[P2]

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I4 M50 on order with 19in wheels.
I'm sizing a solar system and having a hard time determining the additional panels I'll need for the added EV.
Based on the efficiency of the I4 M50 does anyone know a good method of determining how many KW I'd use per 1000 miles?
Panels are expensive so I want want to oversize too much.
So far the installers I've talked to only seem to have generic formulas.
Thanks.

[cruzer666]

Edmunds tested the 20" version of the i4 m50 and the usage was about 341 kWh for 1000 miles . Given the extra range on the 19" I estimated about 300 kWh for 1000 miles.

Give a little margin of error here based on driving habits, but you'll use about 300 kWh for every 1000 miles; let's say you drive 12,000 miles a year, you'll use 3,600 kWh or 3.6 MWh per year to charge your i4 M50.

In Southern California you'll need about a 1.8 kWh solar system to produce that much electricity. If you take into account 300W solar panels, you'll need 6 extra solar panels to produce 100% of electricity needed in this case.

You'll have to take into account current inverter capacity as well but your solar company will know if that needs an upgrade as well.

[pharding]

It depends where you live. If you live in temperate climate like Chicago efficiency falls way off in the winter due to cold battery inefficiency and the drain of electricity to operate the heating system. I have a Tesla Model 3 and I am now a big believer in battery electric vehicles. I am not alone as the demand is huge and wait lists are long.

[P2]

Originally Posted by cruzer666

Edmunds tested the 20" version of the i4 m50 and the usage was about 341 kWh for 1000 miles . Given the extra range on the 19" I estimated about 300 kWh for 1000 miles.

Give a little margin of error here based on driving habits, but you'll use about 300 kWh for every 1000 miles; let's say you drive 12,000 miles a year, you'll use 3,600 kWh or 3.6 MWh per year to charge your i4 M50.

In Southern California you'll need about a 1.8 kWh solar system to produce that much electricity. If you take into account 300W solar panels, you'll need 6 extra solar panels to produce 100% of electricity needed in this case.

You'll have to take into account current inverter capacity as well but your solar company will know if that needs an upgrade as well.

The rep was using 250 kw/ 1000. 300KW/1000 does seem logical as you noted. I found the attached below which indicates 350KW/1000. I'll discuss options for 300 and 350 and see what results in configuration. Of course there are other variables such as cold with a driving and panel degradation that I may want to take into account.

Thanks for the help.

[P2]

Originally Posted by pharding

It depends where you live. If you live in temperate climate like Chicago efficiency falls way off in the winter due to cold battery inefficiency and the drain of electricity to operate the heating system. I have a Tesla Model 3 and I am now a big believer in battery electric vehicles. I am not alone as the demand is huge and wait lists are long.

Ya. Exactly Chicago .
I don't drive as much in the winter. But thanks for the reminder that I will consume more in charging. How that escaped me I don't know since cold weather had been at the forefront of my EV purchase decision. I drive 40 miles to work, the car sits for a solid 4 days (could be more in the future) and then I drive home. So on those few subzero weeks, we've seen -25, you have to wonder.

[jeffc42]

Originally Posted by P2

Ya. Exactly Chicago .
I don't drive as much in the winter. But thanks for the reminder that I will consume more in charging. How that escaped me I don't know since cold weather had been at the forefront of my EV purchase decision. I drive 40 miles to work, the car sits for a solid 4 days (could be more in the future) and then I drive home. So on those few subzero weeks, we've seen -25, you have to wonder.

Then you might be interested in this i4 M50 review done in Norway, in the winter. (It's in English.)

[pharding]

Great review. I really enjoyed it.

[kindofblue]

When calculating the size of a solar system, it's been our experience (x3 now) that the cost of additional panels is relatively minimal compared to the entire system installation.

You might also consider getting battery backup that will lessen your dependence on the grid and provide power when the inevitable power outages happen.

[sor]

Also, not sure which equipment you're going with but I have a SolarEdge EV charger and it does a pretty good job of only charging the car with excess solar. This means when I come home at night and plug in, it isn't going to drain my house battery, and it is going to send power to my car before net metering to the grid. But eventually you need the car home at daytime to charge it up. You can also override and charge it full speed manually if necessary.

[sd_dracula]

Not sure how the weather is over there but where I am from Nov-Feb the PV doesn't make anything close to run the house so charging the EV from the sun won't happen.
I have a 7kwh system and it cost me close to 0 to charge my 330e for the other 7-8 months of the year, I mean sure 12kwh battery but I also have 20kwh house battery and I still export to the grid much to my chagrin.
Just placed an order for the m50 so I'm looking forward to dump all my extra kwh into that.
See below for a rough estimate of what generation a 7kwh system can produce (do note that even though the panels are 7kwh the inverter is capped at 6kwh as that is the limit for single phase supply over here)
Obviously your geographical location will be different, the angles of the panels, etc
Each bar is the total PV generation for that month