The New Normal

A funny thing seems to be happening all around us in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Our neighborhoods and businesses seem to be sprouting more and more solar power arrays on their roofs.  Neighbors are driving EV's and plug-in hybrids.  The morning and evening freeway commute has Leafs, Volts, Plug-In Prius's, Tesla Model S's, driving quietly and cleanly, mostly in the commute lanes.

When I go to various Silicon Valley corporations for my work, I see special parking areas for EV and plug-in hybrid charging stations, and these spots are normally in use.  Same with parking garages, airports, government buildings, and downtown streets.

These things started happening in the late '90's in California, but waned.  This time, the wheels are literally in motion and seemingly unstoppable.

Solar panel costs have been cut in half, many homes and businesses are leasing their PV arrays for less than their utility bill used to cost.  EV's can be leased for the same payment as the monthly cost of gas for a typical commute.  Car companies like Tesla, Chevy, and Nissan are building their EV's and plug-in hybrids in the US.

Sure, we're just at the beginning of this new paradigm, it will be slow and difficult to get people to open their minds to changing the status quo.  These big kinds of shifts often are.  But changing it is.  Going forward, most cars sold will be hybrids.  Many new construction projects will include solar power arrays.  There are already more people employed in the solar power industry than the coal industry.

I'm proud that my wife and I have had an effect on some of our neighbors and friends who have gone solar and bought EV's.  This is how revolutions happen!  This is the new normal!

EV + PV = the Way Forward!

On April 26 we took delivery of a Nissan Leaf electric vehicle! This is one of the main reasons we went solar in 2007--our hope was for electric cars and solar power to be a symbiotic relationship.

Our hopes have come true! The Leaf EV serves as my wife's commuter car, taking her 27 miles round trip daily, as well as weekend use and daily errands. The Leaf has now been driven over 2000 miles and charged every night at midnight via the car's timer. We could charge during the day using solar power, since my wife's job is part time, but with PG&E paying us 33 cents per Kwh at peak time for solar production in the spring and summer months and off-peak power cost of 11 cents per Kwh, we charge at night, typically requiring just a couple of hours.

We have received our PG&E electric statement for May and June, with the costs being $-34.30 and $-36.03, respectively. It is clear that driving an EV daily has not had much impact on our electric costs at this time of year. In the winter months, I expect to pay around $20 per month to charge our Leaf. When all the months electric costs are combined, I expect the cost of driving the Leaf to be around $100 or so for the year. Compare this to the over $2500 per year it used to cost in gas for my wife to drive her previous car!

Over eight years, the life of the Leaf battery warranty, we will have saved $20,000 in gas costs, if prices remain where they are currently(unlikely). The question mark will be what the cost of a new battery pack will be in eight years for the Leaf? I would expect costs to be lower than today and capacity to be higher. I further expect maintenance on the Leaf to be lower than an internal combustion engine car.

I've heard every reason why solar power and electric cars supposedly don't make sense-- meanwhile our PV array and EV are doing exactly what I'd hoped for, cleanly and quietly! Just say no to the status quo!!