Home storage is expensive I saw the cost of a standalone inverter and battery storage at 12 grand
http://r.ebay.com/kQXKm0
While the DIY route seems much cheaper for a 12v 100ah battery at $1300 and $165 for a charge controller from a company that specializes in RV and large off grid systems.
http://www.lithiumion-batteries.com/
I was hoping to use a few years after my initial solar install, it makes sense to wait for the cost of lithium batteries to either fall or rise as more and more battery factories come online…

See the Home Battery Storage thread in the Energy forum – I’m thinking at the moment of just waiting for an integrated inverter like the Sunny Boy I linked to.

In the last week the dealer have given me another Zoe to drive around the charge points (EBG) in my area in order to see if the same fault, (“Battery Charging impossible” appears.It did appear in 3 out of six charge points and in the meantime my own car was checked and passed 100%.
Could this proposed “upgrade” be connected?
I wonder if at last we may also be looking at the arrival on the scene of Lithium Sulpher technology,apparantly half the price and twice the range?
Lastly as mention before, is enough attention being given to the ballancing of the Zoe batteries,ie between 99 and 100% on the charger?
I know Renault have their own internal network which the dealers only, have access to, but they don’t ask the right questions. I have the car 9 months,and get the impression that when I go in the front door of the dealership,people go out the back.
Marketing and sales need to talk to customers and knock heads together,or a very bad press awaits the e car.

I haven’t heard about the sine wave issue. The reasons I didn’t go for micro inverters on my systems was partly price, but mostly that if anything goes wrong you have to go up on the roof to fix it, whereas the inverter is easily accessed in the loft. Also, I’m hoping in the next few years to upgrade the inverters with ones that include battery storage (long before their supposedly limited life runs out).

300km would be awesome, but that will take a couple of years (about 9 or 10 at the current rate) before you can fit that in the same physical space as the current battery. But who knows, maybe a breakthrough will change all that.

And if it takes longer to charge them, so be it, it will be more convenient!

Curiouser and curiouser… Last night was a Saturday night, of course. But this time instead of failing to charge, my ZOE did two partial charges! Specifically I have emails this morning as follows:

1. “The charging of your battery has been stopped on your vehicle on 02/03/2014 05:55. Your current battery level is 53% with an estimated driving distance of 37.9 mile.”
2. “The charging of your battery has been stopped on your vehicle on 02/03/2014 07:00. Your current battery level is 84% with an estimated driving distance of 59.7 mile.”

I’m using the ZOE’s calendar timer which stops at 0700 (charging usually runs from 0015 to about 0400) so otherwise I expect it would have attempted further charges.

What could possibly be going on?!

Hi,

I do have experienced the same recently and also via the battery % indicator only.

After a charge, the email says something like 75 miles, tgen I get in the car, start up and it pretty much straight away drops to mid or low 60s.

Once driving, it is ok and on average it comes back to the 70s.

Personally, I find it annoying, as you cannot rely on the indicator, but not too concerning..
Not sure about the reason behind it though.