Home Solar Panels and Charging Electric Vehicles

What do you get when you combine a home solar panel system with an electric vehicle? Valuable possibilities to save money and power your home at the same time. Residential solar panels are a cost effective, efficient way to go green. And electric vehicles (EV) are virtually maintenance free and environmentally friendly. Together, you’ll be leading the way by being less reliant on the electric power grid, and your transportation won’t run out of fuel. Here’s a peek into what you need to know about home solar panel systems and charging an electric car.

What’s Needed to Fuel Your EV?

Installing a battery storage system and charging port at your house is a convenient, long term cost-effective way to safely charge your car. A battery storage system stores excess clean energy from your rooftop solar panels to easily recharge your EV. A charging station, generally located in your garage or driveway, is where you’ll plug in your EV to charge overnight. You’ll also need to install an EV specific photovoltaic inverter. Once the EV charging port is connected to the inverter, you’ll be on the way to limiting your carbon footprint and saving money at the same time by using the sun’s energy!

How Many Panels are Needed to Charge Your EV?

Using your home solar panel system to charge your electric car is much easier than you may think. To generate enough power for charging an EV, a few key measurements are needed to estimate the appropriate number of solar panels required:

The average number of miles you drive per year
The efficiency rating of your EV
The average amount of electricity your home consumes in a year

On average, five to 10 rooftop solar panels will be needed to power up your EV.

Benefits of Using Home Solar Panels to Power Your EV

A few reasons why charging your EV with your home solar panels is climate-friendly, economical, and efficient.

Power from the electrical grid increases over time while harvesting the sun’s free energy with rooftop solar panels, producing clean, very low-cost energy.
You’ll save time by not having to power up your EV at roadside public charging stations.
Initial upfront investment is easily offset by various federal, state, and local tax incentives, rebates, and promotions for installing home solar panels.

Call Cool Blew Solar

Ready to learn more? Call your local metro Phoenix experts at Cool Blew Solar today at 623-234-2836. We’re your professional solar power installation technicians, available everyday of the year, 24 hours a day.

FAQ's

Is Solar Energy Expensive?

The size of your panel installation and the needs of your home will affect your costs. The average net cost of a 5.69kW system is $13,838 cash after 30% rebate (according to solar-estimate.org). An average-sized system can cost up to $35,000. Larger installations will require more hardware, planning and construction time. This can further increase costs. While solar panels are expensive, they have many distinct benefits. Cool Blew Electric & Solar’s experts can assess your situation and goals and recommend a cost-effective system to meet your needs.

How Much Can I Save By Installing Solar Panels?

An average-sized system (5 kilowatts) can reduce up to 50% of your monthly electricity bill. A 5.69kW system would offset 100% of your energy usage if your typical monthly bill is $138. Over a period of 20 years, these savings can add up to $30,000, based on your location and energy usage.

How Long Would It Take to Recoup My Solar Investment by Solar Energy Savings?

With a 5.69kW Solar system you would recoup your savings in 7 years and 2 months but with continuous Utility increases every year your Return and Investment will be much sooner.

What is a Solar Lease Program?

The Solar Lease Program has been one the most popular option that homeowners have chosen over the years. Solar Lease programs gives homeowners the opportunity to take advantage and put Solar on their homes and a guaranteed savings from their Utility for little to no money out of pocket. Most Leases are 20 year power guarantee from the solar provider and includes fixed monthly payments, no repair cost, fully insured and warrantied for the life of the system.

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