Electric car owners in the US can now ‘drive on sunshine’ as solar power firm SolarCity makes electric car charging kits available for installation for the first time.
The firm has partnered with EV charging specialists ClipperCreek to provide homeowners and businesses with a charging installation which will enable them to use solar energy to recharge their cars with the clean fuel.
The 240 volt Level II EV chargers, which are compatible with all mainstream EVs, charge roughly five times faster than using a 120-volt wall outlet and cost $1,500 to install.
SolarCity is offering to install the charge points for both its exciting solar panel customers and for those who only want to install a charge point. The firm says it can help homes and businesses prepare for the arrival of a new electric vehicle by installing chargers ahead of the vehicle’s arrival.
Powering an EV with electricity generated from a home solar system can be 77 per cent less expensive than powering a car with gasoline, the Californian firm estimates. According to its calculations, the average San Francisco Bay Area resident paying the national average of $3.65 per gallon gas spends about $230 per month to fuel her gas-powered car. She’d pay $107 to power an equivalent-size EV with grid electricity, and, by leasing a solar system from SolarCity, only $54 to power the car with solar electricity for the same miles driven.
SolarCity plans to initially install ClipperCreek EV chargers through its 24 operations centers across the United States, making it the largest single provider of EV, solar and energy efficiency services in the U.S.
“SolarCity’s mission has always been to help homeowners and businesses adopt clean power while saving on energy costs,” said Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity. “Electric cars are already among the cleanest-running vehicles on the road—charging them on solar makes them that much better. Tens of thousands of electric cars will be delivered over the next year alone, with hundreds of thousands expected over the next five years. We’re making it easier to power them with carbon-free electricity for zero emissions, and to dramatically reduce the cost of driving.”
With operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawai’i, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, to name a few, SolarCity has been leasing solar panels to businesses and homeowners since 2006, helping them make the switch to cleaner, cheaper power.
