Old Rocks
Diamond Member
I Tried to Power Three Electric Vehicles With Solar Panels
Powering three modern electric vehicles with my home's solar array and an extension cord. Can the sun be your endless fuel pump?
Toward the end of last year, I bought a solar array: 24 LG panels up on my roof paired with Enphase microinverters, transforming sunlight into 7.4 kilowatts of electricity. The company that installed them produced a fancy chart that showed my projected breakeven point, the moment when I'll have saved as much on my electric bill as I spent on the system. Saving on utilities is fine, but I had a more radical purpose in mind.
Modern electric cars are so good that they transformed the way I thought about solar. Those panels could be more than just a straightforward supplement to grid power. They could be a private gas station, a bottomless well of electrons to fuel my trips to the grocery store, to the kids' ballgames, to distant cities. Nobody gets ecstatic about saving ten cents per kilowatt-hour on the electric bill. But paying $0.00 per gallon, permanently, to drive anywhere you want? That would be supremely awesome. You'd want to sign up for that deal—if it exists.
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Over nine days with the Model X, I cover 704.8 miles, using 281.4 kwh. That's a whole lot of driving in a big, luxurious, all-wheel-drive SUV doing 75 mph with the air conditioning on blast—a worst-case scenario for EV energy use. When I take the Model X on an interstate road trip and log 247.5 miles, I burn through 95 kwh of energy. I'd need twice as many solar panels to even get close to producing that much energy from a day of sunlight. Out of necessity, and to simulate the dim winter months when the Model X would outrun my panels' trickle, I supplement solar power with public infrastructure. In town, I use a 240-volt public charger, which gives the Tesla 16 miles of range per hour spent plugged in and charging—my garage's 110-volt three-prong outlet adds range at a rate of only three miles per hour. On I-95, I stopped at a 400-volt Tesla Supercharger station for a fill-up that, at one point, was recharging the battery at a rate of 296 miles of range per hour.
But when I drove the Tesla within my normal routine, the Model X coexisted just fine with my home-brewed power. The solar array plays a long game, punching in for its job day after day, whether you drive or not. On an average month, the panels generate enough energy to power the Tesla for nearly 2,200 miles—far more than I ever drive, even allowing for the occasional road trip. The sun eventually comes out ahead.
I Tried to Power Three Electric Vehicles With Solar Panels
Even with someone else doing the installation, the panels would pay for themselves in three years if the gas goes back up to $4. Maybe five years if the gas remains at $2.50.
Powering three modern electric vehicles with my home's solar array and an extension cord. Can the sun be your endless fuel pump?
Toward the end of last year, I bought a solar array: 24 LG panels up on my roof paired with Enphase microinverters, transforming sunlight into 7.4 kilowatts of electricity. The company that installed them produced a fancy chart that showed my projected breakeven point, the moment when I'll have saved as much on my electric bill as I spent on the system. Saving on utilities is fine, but I had a more radical purpose in mind.
Modern electric cars are so good that they transformed the way I thought about solar. Those panels could be more than just a straightforward supplement to grid power. They could be a private gas station, a bottomless well of electrons to fuel my trips to the grocery store, to the kids' ballgames, to distant cities. Nobody gets ecstatic about saving ten cents per kilowatt-hour on the electric bill. But paying $0.00 per gallon, permanently, to drive anywhere you want? That would be supremely awesome. You'd want to sign up for that deal—if it exists.
...............................................................................................................................
Over nine days with the Model X, I cover 704.8 miles, using 281.4 kwh. That's a whole lot of driving in a big, luxurious, all-wheel-drive SUV doing 75 mph with the air conditioning on blast—a worst-case scenario for EV energy use. When I take the Model X on an interstate road trip and log 247.5 miles, I burn through 95 kwh of energy. I'd need twice as many solar panels to even get close to producing that much energy from a day of sunlight. Out of necessity, and to simulate the dim winter months when the Model X would outrun my panels' trickle, I supplement solar power with public infrastructure. In town, I use a 240-volt public charger, which gives the Tesla 16 miles of range per hour spent plugged in and charging—my garage's 110-volt three-prong outlet adds range at a rate of only three miles per hour. On I-95, I stopped at a 400-volt Tesla Supercharger station for a fill-up that, at one point, was recharging the battery at a rate of 296 miles of range per hour.
But when I drove the Tesla within my normal routine, the Model X coexisted just fine with my home-brewed power. The solar array plays a long game, punching in for its job day after day, whether you drive or not. On an average month, the panels generate enough energy to power the Tesla for nearly 2,200 miles—far more than I ever drive, even allowing for the occasional road trip. The sun eventually comes out ahead.
I Tried to Power Three Electric Vehicles With Solar Panels
Even with someone else doing the installation, the panels would pay for themselves in three years if the gas goes back up to $4. Maybe five years if the gas remains at $2.50.
