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SCP73

Member Since: 27 Feb 2021
Location: Essex
Posts: 16

PHEV being charged via solar

Afternoon all.

So, waiting on the date of the MY22 replacement to my cancelled MY21.5 PHEV. I have been thinking about the mpg, and not really believing the 90+mog that I have read. Let's be honest, it is an LR after all

Thus my plan was to charge the vehicle by solar, I have bits and bobs I bought for camping as I need to have power to work when on holiday if camping and cannot get a serviced pitch.

So I have :
Goal Zero Yeti 3000X (considering upgrading to the 6000X)
2 x Boulder 200s panels
4 x Tank Expansion Batteries (ordered and waiting for)

Goal zero do a home integration kit, but it is 110v at the moment, and they are umming and erring on a 240v version (cant wait for that to be made

)

Added to the order with LR the home charging cable which I was thinking of using through the above to charge the abttery.

My thoughts were permanent solution at home and then when camping for the 6 weeks in school holidays, I can plug the yeti into the car and carge whilst away as well.

Can anyone else think of a better way of doing it? There is no way that i know of going charging the phev on the move, I have ordered the domaestic plug socket which is only 180w (I won't be waiting for a tea or coffee me thinks for that to boil) but wondering if as the cabling back to the battery through an inverter is all plumbed into the back, maybe a hack to get a smaller Yeti, 2 solar panels on the roof (have got the fixings already to fit onto the expedition rack) and charge "on the go" so to speak (dreaming probably I know)

Any and all ideas gratefully accepted.

ps. I am blind as a bat, so typo's expected

1992 - Defender 90
1997 - Discovery
2015 - Disco Sport (only 1 child)
2018 - Merc V-Class (3 Children and the mutt)
2020 - Ordered 110 X-Dynamic HSE MY21.5 (hoping big enough for the family)
2021 - MY21.5 Cancelled by JLR, MY22 ordered, awaiting dates :/

6th Mar 2021 4:44pm

lohr500

Member Since: 14 Sep 2014
Location: Skipton
Posts: 1316

2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Santorini Black

Do we know what the Defender PHEV current draw and recharge time are when plugged in? I'm thinking that has to be the starting point for figuring out if your system will have the capacity to recharge the Defender.

The Boulder 200s panels are listed as providing 200 Watts each, and a single 200 panel claims to recharge your Yeti 3000 in 18 to 36 hours. So if you have two panels and they can be connected together I guess that means 9 to 18 hours to charge the Yeti. I suspect those times assume really good sunshine. Something we are not always blessed with in the UK.

The inverter in the Yeti says it can push out 2000 Watts continuous/3500 surge. So this could well be your first problem. If the PHEV is designed to draw the maximum 13 Amps on a 3 pin UK domestic plug in 240V supply, it will draw 3120 Watts which will overload the Yeti.

Even if the Yeti could sustain a 3000 Watt continuous load in standard form it can only supply 3000Wh. The two extra Tank Batteries give you a combined 2400Wh. So your total output will be 5400Wh.

If the PHEV does draw 3120 Watts, then unless it can fully recharge in less than 2 hours, it will completely drain your Yeti and Tanks.

My gut feel is that the PHEV will take longer than 1.7 hours to charge, so the Yeti set up won't have enough capacity.

And then with only 400 Watts of solar power output (on a good sunny day), it will take at least thirteen and a half hours to recharge the Yeti and batteries. In reality, with the UK daylight and lack of sunshine, I bet it will take at least twice that and some more.

I'm no expert, but I don't think it will work

6th Mar 2021 5:27pm

SCP73

Member Since: 27 Feb 2021
Location: Essex
Posts: 16

Thanks, lohr500 - interesting reading.

So I have found the following from a google :

19.2kWh battery
An 80% charge takes around half an hour on a 50kW rapid charger (DC)
Regenerative braking is also used.

So the 6000X would be a good upgrade, the Yeti still charges very well through clouds which we have an abundance of :

Images below lifted from https://www.jaguarlandrover.com/news/2020/...-and-new-x

Click image to enlarge 1992 - Defender 90
1997 - Discovery
2015 - Disco Sport (only 1 child)
2018 - Merc V-Class (3 Children and the mutt)
2020 - Ordered 110 X-Dynamic HSE MY21.5 (hoping big enough for the family)
2021 - MY21.5 Cancelled by JLR, MY22 ordered, awaiting dates :/

6th Mar 2021 6:06pm

lohr500

Member Since: 14 Sep 2014
Location: Skipton
Posts: 1316

Just looked at the specs on the Yeti 6000x, and the maximum output is no different to the 3000x.
So it can only sustain 2000W continuous/3500 surge.

