Can I charge my EV on solar without a battery?

Most Australian EV owners with rooftop solar charge their car on solar without a battery. The hardware is the same: with the solar charging kit paired to your charger, a CT clamp on your meter reads what your solar is producing in real time, and the charger diverts any surplus to your car.

How solar diversion works

If you are producing more than your house is using, the surplus goes to the car. If your house is using more than you are producing, the car takes what it can and the rest comes from the grid. You don't notice the switching.

Why no battery is needed

Without a battery, you can't store daytime solar for nighttime. So if you drive a lot and need to charge at night, you will pull some grid power. That is normal. A battery lets you shift that, but the EV itself is effectively a 60 to 80 kWh battery on wheels, so a lot of owners skip the home battery entirely.

Solar Only vs Solar SMART

Solar charging on the NEO range works through the optional SC Kit: Solar Only starts a session the moment your surplus passes 1.4 kW and runs entirely on sunlight, while Solar SMART blends grid and solar for the best cost. The kit pairs to your charger through the installer app, no rewire needed.

Realistic numbers

Realistic numbers: a 7 kW single-phase charger on a 6.6 kW solar system will charge your car at whatever your house is not using, up to 7 kW. On a sunny day, you might add 31 to 41 km of range for every hour of charging. Most owners get 80 to 100 percent of their weekly driving from solar.