If your goal is to charge your EV and you have enough roof space, I think it's worth considering buying more solar panel capacity, at least 13kW to 14kW of panels or more, depending on your inverter size, roof layout, shading and local limits.
Assuming your EV charger is a 7kW charger, having more solar panels can help the system get to 7kW of output power more often without needing to lean on the home battery to make up the difference.
The reason to go for a 13-14kW system is for those times when conditions are not perfect — cloud, heat, weak winter sun, poor panel angle, shading — a bigger array has a better chance of still producing stronger collective output. I have a YouTube video that speaks about what to consider when installing solar panels.
There is also another reason why we should pay a bit more for an integrated setup like my SigEnergy Sigenstor inverter system. In other words, pay a bit more to get the compatible EV charger that works with the solar system.
In the mySigen app, I can change the solar producing source priority order. It gives first priority to my house load and after that I can decide the other priorities whether to charge up my Home Battery first or EV or feed and sell electricity to the grid.
That means if I’m in a rush and want to top up my EV sooner, I can move the AC EV charger higher in the priority list. Instead of waiting for the home battery to fill first, the system will charge up the EV first. In fact, if solar power is not sufficient, the home battery will kick in to compensate the shortfall.
I’ve only personally used Sigenergy, so I’m not sure if other brands can do similar prioritisation of electricity flow. Share your knowledge by commenting down below.
From my quick googling, it appears most of the big brands allow us to prioritise the electricity flow, with only one caveat: the EV charger must be compatible with the brand. So something for you to take note of. For example, Growatt has their THOR series EV charger.
If you drive an EV, it can be worth paying more for an integrated ecosystem, not just because of hardware, but because of day-to-day usability and convenience.
A lot of people compare systems based on battery size, inverter size, or price per kilowatt-hour. That stuff matters, of course. But what really affects daily life is whether the system gives you simple app control over where your solar power goes when your priorities change.
That is the part I think all of us should ask installers about.