Charger rate (kW)
The maximum power your EV charger can deliver. The simulator never sends more than this rate into the EV at any timestep, regardless of how much solar is available.
Common rates
- 1.8–2.4 kW — “granny lead” trickle charge from a normal household socket. Around 10–15 km of range per hour.
- 7.4 kW — standard single-phase home wall charger (32 A on 230 V). About 40 km of range per hour.
- 11 kW — three-phase home wall charger (16 A × 3). ~60 km of range per hour.
- 22 kW — three-phase wall charger at full 32 A × 3. ~120 km of range per hour. Many EVs can’t accept the full 22 kW on AC; check your car’s on-board charger spec.
- 50–350 kW — public DC fast chargers. Not relevant for most home solar setups, but you can model a quick charge stop with this.
Why it matters
On a sunny day a 10 kW solar array can produce far more power than a 7.4 kW wall charger can absorb. Without the rate cap, the simulator would pretend the EV soaks up all of it — that’s wrong, and it makes the EV target look too easy to reach. With the cap on, the simulator behaves correctly: surplus that won’t fit the charger at this step gets curtailed (or exported, once the EV target is met).
The cap also applies to the battery → EVbonus discharge that fires when the forecast predicts curtailment later. The battery never pushes power into the EV faster than the charger can take it.
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