Off-grid solar EV charging, explained.

How an off-grid solar charger works

Three components do the work:

• Solar array — typically 3–10 kWp for a site feeding a compact AC or DC charger, generating power through daylight hours.
• Battery buffer — typically 10–30 kWh of LFP (lithium iron phosphate) storage, which is what makes this practical rather than "only works when the sun is out." The battery banks solar energy during the day and releases it whenever a vehicle plugs in, including after dark.
• Hybrid inverter — manages the flow between solar input, battery storage, and charger output, and is where an optional genset or weak-grid failover input gets added for the days solar generation alone isn't enough.

The charger on the other end of this (a standard AC or DC unit like XeZap Micro, Home or Rapid 30) has no idea whether its power is coming from a grid connection or a solar-plus-battery skid. That's a deliberate design choice: it's a power source swapped in behind an unmodified charger, not a separate product line with its own app, tariff, or support experience.

Why this matters specifically for India

Two well-documented conditions make off-grid solar charging more than a novelty in India:

Grid connections in remote areas are slow and sometimes uneconomical. Even with September 2024's Ministry of Power guidelines putting DISCOMs on a firm connection-time SLA, that SLA runs up to 15–30 days in rural and hilly areas, and that's the best case, assuming the connection is economical to run at all. For a remote highway village, a new high-capacity connection may simply not be worth a DISCOM's investment for the demand one charging point represents.

The alternative for off-grid power in India is diesel: expensive, polluting, and something India's own EV adoption is meant to be moving away from, not perpetuating one layer downstream. Off-grid solar displaces that default rather than requiring it as a backup for the rare cloudy stretch.

Sizing it: how much solar and battery you need

A useful way to think about it: a 5 kWp solar array in most of India generates somewhere in the range of 20–25 kWh on an average sunny day. Paired with a 20 kWh battery buffer, that's enough to run a XeZap Micro (1.5–3.3 kW) through several two- and three-wheeler sessions a day, with buffer left for a cloudy day or an evening session after the sun's down. Scaling up to feed a Rapid 30 DC unit for higher-throughput sessions means scaling the array and battery up correspondingly. That's exactly what a site assessment calculates for a specific location's sun-hours and expected usage pattern, not a one-size figure.

Real precedent already exists

Solar-powered charging and battery-swapping infrastructure is already operating in India at small scale. Sun Mobility has been scaling solar-powered battery-swapping kiosks for two- and three-wheelers, moving toward a national rollout target running into the thousands of stations. Chargeup has deployed what's been described as India's first solar-powered EV battery-swapping station, in Jaipur. Neither is identical to XeZap's Off-Grid Solar Skid, but both validate the core idea: pairing solar generation with battery buffering for EV charging works in Indian conditions today, at the vehicle segment (two- and three-wheelers) where rural EV adoption is concentrated.

Off-grid solar vs. a diesel genset, honestly

This is exactly why the Off-Grid Solar Skid supports an optional genset or weak-grid failover input rather than requiring one: solar-plus-battery is the primary source, and a backup exists for edge cases, not as the default running cost.

Who this is for

• Individual plot owners in villages with no existing electrical connection worth upgrading. See the franchise program's village and rural plot category.
• Farmers already running solar under schemes like PM-KUSUM for agricultural pumps, where adding EV charging capacity draws on infrastructure and expertise that's already part of the property.
• Panchayats and local bodies looking to bring EV charging to a market square or transit point without an electrical infrastructure project attached to it.

Frequently asked questions

Can an off-grid solar charger run a DC fast charger?

In principle yes, but practically it's sized for Micro, Home or Rapid 30 (up to 30 kW). A high-power DC unit like Highway 120 or Apex 480 needs far more continuous power than a village-scale solar-plus-battery skid can realistically deliver without a dramatically larger, more expensive installation.

What happens during an extended cloudy or monsoon period?

The battery buffer covers short gaps in generation, but an extended low-sun stretch will eventually draw the battery down. That's exactly what the optional genset or grid-tie failover input exists for: a backup, not the everyday power source.

Does the site need any grid connection at all?

No, that's the entire point. A site with zero grid connection today can host a charger via the Off-Grid Solar Skid; the optional failover input is for sites that want extra resilience, not a requirement.

Is this the same technology as PM-KUSUM agricultural solar pumps?

Related in spirit: both put decentralized solar generation to work in rural areas without needing grid buildout. But PM-KUSUM specifically funds agricultural water pumps, not EV charging. A farmer already running PM-KUSUM solar has relevant on-site infrastructure and experience, which is why they're a natural fit as a host, not because the schemes are the same program.