By Tom McCalmont, Paired Power – for EV Charging Magazine
Published September 3, 2025
With a sharp increase in electric vehicles (EVs) on American roads, the nation’s charging infrastructure is struggling to keep pace. While the EVs of today have rapidly caught up to their internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts in performance, reliability, and ease of use, the infrastructures supporting the two resemble a night and day difference. ICE vehicles have had the benefit of a century of innovation, iteration, and refinement, while the EV charging network is still in its infancy. Some of the biggest obstacles to growing EV charging are external factors, and out of the operators’ control, but there are options.
Growing EV charging is not just a matter of installing more chargers, but also creating the grid capacity needed to power these chargers and doing so in concert with the myriad of other electricity-consuming activities. The wait for grid upgrades for charging hubs can take years and can be prohibitively costly. A closely related issue to grid capacity is that of demand charges that result from charging vehicles during peak demand times, that can easily triple energy costs and wipe out any profits operators might earn.
Integrating solar panels and battery energy storage systems (BESS) has been increasingly recognized as a method to resolve grid bottlenecks and eliminate demand charges. Rather than waiting for the grid to increase capacity, operators can create their own, utilizing grid power in periods of low demand, storing energy for peak use, and generating electricity throughout the day. These solutions have shown themselves to be effective both for individual chargers, as well as fleet charging systems.
While installing charging systems with integrated solar panels may seem like a straightforward proposition, developers should consider a few factors when looking to integrate solar power into their EV charging networks:
Integration
Developers should ensure that all elements of their charging network are properly integrated. An EV charging microgrid needs to ensure that grid power, the network’s BESS, and the solar array harmoniously work together to efficiently charge vehicles, avoid demand charges, and maximize the system’s uptime.
Increasing interest in solar-integrated EV charging systems has led to some providers integrating parts from various manufacturers into one system. This has resulted in poor performance, spotty compatibility, and increased downtime. Occasionally, OEMs of each of the individual components have pointed fingers at each other, blaming the faults found in these systems on each other. Ensuring that solar arrays, battery systems, and power conversion equipment are designed and programmed to work together seamlessly and are operated with a well-integrated and proven software stack vastly reduces risk for the operator and end user.
Read the full piece here
