Victoria has had no minimum feed-in tariff since 1 July 2025. After a change to the Electricity Industry Act 2000, the Essential Services Commission no longer sets one, so each retailer decides what your exported solar is worth and the only floor is zero. The Commission’s own explanation is short: solar customers benefit by avoiding retail tariffs, which they do by using the electricity their systems generate.
An electric car parked at home can soak up a lot of that spare generation. A solar EV charger watches what your panels send to the grid and turns it into charging current instead, speeding up and slowing down as clouds pass. Our A-grade electricians install these chargers across Melbourne, connect them to readings from your switchboard or inverter, and set the modes to suit how you actually drive. We work under REC 35838.
How a solar EV charger knows there is spare sun
A charger can’t follow your solar unless something tells it, moment to moment, whether the house is importing or exporting. One way is a current sensor clipped around the incoming supply cable at the main switchboard, ahead of every circuit and the solar connection, so it sees the whole home’s import and export. The other is data from a compatible inverter or home energy management system, passed to the charger over your home network.
When the reading travels over the network, a charger that drops off the Wi-Fi loses track of the surplus, so we test the signal in the garage itself. We also trace where the solar connects: in some older houses the inverter feeds a sub-board, and the sensor has to sit where it sees the full picture. If the board has no room for a new circuit and a sensor, switchboard upgrades for EV chargers become part of the quote.
One number shapes everything else. The control signal between charger and car can’t request less than 6 amps per phase, which is about 1.4 kW on a single-phase charger. Below that, a car running on solar alone simply waits.
Surplus-solar modes and when to use each
Manufacturers name these modes differently, but the four below cover the usual options. Solar Victoria’s advice on getting your home EV-ready puts it simply: a smart charger can run while the panels are producing, or wait for a time-of-use window.
| Mode | What the charger does | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Solar only | Starts once the surplus reaches the minimum, follows the sun, pauses when the surplus falls away | A car that stays home through the middle of the day |
| Solar plus grid top-up | Uses the surplus first and imports just enough to keep charging at the minimum rate | Patchy days when you still want charge going in |
| Scheduled | Charges at set times whatever the weather, usually in a cheaper time-of-use window | Cars that are out while the sun is up |
| Full power | Charges at the charger’s maximum from any source | A long drive first thing tomorrow |
Three-phase homes face a higher bar. The 6 amp minimum applies to each phase, so a three-phase charger on solar alone needs a little over 4 kW of surplus to start. Some switch to one phase when the surplus is small and back to three when there’s plenty, and on a modest roof that feature matters more than the headline output.
Our honest view: for a weekday commuter, solar-only mode gets more attention than it deserves. If the car leaves at eight and returns at six, the panels do their best work while the garage is empty. For homes like that we set solar-only for weekends and work-from-home days and let a scheduled overnight window do the rest.
Sizing: what your roof can put into the car
Solar Victoria is careful here, and so are we. How much driving the sun can cover depends on the solar system, the car’s battery and the charging set-up, and some systems can’t take a flat battery to full in a day. Regular top-ups are a different matter, and that’s where solar charging earns its keep.
Solar Victoria’s suggested order is sensible: work out the kilowatts you need from your daily driving, then ask an authorised solar retailer how many panels would cover it. A sunny-weekday example: the panels produce 4 kW at midday and the house uses 1 kW, leaving about 3 kW for the car. CitiPower describes a 7 kW wall charger as adding 30 to 40 km of range per hour, so 3 kW is very roughly 13 to 17 km per hour of good sun, or 50 to 70 km over four clear hours. On a grey July afternoon the same roof may not reach the 1.4 kW start point at all.
That seasonal swing is why we pair solar modes with a scheduled fallback, and why a bigger charger isn’t automatically better for solar. The car’s onboard charger sets one ceiling on AC charging speed and the surplus sets another, so three-phase power upgrades for EV charging suit some homes and waste money in others.
Adding a home battery to the mix
A battery lets you bank daytime solar and put it into the car at night, which Solar Victoria lists as one way to charge from your own generation. The catch is that the same energy can’t then run the house in the evening. The battery and the charger also need to know who goes first, or the house battery can end up emptying into the car at dusk. We set that priority when we commission the charger and show you how to change it.
If you’re considering a larger battery partly for the car, check how federal support is shaped. Under the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which began on 1 July 2025, battery support tapers by capacity from 1 May 2026, as the Clean Energy Regulator sets out: the full STC factor applies up to 14 kWh, 60% of it from 14 to 28 kWh, and 15% from 28 to 50 kWh. What counts is the day the battery is installed, not the day you sign.
