Why Charging Stations Are Important in PV Planning
Electric vehicles are one of the most common new electricity consumers in households with photovoltaic systems. An electric car increases electricity consumption. How much of it is covered by PV electricity depends on when the car is charged and when the system is generating.
The charging station itself is a cost item in the project and does not change the energy simulation. With the charging setups on the Consumption profile page, independently of the E-mobility technology, you can:
Model realistic load profiles: The Eturnity Solar Expert automatically calculates a 15-minute charging curve based on the distance driven, vehicle, charging power and charging time you enter
Model self-consumption and profitability realistically: The charging consumption from the charging setups is included in the simulation
Consider multiple vehicles: Up to 5 different charging setups per variant (e.g. car + delivery van)
Various charging powers: From 3.3 kW (home plug) through 7.4, 11 and 22 kW (wallboxes) to 50 kW (direct current)
Licence note: For the Charging station page, your licence needs the E-mobility technology. The charging setups on the Consumption profile page (steps 3 to 5) are a separate part of the licence; they are also available during a trial. If you are missing either of these, write to support@eturnity.com or to our support team in the chat.
Prerequisites
E-mobility in your licence: the E-mobility technology for the Charging station page; for the charging setups on the Consumption profile page, also a separate part of the licence (or a running trial). If you are missing any of this, write to support@eturnity.com or to our support team in the chat
Project template with E-mobility: Only needed for the Charging station page; the charging setups do not need the technology. Either an existing template with activated E-mobility or you activate the technology in an existing project in the Variants menu
Charging stations in library: At least one active charging station in your component library, available in the project's Correspondence language (see "Activating the E-Mobility Add-On and Adding Charging Stations to Your Library")
Customer information: Daily mileage, vehicle type (optional), preferred charging time
Step 1: Activate E-mobility in a Project
If you have an existing project and want it to contain charging station components, you must first activate the E-mobility technology.
For New Projects (with E-mobility Template)
Click on "Create New Project"
Select a project template that already has E-mobility activated (look for the designation or a corresponding note)
The project will be automatically created with E-mobility activated
For Existing Projects
Open your project and navigate to the "Variants" section (left side in the project view)
Look for the "Active Technologies" column
You can only switch technologies in the active variant: select the variant you want in the "Active" column and click the "E-mobility" button in its row (or the name your company has given this technology)
The button will turn green when the E-mobility technology is active
The change is saved immediately. If the variant does not yet have a charging station, Eturnity inserts the first active charging station from your library with quantity 1
Note: You can only activate E-mobility if the add-on is included in your license. If the button is not visible or you receive an error, the add-on is not activated.
Step 2: Select the First Charging Station in the Project
Once E-mobility is activated, you can add charging stations to your project.
In the left menu of the project view, go to the technology's entry: "E-mobility" by default, otherwise the name your company has given it. It opens the "Charging station" page
You will now see a component table with the charging stations of this variant. After activation, the first charging station from your library is already there; clicking the row opens the selection from your library
Click on "Add Component" or use the dropdown list to select a charging station
Select the appropriate charging station based on:
Charging power (kW): 3.7 kW (household power) to 22 kW (wallbox) for private users
Availability: Available charging infrastructure at the customer's location
Costs: The customer's budget. The price only counts towards the profitability of the PV system if, on the Profitability page in the EV Chargepoint tab, the switch under Feasibility calculation treatment is on; for an existing PV system, also only with Self-consumption community solar (also used for a ZEV in Switzerland)
Enter the quantity (normally 1, unless the customer has multiple charging stations)
In the bar at the bottom, click "Save" (or Ctrl+S, Cmd+S on a Mac). Without saving, the changes are lost when the page is reloaded
Example: A private household with one electric car would typically choose an "11 kW AC Wallbox".
Step 3: Configure EV Load Profiles in the Consumption Profile
The most important parameters for realistic EV modelling are entered on the "Consumption profile" page. Here you create the automatic load profiles that are then taken into account in the PV simulation.
Open the "Consumption profile" page (new navigation: group "Design"; older navigation: "Photovoltaics > Electricity usage")
In the right section you will see the "Add EV Chargepoint" button (if there is already a charging setup: "Edit EV")
Click the button. "Add EV Chargepoint" immediately creates a charging setup with default values and saves it: "Medium car", "Home Wallbox (11 kW)", 50 km every day from 18:00
The "EV charging setup 1" form appears; adjust the values there
3.1 Set Specific Energy Consumption
Under "Specific energy consumption" select the vehicle type; you cannot enter a value of your own:
"Small car": 16 kWh/100 km
"Medium car": 17.5 kWh/100 km (default)
"Large car": 19 kWh/100 km
"Van": 22 kWh/100 km
3.2 Define Daily Mileage
Enter the average daily mileage in kilometers
This information is crucial for calculating the daily EV electricity consumption
Examples by customer type:
Commuter (commute to work): 40-60 km/day
Average private user: 25-40 km/day
Intensive user (trade business): 80-150 km/day
Tip: If the customer is uncertain, you can calculate with an average of 30-40 km/day
Special feature: You can enter different daily mileages for individual weekdays (e.g. longer distances on Fridays). The average value is then calculated automatically.
