I’ve been actively investigating solar with the ultimate goal of going PV EV (Photo-Voltaic + Electric Vehicle). In other words, powering my car with the sun.
I’m still in process of getting quotes for solar install and I’m also on the Nissan leaf pre-order list (put $99 refundable deposit down). Haven’t made any commitments yet for either PV or EV. I’m working the numbers in a detailed financial excel spreadsheet, to determine go/no-go if makes sense. Will keep Piggs updated on status.
But to be honest, after watching all the oil spill crap in the gulf and seeing all our oil money is going to oil dictatorships, I’m now even more inclined to go down this route, even if the financial numbers pan out fully positive.
My Avg kWh usage per month around 400kWh. I’m living in Carlsbad now, with relatively low air conditioning usage of just couple weeks a year. I plan to stay there at least until my kids get thru college, looking like 18 years from now.
Running the meter backwards and getting credit for the power you feed back into the grid is great. With promise of smart metering and time-based metering, you can theoretically do even better. For example during peak hours like noon you get paid a a higher rate for the power you generate. At night when charging your car, you get charged at lower rate.
Example Nissan Leaf 24kWh battery capacity, charge it 5x times a week an that comes out to about 500kWh a month. You get 100mile per charge in city, less for highway. Works for me based on my commute and usage patterns There is a charging infrastructure that is being put in place in SoCal with help of $100M DOE funding. For longer roadtrips we’re using the other family car.
Gotta run the number of the Nissan leaf, buy vs lease, with fed tax credit, etc.. etc..
So, for full household and electric car usage I’m figuring approx a 800kWh system, assuming I eeck out another houndred kWH saving thru full switch to CFCs and other savings.
