Charge your electric vehicle at home

E-Auto zu Hause laden – so geht´s

The energy transition is also taking place on the road: More and more electric vehicles suitable for everyday use are ensuring the increasing electrification of transportation. An important goal of the mobility transition is to reduce CO₂ emissions in order to achieve climate protection targets. The charging current must then also be generated from renewable energies. PV system operators can charge their electric vehicle with electricity from their own PV system. Solar power from the roof thus is turned into green mileage on the road. Find out here how you can charge your electric vehicle safely and cost-effectively at home with the SMA charging solution.

Even in Germany, which is not exactly the sunniest country in the world, ten square meters of PV collector surface on your roof are theoretically enough to fuel around 10,000 kilometers of cost-effective, zero-emissions driving per year*. It doesn’t matter whether you are an experienced solar pioneer with your own PV system on the roof or a newcomer to solar power. You can integrate the SMA charging solution for e-mobility into an existing energy system at any time, even retrospectively.

*Calculation basis: Average consumption of electric vehicle: 18 kWh/100 km, collector area: 5 m²/kWp, annual yield: 950 kWh/kWp, as of December 2024.

 

Harness the full power of the sun with the SMA eCharger

Charging options for electric vehicles at home

Exactly four years after the market launch of its predecessor, the SMA EV Charger 7.4/22, SMA is launching the next generation wallbox with a new design. The SMA eCharger has been available since August 2024. SMA engineers have combined their extensive experience in photovoltaics and the practical experience of the first SMA Wallbox in the new solution for PV-optimized charging.

In practice, it was confirmed that more than half of all users charge their electric vehicle directly with solar power from the PV system or the energy comes from a connected home storage system. This is quite remarkable despite the long winter months without significant solar power generation.

The “automatic phase switching” function in the SMA eCharger provides ideal support here, as it allows even low solar power to be charged directly into the electric vehicle in the early morning and evening hours. This is a particular advantage for smaller PV systems.

In combination with a PV system, users benefit from PV-optimized charging functions and deep system integration with the charging solution.

Further advantages of charging with the SMA eCharger:

✅ Safe: Type 2 charging socket with shutter (mechanical protection against contact for the electrical contacts)

✅ Flexible: Option to lock the charging cable to the charging station via the SMA Energy app (behaves like a permanently connected charging cable)

✅ Comfortable: Activation of the quick-charging function via a knock code on the device; the charging mode can be conveniently changed via the SMA Energy app, integrated ambient lighting

✅ Secure power supply operation: Monitoring via Sunny Portal powered by ennexOS and SMA Energy App also possible without Sunny Home Manager 2.0

✅ Flexible installation: cable entry from above/below/behind, mounting on the wall or on a pedestal/support

✅ RFID authentication: Integrated RFID card reader for (optional) activation of charging processes & protection of the charging station from unauthorized access

✅ Integration of third-party solutions possible: SMA Modbus interface

✅ Future-proof: Prepared for integration into the SMA eMobility Portal OCPP 1.6J (software update) and prepared for AC bidirectional charging (via eProduct, compatible with selected vehicle models and subject to final standardization)

Find out more about SMA charging solutions now

Buying a wallbox: This is important

Since the beginning of 2024, the charging power of wallboxes in Germany must be controllable in accordance with Section 14a of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG). For this, they require at least one control input or an interface via which the power can be reduced to 4.2 kW if the power grid threatens to overload. The wallbox does not have to be switched off completely.

Intelligently linking PV power and e-mobility

There are smart and less smart solutions here. With the Sunny Home Manager 2.0 as an intelligent interface, the SMA charging solution is ideally matched to the components of the SMA Home Energy Solution. Sunny Home Manager 2.0 uses regional meteorological data to create a generation forecast, which it compares against your own consumption behavior. It then automatically controls the charging processes depending on the charge mode so that your solar power is fed to your car, not the utility grid. This allows you to optimize your self-consumption and save on the cost of grid-supplied power. Combined with a battery storage system, you can charge your car with solar power, even when the sun isn’t shining. And now you have your 24/7 accessible solar filling station on your doorstep. The charging system must always be registered with the grid operator. A wallbox with a charging capacity of more than 11 kW is also subject to approval.

Charging an electric vehicle at home with PV energy: The Seeger family shows how it’s done

The Seeger family produces electricity during the day with their PV system, which they use not only for the dishwasher and washing machine, but also to charge their electric vehicle. They generate almost 80 percent of the electricity they need themselves. If there is not enough sun to charge the electric car, the battery storage system supplies the charging current.

