Electric vehicle owners can already invest in home chargers that conveniently charge their vehicles to drive. These devices typically use a home’s electricity to charge the car’s battery, so it’s ready to drive after. 

A new innovation from dcbel called the dcbel r16 is taking EV charging to a whole new level, though. The device is a solar EV charger and renewable energy station all in one, which allows you to power your electric vehicle and the appliances in your home using the sun’s energy. Here’s a closer look at how it works.

 

There’s a lot to like about the new dcbel r16 because it offers ultra-fast EV charging and has an optional battery that stores energy for later use. The result is that it’s an at-home renewable energy ecosystem that helps you save money while doing your part for the environment. Let’s look at some of its features.

Fast DC charging

 

One of the biggest reasons for investing in the dcbel r16 is its ability to charge your electric vehicle without using your home’s electricity. The gist is that you’ll install solar panels near your home and utilize the sun’s energy to charge your car. Since harnessing the sun’s power is free, this feature will save you a lot of money over your EV’s lifetime. 

This solar EV charger isn’t your average electric vehicle charger, either – it’s a premium product that offers fast DC (direct current) charging. DC is the type of power that batteries use. Unlike AC chargers, a DC charger keeps the converter inside the charger. That means it can feed power directly to the car’s battery and it doesn’t need the onboard charger to convert it. DC chargers are faster and more efficient. 

A typical Level 1 charger offers four miles of driving range per hour of charge. While Level 1 chargers are convenient because you can plug them into a 120-volt home outlet, they’re incredibly slow and can make driving an electric vehicle unrealistic.

Installing a Level 2 charger at your home requires a 208-240-volt, 40-amp circuit, so it’ll cost you some money if you need to upgrade your service. However, this charger also delivers 32 miles of range for every hour of charge, so you can charge your battery from empty in under eight hours. 

The Fast DC charging offered by the dcbel r16 takes things up a huge notch, as it provides one mile of range per minute of charge, making it about twice as fast as a Level 2 charger. 

A solar EV charger that can provide this level of EV charging speed is incredible, but it isn’t the only benefit this innovation has. 

Convert your car battery’s energy to electricity for your house

 

As you might expect from any solar EV charger, the dcbel r16 collects energy from the sun through solar panels. However, you usually can’t use that energy inside your home because it’s a variable direct current and your home’s appliances run off an AC alternating 120-volt or 240-volt current.

For that reason, this device includes a solar inverter. A solar inverter takes the DC output from an electric vehicle’s battery and converts it to AC output. In an emergency, this feature allows you to use your car battery as a home energy station that sends electricity from your car’s battery to your home when the power goes out.

You won’t even notice a power outage on your property when you have the dcbel r16 installed because it will automatically kick in and use its solar inverter to keep the lights on when you need them the most. 

The unit also has an optional backup power reserve, which is an additional battery providing about 76 hours of energy. This timeframe is usually enough for local officials to restore your service.

Smart home energy management

 

Because the dcbel r16 is integrated with a home’s electrical service, you can stay on the grid and use standard electricity to charge your car when you don’t have enough sunlight to use solar power. 

The device also comes with an app that provides stats on your solar panels, EV charge, and battery backup. You can use it to see which way the electricity is flowing so you can make adjustments to the system if you find you’re relying too much on your traditional electrical service. 

The dcbel r16’s features help you save money and energy. 

The at-home renewable energy station of the future 

The dcbel r16 is the newest, fastest solution for EV charging that’s looking to make even better use of renewable energy. Not only can it charge an EV in an unprecedented amount of time, but it can power your home with renewable energy, too!

Are you interested in this game-changing solar EV charger and home energy station? Let us know in the comment section below, and don’t forget you share this information with the electric vehicle drivers in your life.

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