Can You Charge An EV In Three Hours Of Free Power?

Solar Sharer plans featuring free daytime electricity can be great value for EV owners – but there’s a catch. To make the most of the offer, you need a dedicated home charger set to run during the free hours. If you use a regular wall socket and try to guess the timing, you’ll barely cover your commute, and your bill will stay about the same. Here’s how to get it right.

Why Does A Home EV Charger Work Well With Solar Sharer?

The Solar Sharer Offer requires participating energy retailers to give customers 3 hours of free power a day, capped at 24 kWh. Most households would find it hard to use 24 kWh of free power at once. An EV is one of the few things that can actually use that much energy in a short time – provided you have a home charger.

A standard wall socket delivers about 2 kW of power. Using it to charge your car is called Level 1 charging. It adds around 10 km of driving range per hour, so in a 3-hour window, you get about 30 km.

It’s painfully slow. A wall plug alone won’t cover the distance during the free window. That’s when you need to look at a Level 2 charger.

A dedicated Level 2 home charger makes a big difference. A 7 kW single-phase charger adds about 40 km of range per hour, so you get about 120 km in the 3-hour window. With a three-phase charger and a compatible car, you can extend that driving radius even more.

How To Charge Your EV During The Free Window

This is the most important part. If your charger is even slightly out of sync with the free hours, you’ll be charged full price as soon as the window ends. We hate this.

There are a few ways to schedule it:

• Doing it manually. Most home chargers can do the job in hardware, but you need to monitor them with a timer. Handy if you run more than one EV off the same charger, but it carries the same catch: nothing updates itself if your plan or window changes.
• Your car’s scheduling menu. Many EVs let you set start and stop times from the dashboard or the manufacturer’s app, as you might with a Tesla. If you switch retailers, it’s daylight savings time, or your state’s free window differs from the one you’ve set (NSW and Queensland run 11 am to 2 pm, South Australia runs 12 pm to 3 pm), the car will happily keep following the old times, costing you your hard-earned dollars.
• A smart EV charger removes the guesswork, but you’ll need one compatible with your EV’s smart charging app. Apps like this help you schedule directly to your retailer’s exact free window and cut power the moment it ends.

No matter which method you choose, don’t rely on your memory for timing.

Don’t Stack Too Many Big Loads At Once

The official advice from the federal government is to shift as much as possible into the free window: heating or cooling, the dryer, the dishwasher, and the EV charger, all at once. In practice, your home’s electrical supply has a limit.

An EV charger already pulls hour after hour of full-rated power, unlike most appliances that cycle on and off. The steady, ongoing power draw doesn’t always leave room for a dryer or a reverse-cycle air conditioner to run at the same time.

Running too many big loads at once risks tripping your main breaker rather than saving you money. Before you plan to run everything during the free hours, check with a licensed electrician or your installer to see if your switchboard and mains supply can handle it.

Get Your Switchboard Checked First

Putting in an EV charger is more complicated than just adding a plug. The wiring rules treat it as new electrical work. Under AS/NZS 3000, you might have to update your switchboard’s safety switches to meet current standards.

This happens often, and it’s not something you can skip. Rebuilding a switchboard usually starts at around $1,000. Many people are surprised by this extra cost if it isn’t included in the first quote.

Space is another issue. Older or crowded boards might not have enough room. In that case, you may need a full rebuild or a separate sub-board near the charger, as explained in this guide to sizing a bigger switchboard.

Homes over 30 years old usually need more than a simple upgrade, especially if they still have ceramic fuses, asbestos fuse panels, or old rubber-insulated wiring. Our pictorial guide to switchboard upgrades shows what these older boards look like.

Be sure to get a thorough site inspection before you accept a quote. That way, you won’t be surprised by a switchboard upgrade when installation day comes.

How Much Power Is Available?

SolarQuotes’ in-house installer and electrician, Anthony Bennett, says:

“The thing you need to understand is this: Around 80% of East Coast properties have single-phase connections. Some vintage timber cottages might be 32 A and an EV charger will use the whole supply. Some flats or units, especially in Victoria, where they have had gas heating, will only have 40A available (9.2kW), while others have 50A (11.5kW). The default house these days has 63A (14.5kW), but you may still need to share that capacity, so intelligent EV charging that throttles down during high-demand periods is essential. It’s the main reason we recommend you get your solar, battery & EV charger from the same brand ecosystem, so they all play nicely.”

That’s why smart, load-aware charging is more important than just picking the charger with the highest kW rating. A charger, battery, or whole-home system that can automatically slow down during high demand is often better than one that only charges as fast as possible.

When these systems are made to work together, they do a much better job of sharing your home’s available power without causing issues.

If You Have Solar Panels, Why Bother With Solar Sharer?

Great question. If you already have solar panels, you usually get free power during the day, but only when the sun is shining.

Using your own solar power doesn’t cost extra, as long as your panels make more electricity than your home uses. But on cloudy days, in winter, or if your system is small, extra power can run out quickly. This is especially true when your EV charger draws a lot of energy.

Solar Sharer works regardless of what your solar panels are doing. Your retailer guarantees the free window, whether it’s sunny or raining. For homes with solar, this offer is a backup for days when your panels don’t produce enough.

On sunny days when the solar is pumping, there’s an extra benefit. Charge your car with free grid power during the window, and let your rooftop solar keep doing its normal job, whether that’s powering the house or charging a battery. You’re not forced to choose between the two, and you can usually set the priority in your energy monitoring app.

What If You Have A Home Battery Too?

If you have a home battery, there’s one more thing to watch out for. Make sure the battery doesn’t discharge during the free window to power your EV.

A home battery is much smaller than an EV’s battery. If you drain a 13 kWh home battery into a car with a 79 kWh battery, you’ve only added about 16% charge and used up the power your household needed that evening.

Many smart systems use the battery first unless you change the settings. It’s a good idea to check your settings instead of assuming they’re already correct.

The goal is to charge your car directly from the grid for free and save your battery’s stored solar energy for after the free window ends.

Is Solar Sharer The Right Plan For You?

Solar Sharer is best for EV owners who can be home and charge in the middle of the day. It’s a great fit for remote workers and retirees.

If you’re at work during the free window and only charge your car overnight, a dedicated EV plan or a time-of-use tariff with cheaper off-peak rates will suit you better.

Rates and plans change often, so it’s smart to compare your options instead of assuming Solar Sharer is always the best choice.

Weighing It Up: Pros And Cons

Here’s a quick review of charging your EV during the Solar Sharer window.

Can you charge an EV during Solar Sharer’s free electricity periods? Yes, if you have the right charger and a reliable schedule. Check out our home EV charger guide to make sure you get the right gear for your needs.

If you think Solar Sharer could work for your household, check what’s available in your area with our electricity plan comparison tool.