Visit the Seeger family in the video.

E-Auto zu Hause mit Sonnenenergie laden: Familie Seeger zeigt, wie’s geht

Perfect partners: solar power and e-mobility

When charging, the SMA Wallbox automatically combines grid and solar power. This enables single-phase charging at 7.4 kilowatts, whereas conventional wallboxes usually only charge at 4.6 or 3.7 kW due to load imbalance. And thanks to the automatic switching between single-phase and three-phase operation, you can make optimum use of even the smallest solar outputs in the early morning and evening hours.

Your benefits:

  • More cost-efficient mobility
  • Increase self-consumption (PV)
  • Reduce CO2 emissions
  • Amortization of PV system

And because you as a system operator ideally want to operate as many loads as possible with your PV power, SMA wallboxes dynamically adapt the charging power to the current conditions. This protects the house connection from overload and power failure.

Fast charging for electric vehicles: Flexible choice of charging mode

With an SMA charging solution, you decide for yourself how you want to charge your electric vehicle using the various charging modes: Particularly fast, PV-optimized or forecast-based? To do this, simply enter the charging destination in the SMA Energy app, i.e. the desired departure time and the amount of energy to be charged. The Sunny Home Manager 2.0 plans the charging process intelligently and at minimum cost – including guaranteed readiness for shutdown.

You can also conveniently switch between charging modes via the app. Using the SMA Energy App, you can easily control your charging processes and see at a glance how much of your valuable solar power is currently being converted to miles on the road. At the same time, the app allows you to keep an eye on the most important data of your energy system wherever you are.

  • Charging with surplus PV energy: When time is not an issue, the SMA Wallbox enables affordable and CO₂-neutral charging with electricity from your own PV system.

  • Charging with specified target: When you enter the charging target in the SMA Energy app, Sunny Home Manager 2.0 intelligently schedules charging. which minimizes your charging costs at the scheduled departure time.

  • Fast charging: If you need to charge quickly, the SMA charging solution charges with the maximum available charging power. The wallbox flexibly combines grid and solar power.

 

Solar power refueling: reduce CO₂ footprint and relieve the grid

Charging your electric vehicle with solar power from your own roof is good for the environment, your wallet and the utility grid. If, on the other hand, the self-generated electricity ends up in an electric vehicle instead of the utility grid at peak times, this reduces the load and possible curtailment. This even allows more renewable energies and more electric vehicles to be integrated into the existing utility grid.

Here are two possible scenarios:

  1. In one neighborhood, the charging processes pile up after work because the electric vehicles are being charged for the next day. This can place a heavy burden on the utility grid on site. Grid operators therefore offer attractive conditions for controllable charging stations that make it possible to limit the maximum charging power from the grid. The ability to control the charging station is also a prerequisite for many incentive programs. The SMA charging solution can be controlled in this way via a digital grid operator interface.
  2. However, the local distribution grid is also put under strain if all PV systems feed in solar power at the same time. If the utility grid cannot absorb the entire amount of electricity, PV systems have to be curtailed.
Julians Familie in Waldeck nutzt ein Elektroauto, den SMA EV Charger und die passende Energy App.

 

Advantages of PV-optimized charging at a glance

  • Use surplus PV energy and optimize self-consumption
  • Cost-effective charging thanks to intelligent charging modes
  • Independence from rising electricity prices and energy imports
  • Faster charging of your electric vehicle
  • Relieving the strain on the utility grid
  • Zero-emissions mobility
  • High level of safety thanks to power outage protection
  • Connect up to three wallboxes to one Sunny Home Manager 2.0
  • Automated and convenient service with SMA Smart Connected
  • System solution from a single source

Your solar filling station for your home

Market outlook for electric vehicles in Germany

In 2023, one in four households in Germany had two or more vehicles. According to the German Federal Government’s plans, as many as 15 million electric vehicles are to be registered in the country by 2030. To this end, the tax benefits for electric vehicles have been extended until 2030. Until 2023, the number of new electric vehicle registrations grew compared to the same period in the previous year, while it stagnated in 2024 due to the discontinuation of numerous subsidy measures. As of July 2024, around 1.5 out of a total of 49 million vehicles in the fleet were purely electric vehicles. In purely numerical terms, 1.7 million new e-vehicles would now have to be registered every year. This requires stable framework conditions such as investment programs and an improved charging infrastructure, ideally with 100 percent renewable energy.

