Spring means more solar-charged EV miles
![The back of Tom Moloughney's BMW ActiveE with his home's solar gas tank, aka his home solar PV system, in the background. [Photo Courtesy of Tom Moloughney] tom-moloughney-2013](/images/stories/news_features/tom-moloughney-2013.jpg)
The back of Tom Moloughney's BMW ActiveE with his home's solar gas tank, aka his home solar PV system, in the background. [Photo Courtesy of Tom Moloughney]
Now that spring has rolled in the temperature isn't the only thing that's going up: So is my solar electric production.
My 8.775 kW system can produce up to 60 kWh a day under ideal conditions. That's enough to power my all-electric ActiveE over 200 miles, or enough to power it about 100 miles and supply all the power my house needs for an average day.
Pretty cool stuff. Powering my car and my house for the day on pure sunlight is really awesome.
Energy reasons to solar-charge an EV
Eventually, the supply of oil -- and natural gas, coal, and so on, will run out. Yes, there is debate – significant debate – about when, for instance, oil, which is obviously the key to the current auto-motive economy – will run out. Independence reasons to solar-charge an EV
Let’s repeat that, because it is a very radical concept – one that surely has Big Oil quaking in its boots, or at least those Big Oil companies who haven’t had sufficient foresight to diversify their energy discovery and production approach and move, big time, into renewables: With an EV, you will never, ever visit a gas station again. Never. Environmental reasons to solar-charge an EV
First, in contrast to gasoline, the sun is a clean, direct, renewable form of energy. And you generate sun fuel for your EV and/or PHEV locally. Sun doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles from war-torn countries like Iraq to power your car. Yes, we can do renewable energy + electric cars![]() The electric car + renewable energy mix holds tremendous appeal.
If you spend any time trolling the Internet for news coverage of electric vehicles and/or renewable energy, you see this criticism, in slightly different variations, again and again. It’s too expensive. It’s inefficient. It’s not realistic. It’s pie-in-the sky. It will never happen. Let’s deconstruct each of these faulty criticisms one by one. Why solar charge? An introductionAssuming you have an EV and/or PHEV, there are countless reasons to solar-charge your car(s). Cleaner air, complete individual fuel independence, and greater national fuel independence are just a few of the specific reasons to run your car on the sun. Basically, the reasons to solar-charge your car fall into four broad categories:
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- New solar EV charging canopy online in Michigan
- This earth is the only home we have
- U.S. energy laboratory gets 2nd solar EV canopy
- Analyst defends Tesla Model S lease
- Bill McKibben: Climate change = Story of our time
- Tesla's phantom $500 Model S lease
- Analyst: EV and PV producers should team up
- Can we afford to lease a Tesla Model S?
- Your choice: Renewables here, or wars abroad?
- Just .02% of U.S. drivers solar-charge an EV
- Texting solar-charged drivers just as dangerous
- Solar PV pick: Microinverters over central inverter
- Solar-charged electric cars are no panacea
- It's 'Smart' to solar-charge an electric car
- 5 reasons to lease rather than buy an electric car
- Why buy a Volt if you go electric 95% of time?
- Up & down gas prices not best scenario for EVs
- Early plug-in sales outstripping early hybrid sales
- Flashing a solar-charged EV grin on Long Island
- Solar quick charging for EVs arrives in Indiana











One of the most common responses to solar-charged driving and, more generally, to the renewable energy + electric car combo, is that it can’t be done.
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