If you have purchased an electric vehicle (EV), the most amazing type of automobile on the market today, you will be able to drive it for free powered by the sun! You can charge it from your solar photovoltaic system and never have to buy energy to drive. I have been an EV and PV owner since 2011 and absolutely love my electric car and photovoltaic system! This is truly 21st century technology that will make your life better and improve the prognosis for our environment.

In Colorado your home’s electricity costs are about .14 cents per kilowatt/ hour, or about $1.40 to travel 40 miles for a smaller EV and about 30 miles for $1.40 for the larger heavier EVs. Now this is the cost to drive if you don’t have a photovoltaic system yet and you are burning coal to make the electricity for your EV. Far lower costs than any gasoline power vehicle and even though coal is dirty it will produce far less pollutants per BTU of energy than an individual internal combustion engine can do.

For more info read on.

Instead of buying electricity for your EV, install a photovoltaic solar system or expand your existing system by 4-8 solar panels to fully power your electric car from the sun and you will be driving free and clean. My electric EV is a Chevrolet Volt, it requires 10.2 kWh of charge to fill it from empty to full, and that will yield about 42 miles of driving per charge. That means if I drove it 42 miles every day all month, it would consume 306 kWh per month or 3,672 kWh per year, or about 7 extra solar panels will be required to produce enough power for 15,000 miles of driving every year. Many people drive far less than 15,000 miles a year so your electric demand may be less to power your EV. Also remember that a typical gas powered car getting 25 miles per gallon of gas, it would require 600 gallons each year at $4/gal or $2400 per year. In 2.5 years the fuel savings would fully pay for the extra solar panels and from then on the car is free to drive.

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A Photovoltaic system will charge your car from the suns light even at night while you sleep. I hear you saying no way! Way!

During the day while you may be gone with your electric car your solar panels will be making electricity and providing it to the grid and spinning your electric meter backwards. But you got credit for that power as your electric meter will spun backwards all day. At night, when you are home with the EV, and plugged into the home charger the electricity you made during the day comes back to you from the grid to charge your car and the meter spin forward. A net of zero kWh consumed to charge your car.

While building a PV system to power your car you may also consider upsizing the system so it can also power your home. The same tax credits are available for you so use them to the max advantage.

For more info read on.

To charge your EV you have three different options.

  • A level one charger uses regular household 120/110 volt standard wall plugs and is a slow overnight kind of application.
  • The recommended charge, is a level two unit, that requires a 240 volt 40-60 amp special plug on a dedicated circuit and can charge a typical EV in a 3-7 hours hours.
  • The quick charge, is a level three charger, that uses 480 volts (not available in residential) and can charge from empty to 80% full in 20 to 30 min.
  • All can work in concert with a solar Photovoltaic system.