After all, according to study of the Technical University of Eindhoven, the carbon footprint of electric vehicles, including battery production and power consumption, has been significantly better than that of diesel or gasoline vehicles since 2020. The authors assume 75 kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per kilowatt hour of battery capacity and a service life of approximately 250,000 kilometers for the electric vehicle and the battery. Since the share of renewable energies in the fuel mix is also increasing, the CO₂ backpack of the electric vehicles will be smaller.

Sources:

You can find out more about the SMA EV Charger in these blog posts:

 

Do you have any questions about Wallbox SMA eCharger? If so, please comment here by January 31, 2025. Our SMA e-mobility expert Lisa Spangenberg will answer the most common questions in a separate blog post soon.

 

4.5/5 - (4 votes)
23 Comments
  1. Julian
    Julian says:

    hello I have 2 questions
    1. I have a sma tripower 3 phase inverter with 5 kw of panels. I only need to charge at 7kw. can I use the single phase ev charger and that will automatically balance the use of solar across the3 phases?
    2. I do not see any mention of time scheduling. I would like to make use of night time low tariff electricity so it will charge during the day when there is enough sun then from 11pm to 7am. is this possible?

    Reply
    • Christiane Keim
      Christiane Keim says:

      Hello Julian,

      Please get back to our SMA Service for further support as we need more details concerning your plant.
      Thank you.

      Sunny regards
      Christiane

      Reply
  2. Sébastien Bonny
    Sébastien Bonny says:

    Hi, I have a question about the SMA Charger. I have one installed and it works great, but I have a little issue for the winter season. I would only like to use my battery system when necessary. When I charge my vehicle at night, the charger will always decharge my battery. Is there a way to “tell” the charger to charge from grid only? It makes no sense charging the battery from the grid at cheap prices (dynamic contract) and transfer that load to a car when prices are the same or cheaper at night. Thank you. It would be great if you could configure boost charging to charge from grid alone.

    Regards,
    Sébastien

    Reply
    • Christiane Keim
      Christiane Keim says:

      Hello Sébastien,

      We have forwarded your question to our Experts team and will get back to you as soon as we will have further information.
      Thanks for your patience in the meantime!

      Sunny regards
      Christiane

      Reply
      • Peter Brouwer
        Peter Brouwer says:

        The issue as was mentioned above in 2022 is still not resolved in 2024. Time to really do something SMA. I opened a case on this and have not seen any action. Please SMA let your support meet the marketing claims

      • Christiane Keim
        Christiane Keim says:

        Hello Peter,

        Sorry, but so far there is no case referring to your inquiry.
        Therefore, can you please get back to our SMA Service with further technical information?
        Thanks for your understanding and support!

        Sunny regards
        Christiane

  3. Bart Biernaux
    Bart Biernaux says:

    Hi,
    I’m very much interested in your system(s),
    but a main thing that I’m very curious about:
    Can the EV Charger and Sunny Island be used together and more specifically can the battery of the car be used as (a part of) the battery for the home?

    Thank you in advance,
    Kind regards,
    Bart

    Reply
    • Christiane Keim
      Christiane Keim says:

      Hello Bart,

      Thanks for your kind feedback.
      The SMA EV Charger is designed for the set-up described here (please check the technical drawing below).

      Sunny regards
      Christiane

      Reply
  4. Nick Shaw
    Nick Shaw says:

    I have an SMA sunny boy 4.0 and SMA home manager 2.0. installed last year. I also want to install a car charger and would like one from SMA for compatibility. I cannot install one on a wall as it is 15 metres from our car parking area so need a pole mounted charger. Do SMA now make one or are there other compatible options? Thanks.

    Reply
    • SMA Solar
      SMA Solar says:

      Hello Nick,

      a list of compatible devices with your Sunny Home Manager 2.0 can be found here. Unfortunately we don’t offer other chargers at present.

      Sunny regards!

      Reply
  5. mariusz
    mariusz says:

    Hi
    If I have a SolarEdge solar system, is it possible to connect a charger that uses excess sun?
    What do I have to buy for the loader itself?
    Regards
    Mariusz

    Reply
    • Christiane Keim
      Christiane Keim says:

      Hello Mariusz,

      Please contact our SMA Service via our SMA Online Service Center for further help.
      In order to support you the best way possible, we need some more information on your planned system.