Even if it could push out 3kW continuous, it would take over 6 hours to recharge a 19.2kWh battery, assuming 100% conversion efficiency from the Defender PHEV and Yeti inverters.

A Yeti 6000X plus the two 1200kWh Tank batteries gives you a total of 7200kwH. With some allowance for efficiency losses in the Defender and Yeti inverters I think you would probably need three Yeti 6000X, each with two Tank batteries, to recharge the Defender phev, assuming the battery was flat.

6th Mar 2021 6:22pm

oop north

Member Since: 23 Mar 2016
Location: Preston-ish
Posts: 59

I think that, normally, EVs need a minimum steady 3kW before they will actually charge, as a general rule, although the last 20% of the charge or thereabouts slows down considerably and keeps getting slower

6th Mar 2021 7:26pm

SCP73

Member Since: 27 Feb 2021
Location: Essex
Posts: 16

OK, so doing some more number crunching, leave the current kit for the holiday only and make sure we have a charging point close to the site selected. Then go for a full solar install at the house, nakedsolar seem to have some experience with this.

Thanks all, I will let you know how it all goes and some pics once its sorted (albeit once I have the 110 PHEV that is)

6th Mar 2021 10:24pm

Digger2000

Member Since: 19 Sep 2020
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 590

You’re going to need a hell of a lot of panels to charge it. 3kw system on a house is generally 20 panels, I have 1.75kw BP solar panels on my house and that’s 10 panels. The payback for such a system the batteries will probably be dead before you get the benefit of such an install.

6th Mar 2021 10:58pm

Digger2000

Member Since: 19 Sep 2020
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 590

Have you test drive a car with the p400e engine in it? I got a curtesy car today RRS p400e and the electric motor kicks out at very low speed (15 mph if you’re lucky) I was disappointed in it. The technology is not there yet in my opinion.

6th Mar 2021 11:03pm

miker

Member Since: 13 Sep 2015
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1763

Based on the, admittedly cheap, 100W solar panel on the roof of my TD5, you'll get up to 400Wh per day, and that's in the summer. Charging the car with solar isn't going to be practical in 90% of scenarios.

7th Mar 2021 12:08am

Cheshire110

Member Since: 26 Jul 2013
Location: Cheshire/London
Posts: 2753

I think probably better to just do what most EV guys do (and I will do when my P400e is delivered this summer)... get yourself a zero carbon variable rate tariff (such as that from Octopus) which allows you very cheap overnight charging. Octopus Go for example charges you something like 4p per kWh between 12pm and 4am. That’s like 75p to charge the P400e defender.

I think the whole benefit of the PHEV is cheap local motoring; but when out and about further afield you can forget about the battery and just use petrol.

Re: electric drive, not sure what was going on with the car you drove digger but I test drove a P400e RR and was struggling to get the engine to kick in at all! Certainly didn’t want to below 30-40 at all, and I got up to dual carriageway speeds on EV only a couple of times... Cheers, David
Land Rovers of all shapes S3 onwards… Daily is a 110 V8.

7th Mar 2021 10:38am

Digger2000

Member Since: 19 Sep 2020
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 590

I’m not sure either, I was driving under 40mph all the way home and most of the time 30mph it left electric mode around 10mph it only really used the electric motor when I was accelerating from stationary position. I also wasn’t impressed with the drive it felt lightweight and not planted to the road. Parking it wasn’t good either lacked the throttle response of a combustion engine. Maybe just the vehicle I had but it didn’t sell itself to me.

7th Mar 2021 12:39pm

Cheshire110

Member Since: 26 Jul 2013
Location: Cheshire/London
Posts: 2753

Sure you weren’t in a MHEV?? Cheers, David
Land Rovers of all shapes S3 onwards… Daily is a 110 V8.

7th Mar 2021 12:45pm

Digger2000

Member Since: 19 Sep 2020
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 590

P400e

7th Mar 2021 12:49pm

Cheshire110

Member Since: 26 Jul 2013
Location: Cheshire/London
Posts: 2753

Doesn’t sound like a P400e to me at all. In fact literally the opposite of all the comments I would have made about driving the P400e.

Maybe if the battery was flat or if you had it in “save” mode?

Sure it was a P400 (no e)? - they MHEV system on those kicks in below around 10mph Cheers, David
Land Rovers of all shapes S3 onwards… Daily is a 110 V8.

7th Mar 2021 2:26pm

Digger2000

Member Since: 19 Sep 2020
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 590

It has a P400e badge on the tailgate definitely the PHEV

7th Mar 2021 5:47pm

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