Apr 29, 2026 · Home charging
Charging from your own roof: how members pair solar with the car
Solar panels, a home charger and a car that will wait for the sun. What members have actually set up, what it took, and the bit everyone underestimates.
By Sanne de Vries
Home charging is one of the busiest subjects in this community, and the reason is simple: once you have a car that can charge slowly overnight, a roof that makes electricity in the afternoon becomes a great deal more interesting.
The setup members describe most often has three parts. Panels on the roof. A home charger that can vary its speed rather than only going flat out. And something — an app, a tariff, or the car's own schedule — that decides when to charge. Get all three talking and the car quietly becomes the biggest and most useful battery in the house.
The part people underestimate is not the panels or the charger. It is the scheduling. A car plugged in at six in the evening and charged immediately is being run on whatever the grid is doing at six in the evening. The same car, told to wait, can take the cheap hours overnight or the sunny middle of the next day if it is not going anywhere. Members who have done nothing except change when they charge report the biggest single difference for the least money.
On sizing, the community consensus is refreshingly unfussy. You do not need to cover the roof to make this worthwhile, and you do not need the fastest home charger on the market — most cars sit still for ten or twelve hours, which is a very long time for even a modest charger to work with. Several members deliberately chose a slower unit and have never once wished otherwise.
Two honest caveats. First, whether this adds up financially depends entirely on your roof, your tariff and your country, and anyone who gives you a payback figure without asking about all three is guessing. Ask in the community and you will get answers from people in your own situation, which is far more useful. Second, the installation is electrical work. Use a qualified installer, and get the paperwork — that is not fussiness, it is what makes the whole thing safe and insurable.
What almost every member says afterwards is some version of the same sentence: the novelty of watching the car fill up from your own roof does not wear off. It is a strange and rather lovely feeling, and it is the reason the subject never stops coming up here.