      Kind regards
      Christiane

      Reply
  6. Richard Orme
    Richard Orme says:

    I have an existing Sunny Boy Inverter based system with Sunny Boy Storage and 10kWh battery. It has a Energy Meter (although I originally asked for the Home Manager) and I wish to add a charger for an electric car. I am struggling to get anyone to quote for fitting the EV Charger, they all come back with prices for other manufacturer’s products and suggest it would be prohibitively expensive to change the Energy Meter to the Home Manager. I find this very difficult to believe.
    I have a EV electricity tariff and want to take advantage of that to charge my car overnight but also to top up my solar battery at attractive rates for use in the day during dull weather. From your literature, I should expect this is possible by changing the Energy Meter to the Home Manager 2 and adding the EV Charger. Is this correct and do I need to also purchase additional software? Is the Data Manager Lite an alternative solution? What would be the advantages/disadvantages of that or other solutions?

    Reply
    • Christiane Keim
      Christiane Keim says:

      Hello Richard,

      Sorry for the long delay in getting back to you.
      If you want to retrofit a wallbox or charging station for your electric car using the SMA EV Charger, this can only be realized with the Sunny Home Manager 2.0 in case you want to use all functionalities offered.
      The Data Manager Lite cannot be used in such a combination.
      In case you are thinking about using the former Sunny Home Manager please consider that this allows only the use of the SMA EV Charger as a standard wallbox.

      You have mentionned problems in finding an installer? Please let us know your country, so we may help you in that matter.

      Sunny regards
      Christiane

      Reply
  7. John Young
    John Young says:

    I have the following solar panel installation:
    PV system power: 4.200 kWp
    Communication: Sunny Home Manager 2.0 sn:3006126654 running software 2.05.9.R
    Inverter: Sunny Boy 4.0 1AV-41 sn:3004180932 running software 3.00.7.R
    Battery Store inverter: Sunny Boy Storage 3.7 sn:3006317318 running software 3.00.29.R
    BYD 10.2kw
    To work alongside my system I have recently had fitted an ev charger: SMA EV CHARGER 7.4 sn:3010443071 running on software 1.01.28.R and now own an electric Honda E 35.5 kWh lithium-ion ev.
    Unfortunately when I try to manage charging at a cheaper overnight tariff (00:30 to 04:30) my vehicle does not wake up, also it refuses to use anything but the boost/fast charge and won’t use smart charging mode.
    I have tried the suggested work rounds from the operators manual of locking/unlocking the Honda E using its remote but this only very occasionally works. I have returned the car to the Honda dealer where the diagnostic machine shows the vehicle software is up to date. I’ve had my SMA installer out twice to check the charger/system.
    Have SMA tried to charge a Honda E and succeeded?
    Is there anything you could suggest?
    I’m beginning to lose faith in being an early adopter of ev!!
    Any help would be most appreciated.
    Best regards
    John Young

    Reply
    • Christiane Keim
      Christiane Keim says:

      Hello John

      In addition to the support of our SMA Service and the answer given to you in our German section, please note that we haven’t done any charging tests with the Honda E yet.
      As soon as we have clarified this with our R&D, we will get back to you.

      Best regards
      Christiane

      Reply
    • Christer
      Christer says:

      How did this go? I have a similar setup and also an SBS 3.7. I have problems charging an Audi A6 tfsi e all three modes create problems except when there is a lot of surplus from the sun. Is this an EV Charger problem or a Home Manager 2.0 problem?

      Reply
  8. Dick W
    Dick W says:

    Hi there – interested as i currently have a 2.88 Solar array using a SMA SB3000hf with 12 x Sanyo Hit-n240se10’s complete with solarimmension electronics to heat up my hot water via excess generation instead of export to the grid – would i benefit from this new charger system with an electric car – i produce on average 2400Kwh/pa !?

    Reply
    • Anke Baars
      Anke Baars says:

      Hi Dick,
      Thanks for your interest in the SMA EV Charger. The SMA EV Charger was developed especially for the interaction with a solar system and is perfectly suited to charge excess solar power directly into the vehicle instead of feeding it into the grid. Regarding your system´s size, I´m not sure if it provides enough surplus solar power to charge your electric vehicle. It would be best to discuss your requirements with an installer.
      I hope this helps.
      Kind regards,
      Anke

      Reply
  9. Ewen Gellie
    Ewen Gellie says:

    Hi, I was seriously considering this and devouring the English content… until I got to the graphs. Which SMA consider important enough to include for their German-speaking customers, but not important enough to translate for English speaking customers. If I am to spend money to upgrade my SunnyBoy system, then I would value SMA taking the time and making the effort to offer me the same information offered to German-speaking customers. I think it reflects poorly on SMA.

    Reply
    • Anke Baars
      Anke Baars says:

      Hi Ewen,
      Sorry for that and thank you for the reminder. We changed the graphs to English. Of course we love to hear from our customers all over the world.
      Kind regards,
      Anke

      Reply
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