Solar Nerd articles about: Electric Vehicles

Enphase recently announced that it is releasing a bidirectional electric vehicle charger. This means that not only is it capable of charging a car, but also drawing power from a car and sending it to your home or the grid. This is unique because most EV chargers are unidirectional, which means they’re only capable of sending electricity in one direction - from the electric grid (ie. your home) to the car.

One of the big selling points of electric vehicles is that they cost less to operate than gas-powered cars. This is usually true: with no oil changes, fewer mechanical systems that can fail, and even less wear on brake pads (due to regenerative braking), electric vehicles are generally cheaper to operate. The story is the same when it comes to fuel costs. In most cases, you’ll pay less for electricity to charge an electric vehicle than you would to keep an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle fueled with gasoline.

Many electric vehicle owners also happen to be interested in solar electricity. That makes sense, because if you’re an early adopter for either of these technologies, helping the environment was probably one of the factors in your buying decision. If you have a Tesla now or you’re planning to get one, you might want to know how many solar panels will you need to install on your house to charge it.

I bought an electric car this year, and it’s a been a great experience. That’s not just because the car itself (a Hyundai Ioniq 5) is great - which it is. Because I’ve got solar panels, I know that my driving is being at least partially offset with renewable energy. (Even before I bought the car, my solar array was supplying only about 85% of my household needs - a result of limited roof space.