant.

Is there a how-to guide on how to access this? I'd be curious to see this data for my own car.

 

[borski]

Is there a how-to guide on how to access this? I'd be curious to see this data for my own car.

A few different ways:

1) Easiest is to use https://testmycode.cc/. It was set up by @segbrk to help us define some of the fields in the gRPC API [0]. You put in your Lucid Motors credentials, it authenticates with the real Lucid Motors API (that we reversed) and returns a lot of info.

That info is cleaned for anything sensitive [1], and then you can optionally submit the info to us so we can glean anything useful from it to expand the API. The last step is helpful to us, but not required to view your own info. Your credentials are not stored anywhere, and the sensitive info that is cleaned isn’t either.

Of course, you may not trust it (which I get - again, I am a security wonk), so…

2) Under the hood it is running https://github.com/nshp/python-lucidmotors. The second easiest option is to clone / download that GitHub repo, follow the instructions there, and get the data on your terminal locally - assuming you’re comfortable with the terminal and running some Python.

3) The third easiest option [2] is to use the Home Assistant integration: https://github.com/borski/ha-lucidmotors

Follow the instructions there after you have installed Home Assistant and you’ll see all the info show up as entities that update in real time. [3]

[0] Since, unlike the older REST API, gRPC fields are just unlabeled integers - mapping those was a pain, and mostly involved getting tons of data from different cars and comparing the results of the gRPC API call and the REST API call.

[1] I think it includes the avatar, if you’ve selected one, which is a fix we haven’t made yet - sorry about that.

[2] If you are already running Home Assistant somewhere, this is actually the easiest option, by far. It’s only harder if you don’t already have HA set up - but HA gets you a ton of benefit, if you do choose.

[3] Not actually real time, but close enough. It updates regularly.

 

[borski]

god, what is wrong with me, I have started using footnotes lmao

 

[Shane_SLC]

A few different ways:

1) Easiest is to use https://testmycode.cc/. It was set up by @segbrk to help us define some of the fields in the gRPC API [0]. You put in your Lucid Motors credentials, it authenticates with the real Lucid Motors API (that we reversed) and returns a lot of info.

That info is cleaned for anything sensitive [1], and then you can optionally submit the info to us so we can glean anything useful from it to expand the API. The last step is helpful to us, but not required to view your own info. Your credentials are not stored anywhere, and the sensitive info that is cleaned isn’t either.

Of course, you may not trust it (which I get - again, I am a security wonk), so…

2) Under the hood it is running https://github.com/nshp/python-lucidmotors. The second easiest option is to clone / download that GitHub repo, follow the instructions there, and get the data on your terminal locally - assuming you’re comfortable with the terminal and running some Python.

3) The third easiest option [2] is to use the Home Assistant integration: https://github.com/borski/ha-lucidmotors

Follow the instructions there after you have installed Home Assistant and you’ll see all the info show up as entities that update in real time. [3]

[0] Since, unlike the older REST API, gRPC fields are just unlabeled integers - mapping those was a pain, and mostly involved getting tons of data from different cars and comparing the results of the gRPC API call and the REST API call.

[1] I think it includes the avatar, if you’ve selected one, which is a fix we haven’t made yet - sorry about that.

[2] If you are already running Home Assistant somewhere, this is actually the easiest option, by far. It’s only harder if you don’t already have HA set up - but HA gets you a ton of benefit, if you do choose.

[3] Not actually real time, but close enough. It updates regularly.

Very cool stuff! Mostly mumbo jumbo to me, so I went ahead with option 1 and submitted the data in case it's helpful. Thank you!

 

[borski]

Very cool stuff! Mostly mumbo jumbo to me, so I went ahead with option 1 and submitted the data in case it's helpful. Thank you!

Haha I figured it might be, but wanted to provide the options and hopefully generate trust that way

Thanks for your contribution!

 

[Bus Driver]

We grabbed data from the API about current battery capacity (which you can do too, by using either the Python bindings or installing the Home Assistant integration), and @SaratogaLefty had a little more than others in the same time span, but not anything really significant.

Thanks for letting us know about the API link. Would you know what battery capacity would have been in an Air GT brand new? 112 KWh? 106 KWh? There’s some debate between online sources about an Air GT’s useable battery capacity.

Depending on which number I use, and if I’ve interpreted my API data correctly, I’ve lost either 6% or 1%, after 16 months and 31,000 miles of ownership.

 

[Adnillien]

Would you know what battery capacity would have been in an Air GT brand new? 112 KWh? 106 KWh? There’s some debate between online sources about an Air GT’s useable battery capacity.

It is supposed to be 112kWhr

 

[stratus]

I have had solar for almost 3 years and I am happy we installed it. Financially it is probably a break even scenario , but I love the idea of harnessing the sun and I hope to see more solar each year. My solar energy just goes back to the grid, and I have not had an electric bill since installation. I chose not to have a battery backup system at this point , but may install one in the future.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

I have had solar for almost 3 years and I am happy we installed it. Financially it is probably a break even scenario , but I love the idea of harnessing the sun and I hope to see more solar each year. My solar energy just goes back to the grid, and I have not had an electric bill since installation. I chose not to have a battery backup system at this point , but may install one in the future.

If all you want is a backup system just hang in there for V2H. Coming anytime now!!