Smart Home Blog

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Back from my week skiing in the Montafon area (Austria) 😎

Another new highest generation for 2025 with 27.3kWh. My Solcast forecast actually predicted over 30kWh but, some wispy cloud appeared in the morning. The solar azimuth reached 69°, which means the sun is rising to 21° above the horizon and this helps with the peak power generation on our relative steep 40° roof. Peak generated power logged by our Tesla Powerwall today was 5223W and peak export was 4624W.

A quick update on our smart home solar installation project and our first EV, which is nearing the end of the 3-year lease period. As of end of January 2025, we have done 33,631 miles in our CUPRA Born and used 9316kWh charging it at a cost of £1195.61. We have saved over £4400 by not buying petrol. This is an average of 3.6 miles/kWh but, this also includes defrosting the car on winter mornings. With a 58kWh battery, this equates to an average range of about 209 miles. Typically we see a range of around 220 miles in summer and about 195 in the winter.

It has been a great car and is very easy to drive. It is fun drive too, with good performance and feedback. The tyres have lasted longer than any petrol or diesel car I've ever owned. Insurance is about the same as my wife's equivalent petrol car. Servicing is a lot cheaper. Depreciation has been a bit higher than I expected but, it is not that far off my wife's car either. Unknown depreciation was the main reason we leased our first EV.

With the new smart home extension build due to start soon, I've bought a Roborock Q5 Pro robotic floor cleaner, to be used in the new open plan space. It was on offer at a price that was too good to miss.

Despite being slightly cloudy, we hit a new generation high of 27.4kWh today. The sun is higher in the sky and the days are already getting longer.

In preparation for our smart home extension build, the conservatory has been removed and all of the paving slabs around it taken up. The foundations for this will have to be dug up before the new foundations can go in.

With the cool sunny weather, we are already seeing 6kW being generated from our soar panels. This is helped by our south facing roof being at 40°.