The charge in an EV battery is some number of Kilowatt Hours, and if the full charge is to be 100KWH, then, (assuming 100% efficiency because it is easier) the solar cell array must supply that many KVA to charge 100%. If it is a 5 KW array, to deliver 100KWH will require 20 hours to charge to 100%. Most days do not have that many hours of sun.

The problem is that so many folks do not understand the differenc between KW and KWH, and so many sellers also do not understand, and none of the media folks have a fragment of a clue.

That isn't the issue the OP had though, he stated the car never starts charging, which is likely to be from trying to charge the car without an EVSE in the mix, he made no mention of having one, just a charging cable, which is a different beast.

I'm not sure he understands how EV charging works. You have (for the USA) Level 1 and Level 2, which are both AC charging, and Level 3 which is DC and not something you do at home. But Level 1 and 2 are done using the same AC port on the car as they are the same thing, just the power level varies. The car will have a charger built in that can handle up to a certain level of input power, 7kW is fairly common with EVs nowadays, but some go up to 22kW AC (and a very few go even higher).

But, there are no fixed levels that the car has to charge at, the EVSE tells the car how much current and hence power it is allowed to draw from the mains, and that's what the car draws (until almost full, then it tapers off of course). It isn't a fixed amount, that amount could be anything, depending on the EVSE's settings. For example, there are EVSEs rated at 2kW, 3.6kW, 6kW, 7.4kW, 11kW and 22kW, and some, like the Zappi, which are pretty much fully adjustable to anywhere in that range.

So, if the OP has a unit rated at 1800W output continuous, then he just has to set his EVSE to that level or lower and the car should charge.

But, there are some caveats.

First, he has to actually be using an EVSE, as I mentioned. He wouldn't be the first person to connect his EV directly to mains-equivalent power and wonder why it wouldn't charge, have heard that one a few times where people thought they would do it on the cheap and avoid the EVSE cost, not realising you have to have one.

Second, EVs are picky with safety, they need to be plugged into a correctly wired, earthed receptacle, if the wiring isn't right and the EV thinks the earth isn't right, it won't charge.

In both of those latter cases, the EV should be showing an error, so the fact that he is connecting it and nothing happens at all implies he is not using an EVSE, but rather connecting the EV directly to the power source via a standard charging cable.

 

This might be a dumb question, but you are using an EVSE between the generator and the car, right? Not just a charge cable, but an EVSE, even if it's an inline one? A car has to talk to an EVSE to find out how much current is available from the power source, if there's no EVSE, the car won't charge.

Great point
knew there was a coms link, did not know what it was called though, EVSE is a great acronym to be able to find lots of info online, thnaks

For the OP,
a note, my cars wont charge unless there is at least 1kw of power available,
as our solar changes, if the spare drops below 1 kW, the cars charger drops out,
till an excess of 1Kw has been available for 30 seconds,
during the time its not charing the car / house, power is dumped inot grid, which you dont have.