3.3 Set Charging Power
Under "Charging power" select the power from a list
There are five fixed levels to choose from. Choose the one that matches the customer's charging station; Eturnity does not take it from the Charging station page:
"Slow Charger / Home Plug (3.3 kW)"
"Slow Wallbox (7.4 kW)"
"Home Wallbox (11 kW)" (default)
"Fast Wallbox (22 kW)"
"Fast DC (50 kW)"
The charging power determines how quickly the car is charged and thus the shape of the 15-minute charging curve
Step 4: Define Charging Schedule
The charging schedule determines when the car is normally charged. This is crucial for calculating the self-consumption potential.
In the "Charging schedule" section, choose one of three options for each weekday in the "Start time quick selector" row:
"Morning" (08:00): Car is charged in the morning before work
"Noon" (12:00): Car is charged around midday
"Evening" (18:00): Car is charged after work
Alternatively, in the "Charging start time" row, enter a whole hour between 0 and 23 for each weekday
Choose the time that best suits the customer scenario
Click on "Save"
The load profile for e-mobility will now automatically be added to the selected load profile of the building on the Consumption profile page.
Note: Eturnity pre-fills the displayed yearly consumption on the Consumption profile page with the sum of the electricity consumption for charging electric vehicles and the yearly consumption of the selected load profile for the building; you can overwrite it, and the monthly distribution is then scaled accordingly
Step 5: Add Multiple Charging Setups (Optional)
If the customer has multiple vehicles or charges at different times, you can add up to 5 different charging setups per variant.
Click on Add another setup
Enter the parameters for the second vehicle (e.g. a commercial vehicle with higher mileage)
Repeat this process up to 5 times
All load profiles will be added together and included in the overall simulation
Warning: If a charging setup needs more energy per week than its charging power could deliver around the clock, Eturnity does not save that charging setup and shows: "The EV charging energy consumption is at an unrealistic level for the charger. Please consider reducing the daily kilometres driven or adjusting the charger's power output." In that case, reduce the daily mileage of this charging setup or choose a higher charging power. The other charging setups are still saved.
Step 6: Display in PDF Proposal
The charging stations of the variant appear in the offer PDF on a separate e-mobility page, in the new PDF design "04 E-mobility: overview". E-mobility alone does not make Expert insert this page, not even when you switch it on in the variant: it only gets into the offer through a document template that contains it, including the one Expert applies by itself when the "Offers" page is first opened, or you add it by hand.
Open the "Offers" page (new navigation: group "Offer"; older navigation: "Documents > Offers"). In the new version of the page, you work in the "Offer settings" step
Under "Select template", select a document template that contains the e-mobility page. Expert only takes over the pages of a document template that match the active technologies of the variant; the others are dropped without a message
If the page is then missing under "Page order", click "Add page", select the e-mobility page in the new row and click "Save". "04 E-mobility: overview" is only offered when "Use new design" is switched on; in the previous design, the page has its own name, depending on the company. If the selection offers no e-mobility page although e-mobility is active in the variant, write to support@eturnity.com or to our support team in the chat
Check the result with "Preview PDF" (in the previous version of the "Offers" page: "Preview")
In the new design, for each row of the "Charging station" page, the page shows the charging station with manufacturer, model, power, plug type and image, but without the quantity, plus the "Total investment E-mobility" and typical charging times for three example vehicles. The amount covers all e-mobility items from the "Bill of materials", including accessories, after discount and including VAT, without recurring costs. Subsidies are not deducted from it, even if the note below the amount mentions them. Optional items, including an optional charging station, are missing from the page and from the amount. The PDF calculates the charging times with the power of the first charging station; with five or more rows on the "Charging station" page, they are omitted.
Best Practices for E-mobility Planning
Customer consultation: Ask about planned mileage, vehicle type and preferred charging time
Multiple scenarios: Create different project variants with different EV parameters to show various scenarios
Profitability comparison: Show the customer the difference in ROI and payback time with and without an electric car: to do this, create one variant with and one without a charging setup on the Consumption profile page
Future planning: Use the charging setups on the Consumption profile page to optimise the sizing of the PV system (it can be larger with higher self-consumption)
Training: Inform the customer about optimal charging times and how to maximize self-consumption