One timing point: solar and battery work is prescribed electrical work, and it can’t be switched on until an independent Licensed Electrical Inspector has inspected it.
Export limits, the emergency backstop and your tariff
Your network sets an export limit when a solar system is approved. On CitiPower’s network the installer lodges a pre-approval through eConnect before the contract is signed, and approvals can come with limits on exports. United Energy’s installer FAQ from 2022 even describes zero-export assessments, meaning self-consumption only. Once you hit the limit, extra generation has nowhere useful to go unless something in the house uses it, and a car on a solar-aware charger is often that something.
New, replacement and upgraded solar systems must also meet Victoria’s emergency backstop mechanism: an inverter from the Clean Energy Council’s list of approved AS-4777.2.2020 CSIP-Aus inverters, connected to the internet at all times, so output can be reduced if the Australian Energy Market Operator directs it during a minimum system load event. Adding panels to feed the car brings the upgraded system under these rules.
Then there’s the tariff. United Energy makes the case for daytime charging: flexible time-of-use tariffs, and renewable energy at its most abundant and affordable. Compare what your retailer pays for exports with what it charges for imports before deciding how hard to chase the sun.
Bidirectional charging: where it stands in October 2026
Vehicle-to-grid charging, where the car sends power back, is closer than it was but still not an off-the-shelf choice for most Melbourne homes. Here’s the position as we checked it on 12 October 2026.
- Standards Australia says the 2024 revision of AS/NZS 4777.1, the inverter installation standard, paves the way for vehicle-to-grid technology, with provisions for AC and DC connections.
- AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 Amd 2:2024 took effect on 23 August 2025 and allows two kinds of bidirectional charging. The Clean Energy Council puts DC systems, with the inverter in the wall unit, in scope of its approved inverter list, but is still working out how to treat AC systems where the inverter sits in the car.
- CitiPower and Powercor treat a bidirectional charger much like solar: it must be on the CEC approved list, counts towards site capacity and the export limit, and goes through pre-approval and an alteration request. A V2G charger added to an existing solar system is exempt from the emergency backstop.
- The car and the charger both have to support it.
Our advice for now: fit a good solar-aware charger, leave room in the switchboard, and revisit bidirectional charging once your car and the approved lists catch up.
Frequently asked questions on charging from solar
Can I charge my car from solar without a special charger?
Yes. Solar Victoria calls plugging the car’s standard Level 1 charger into a power point during the day the easiest way to use home solar. It’s slow, and it draws the same current whatever the panels are doing, so on a cloudy afternoon some of the charge comes from the grid.
Is single-phase power enough to charge from solar?
Yes, and it is often the easier match, because the charger can start with about 1.4 kW of surplus, while a three-phase charger needs a little over 4 kW unless it can drop to one phase.
Does adding a charger change my solar export approval?
A standard one-way charger only draws power, so it adds nothing to your exports. On United Energy’s network it still has to be registered on the myEnergy portal, which we handle. A bidirectional charger is different: CitiPower and Powercor count it towards the export limit.
Can you set up solar charging on a charger I already own?
Often. We install chargers customers have bought themselves, including dealer-supplied units. Some models need an add-on sensor, some need a compatible inverter, and some have no solar mode at all, so send us the model before we book.
Will a solar EV charger still work if the internet drops out?
It depends on the model. Some keep charging on local settings and lose only the app, while solar tracking that relies on data over the home network stops until the link returns. We check offline behaviour before we leave.
Getting ready for a site visit
A few photos and details let us plan the job before we arrive:
- the inverter’s label showing its make and model, plus any battery
- the main switchboard with the door open, and any sub-board in the garage
- your retailer and tariff, including any time-of-use rates
- the car’s make and model, and where it parks in daylight
- your postcode, so we know which distributor runs your network
Bayside streets suit this work: at the 2021 Census, 78.9% of occupied homes in Beaumaris were separate houses, each with its own roof and switchboard. See our pages on EV charger installation in Beaumaris and EV charger installation in Brighton, served from Charman Road and Bay Street, or start with home EV charger installation in Melbourne if you’re still picking a charger.
When you’re ready, request a solar EV charger quote or call 1300 003 853, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm. DUKE EV belongs to DUKE Electrical Group and works under REC 35838.