In the previous article on off-grid EV charging, the focus was on the energy storage battery and the DC-AC inverter that supplies the EV charger (and all of the other AC loads). This time the focus will be on the renewable energy sources themselves. For reasons of practicality (and availability) the emphasis will be on solar, but wind and hydro will be briefly discussed as well for the rare cases in which they make sense.
That last statement is bound to be controversial, so we might as well get it out of the way first. The main issue with hydroelectric generation is that it will only be an option for those lucky few who either have (legal) access to a fast-moving stream/river or a decent size pond/lake at a much higher elevation on their property (and some way to dispose of the water that will be drained from said body to generate electricity). Since this is necessarily a short article, I have to do triage here and…
