SolarCity® (Nasdaq: SCTY) and American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced a partnership to make solar power more affordable and available to Honda and Acura customers in the U.S., providing a cleaner source of electricity at a lower cost than utility-supplied power. The partnership, which is aimed at addressing global climate change by reducing CO2 emissions from home, business, and transportation energy use, establishes an investment fund to finance $65 million in solar projects to assist Honda and Acura customers with the initial cost of solar power installation. Millions of Honda and Acura customers and hundreds of dealerships in SolarCity’s 14-state service area may be eligible for the special offer, and SolarCity and Honda expect to be able to accommodate thousands of interested homeowners in the fund.
Honda and Acura dealerships in SolarCity’s service territory may also be able to take advantage of the offer to install affordable solar power through the partnership. Additionally, Honda and SolarCity will explore opportunities to integrate solar power and electric vehicle recharging, envisioning a future in which Fit EV and Accord Plug-In Hybrid owners will be able to charge their cars from the power of the sun, thereby reducing household CO2 emissions to nearly zero.
Honda, recognized for its leadership in producing fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles, and SolarCity, America’s leading full-service solar power provider, have established the $65 million investment fund to remove a pervasive obstacle to the broader adoption of solar power: the high initial investment associated with installing solar power. Through the partnership, the first for any automaker, Honda and Acura customers and dealerships will be able to install solar power with little or no upfront cost, depending on the customer’s choice of plans. Customers will be given a choice to pre-pay for their solar electricity or pay a monthly payment that will be lower than the cost of their current utility bill, with insurance, repairs and monitoring service included.
SolarCity has developed a proprietary system that has greatly simplified the process by which homeowners can go solar. From an initial phone call or Web consultation, SolarCity can quickly assess whether a homeowner is a good candidate for solar, and can design a custom solar system to meet a customer’s specific energy needs. In addition to offering affordable solar power, the partnership will enable owners of Honda and Acura products to make energy-efficiency upgrades—such as weatherization and more efficient heating and cooling—that can further reduce their home energy consumption.
Executive Quotes
“At Honda, we are always looking at ways to improve the lives of our customers while reducing our environmental footprint,” said Steven Center, vice president of the Environmental Business Development Office of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “We believe Honda and Acura customers are going to be very interested in going solar once they find out that they can install solar at their home with little or no upfront cost, can lower their monthly utility bill, and can make a positive contribution to protecting the environment.”
“By making it easier and more affordable for its customers to use clean power, Honda is reinforcing the fact that solar is the new normal,” said SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. “This is an unprecedented partnership—few companies have made a more substantive or comprehensive commitment to environmental responsibility than Honda.”
