Drivin’ on Sunshine in a Solar Powered Car

I remember gas stations. I hated paying $50-$70 a week for the honor of pouring a stinky toxic substance into my car. As a coastal resident, ocean lover, and mother, I also felt guilty about contributing to air pollution, ocean acidification, and rising CO2 levels—all of which are linked to the gas habit.

We don’t go to gas stations anymore. Now we make our own fuel, at home, from sunshine.

Before we made the switch to solar power, many people told us it just wasn’t feasible, or that it didn’t make economic sense. They said the same thing about electric cars—they were too expensive, too slow, and too impractical for daily life. Neither turned out to be remotely true.

Back in 2003, we installed a 3.8 kW PV array on top of our home.  The whole thing cost $15K, after rebates and tax credits. It makes, on average, 14 kWh (kilowatt/hours) per day of electricity.  Since then, we have paid close to nothing on our electric bills. The surplus power we feed back into the grid is “rolled over” as a credit for the next year. We initially estimated our time to pay back at ten years. Then the price of gas began to skyrocket, and we thought, why not try an electric car?

In 2008, we got our first EV—a bright orange Tesla Roadster. Yes, it was costly ($92K, with subsidies available at the time). Yes, it’s small (seats 2). And, yes, it’s fast. We’re talking E-ticket, grin-inducing, spontaneous outbursts of laughter and sheer joy. Of course, a $92K sports car isn’t practical for the average family. You wouldn’t buy a Porsche Turbo, a Corvette or a Lotus Elise as your primary family car, either. But the steep price of the Roadster went back to finance the development of more affordable, sedan-sized EVs for the average consumer.

When in 2010 our other “gasser” car started to give out (an Acura sedan), we decided to sell it and buy a Nissan Leaf. Amazingly, the Leaf cost only $20K after rebates and tax incentives. The Leaf boasts a range of 100 miles on an electric charge of 24 kWh. This breaks down to 4.2 miles/kWh. With our daily 14kWh solar harvest, we get roughly 59 miles a day, or 21,462 miles a year, from solar power alone.

So, for an initial investment of $35K ($15K for the solar PV system plus $20K for the Leaf), far less than the price of a new Hummer, you can get a new car, all the fuel you will ever need to run it, with extra left over to reduce your monthly electric bill. In ten years (less, if the price of electricity and gas continue to rise), you will have made back your initial $15K investment on the solar array, and with PV systems guaranteed for over 25 years, you can expect to enjoy at least 15 additional years of completely FREE electricity.

When it comes to EVs, people frequently ask two questions: how far can it go, and; how long does it take to charge?

First, charging. At 240 volts and 30 amps, charging our Roadster takes 1-3 hours. The car’s computer starts the charging process at midnight when we’re asleep, and electric rates are at their lowest. We park in our garage, open a port and plug it in—the whole process takes less than 15 seconds. In the morning, we open the port, remove the charge cord, and the work is done.  It’s a lot easier than filling up at a gas station, and a whole LOT cheaper.

Next, range. The Tesla’s range is rated at ~245 miles, but in real conditions (me likely go fast) it gets about 160. The new EVs coming out have ranges from 100 miles (all-electric Leaf) to 210 miles (hybrid Volt). Actual range will vary based on how you drive (like me? Divide by range by 2.) If you commute daily from Murrieta to San Diego (58 miles one-way), the Leaf is not for you, but the Volt may be. To help allay fears, besides showing you your battery level, the onboard display in the Nissan Leaf uses the familiar “tank” level gauge (for a dashboard photo, click here). Of course, you’ll want to be conservative at first until you learn how your personal driving habits affect your car’s range.

A key component in the transition to electric vehicles is building a solid charging infrastructure. In 2009, ECOtality North America was awarded a $99.8 million grant from the US Department of Energy for the largest charging infrastructure project in history, The Electric Vehicle (EV) Project. The EV Project will install 14,650 Level 2 chargers and 310 Level 3 fast-chargers in California and four other states. San Diego has been selected as one of the staging areas for this rollout. According to ECOtality, the ultimate goal of The EV Project is “…to enable the streamlined deployment of the next 5,000,000 EVs.” That’s 5 with a capital M.

As part of the EV Project, Level 2 chargers will be installed at six Macy’s locations in the San Diego area in summer 2011. In addition, local Nissan Leaf owners participating in the project will have charging stations installed in their homes at no cost; ours was installed just this week (see photo). The Macy’s chargers will be free to use. This is great news, but once we have 5 million EVs on the road, I doubt that most commercial charging stations will be free – you’ll have to pay to fill’er up.

By the time we get to that point, I expect we’ll see many, many more people deciding to harvest photons themselves, with home solar PV.

If the initial expense of a new solar PV array has you stymied, there are ways to reduce your up-front costs. The California Solar Initiative (CSI) offers homeowners cash-back incentives on solar PV installations. For example, the CSI’s Single-family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) Program offers incentives to qualifying low-income homeowners. If you don’t qualify for SASH, the federal government still offers a tax credit of 30 percent of the system cost for new PV installation, which means a quicker return on investment. Any solar system dealer or installation company will be happy to explain the various rebates and tax credits available and give you a good estimate on payback time. 

Solar-powered cars and EVs are NOT a panacea for our transportation woes. They won’t help freeway congestion (true, we get to use the HOV lane, but that doesn’t affect the total number of cars on the road). And until more individuals and power utilities adopt solar and other renewables, they won’t help reduce our dependence on finite fossil fuels. But let’s not let the great be the enemy of the good. At minimum, EVs will reduce total atmospheric and oceanic pollution, and they will reduce the amount of precious fossil fuel energy wasted as heat by outdated infernal-combustion engines.  Even if EVs use electricity from coal, nuclear, or gas-fueled power plants, they help reduce America’s risky dependence on foreign oil from countries that hate us. Further, most EVs charge at night when demand for electricity (and the price) is low, so they do not increase demand for total electric generating capacity.

Like I said, we don’t miss gas stations one little bit. The Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stones...solar-powered cars are here, and don’t it feel good!

 For more information:

• San Diego Solar map
• ECOtality EV Project
• California Solar Initiative