Now more Americans than ever will be able to “drive on sunshine”, by charging their electric cars with solar power, and save up to 77 percent on fuel costs. SolarCity has partnered with industry pioneer ClipperCreek to provide electric vehicle (EV) chargers compatible with all new EVs. SolarCity will initially install ClipperCreek EV chargers through its 24 operations centers nationwide, making it the largest single provider of EV, solar and energy efficiency services in the U.S.
“SolarCity’s mission has always been to help homeowners and businesses adopt clean power while saving on energy costs,” said Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity. “Electric cars are already among the cleanest-running vehicles on the road—charging them on solar makes them that much better. Tens of thousands of electric cars will be delivered over the next year alone, with hundreds of thousands expected over the next five years. We’re making it easier to power them with carbon-free electricity for zero emissions, and to dramatically reduce the cost of driving.”
Pricing for home or business installation of a ClipperCreek 240-volt Level II EV charger, including the charger, starts at $1,500. Charging at Level II is roughly five times faster than using a 120-volt wall outlet. For its solar and energy-efficiency customers, as well as those who wish to install EV chargers only, SolarCity can prepare a home or business to be EV ready even before delivery of an electric car.
Powering an EV with electricity generated from a home solar system can be 77 percent less expensive than powering a car with gas. An average San Francisco Bay Area resident paying the national average of $3.65 per gallon gas spends about $230 per month to fuel her gas-powered car. She’d pay $107 to power an equivalent-size EV with grid electricity, and, by leasing a solar system from SolarCity, only $54 to power the car with solar electricity for the same miles driven.
ClipperCreek pioneered EV charger safety features in the mid-1990s that have become the industry standard. Its UL-listed chargers are designed for use with the Chevy Volt, Ford Transit Connect, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Roadster and all SAE-compatible plug-In vehicles that are soon to be released from major and most new car companies.
“We are pleased to partner with SolarCity to help increase the number of homes and businesses that can run electric cars on renewable energy,” said Dave Packard, President of ClipperCreek, Inc. “Roughly 40 percent of residential EV owners have solar and we expect these environmental and economic benefits to expand with the coming proliferation of electric cars and increasing use of solar power.”
SolarCity installed the world’s first solar-powered enhanced electric car charging corridor, between Los Angeles and San Francisco, in 2009. The EV chargers, located at Rabobank branches along highway 101, support the new industry-standard J1772 protocol common to newer EVs.
SolarCity is also the North American distributor of EV chargers for Toyota Tsusho, which represents a public EV infrastructure of thousands of chargers.