Ford EVs to come with household solar-panel option

Why does SunPower tell you a price . . . but Ford will NOT tell you the price of their EV.



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I'm assuming the panels are hooked up to your main house supply so you can benefit in other areas if your vehicle mileage is less than 1,000mi per month?

Wonder how much the credit will be?

 

SunPower's products are already on the market. Ford doesn't have all of it's costs lined up yet on the EV, so can't release a figure.

 

+1

Yep, they probably know their costs, but not competing costs, etc. Now if toyota would just announce the price of the prius phv.......

Credits vary by location for solar panels. No utility that I know of can restrict solar usage to a vehicle, so unless you are off grid without battery you can get credit for the power whether you plug your car in or not.

 

Well while I applaud the effort, not everything is as it seems. They picture a house with 24 panels or about 5.5KW. And most people won't be able to take advantage when they are producing which is during the daylight. More than likely, they will use grid power at night to recharge for about half of what it would normally cost, because most utility companies will credit or buy your unused solar power at about 1/2 the cost of a KWh. However, here's something cool to think about that I may try.

Here in NY there's a State credit for businesses that install and supply alternative power as well as power company rebates. If you already have a small business, say a DBA, already in place before the installation you might be able to make it a business expense. There's a Federal one as well but it might run out at the end of this year.

 

Sounds damn expensive and is exactly why virtually nobody has solar at home. A Prius can go 12k on $1000 in gas and this is $10,000 up front cost.

 

I like solar and I am for the clean energy. As noted, most people will probably charge at night when the electricity is mostly from fossil fuel (Coal or Gas) and sell the clean solar electricity during the day. It is not right to think you are driving your EV on solar power just because you have them on your roof.

 

FORD should also mention that your electric car can be used to power your home in a blackout, and your solar panels also will help during the day.

It needs to get out more, that our Hybrids & EV's are also portable generators / UPS systems. Can be, with not too costly parts. Less expensive than a 4-stroke continuous running generator.

 

But so?

The solar panel on your roof, and hopefully enough pioneers with solar will offset the utility from building more coal/gas power plants.

And the fossil fuel derived electricity is going to waste at night anyways. Your use of those electricity is not going to pollute the environment... regardless if you use it or not. Might as well think of it as RECYCLING wasted electricity.

 

What we need is technology for the power plants to shut down when the load is low. Just like how HSD shut down the engine at the stop light.

 

ICEs don't have the inertia to overcome at start up that steam generators do. Ask Leno how long it takes to start up his steam cars.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure power companies would love that technology. They do make use of quick firing, relatively, NG cogen plants for peak loads.

 

Use the battery to aid inertia in restarting. I think it needs the ideas from HSD to move forward.

 

I wasn't too clear. While a multi ton turbine does have its own inertia to deal with. I was mostly referring to bringing the steam back up to pressure. If the system shuts off, you are going to need a serious sized battery to keep things running while waiting for steam. Then there is the matter of whether or not shutting down is good for the system. Too many expand and contract cycles can shorten service life of parts, and there is also the possablity of water hammers.

It would be one thing if we all just powered off all our lights and toys at night, but we don't. So power companies have to take this into account for generation.

 

Back in the 1980s, Popular Science magazine dreamed of the solar powered car. This is, effectively, a solar-powered car, right???

Although a lot of people that buy a Prius do so to save money, there are also a lot of people that buy a Prius just to be environmentally responsible. Regardless of cost, this solar panel setup coupled with an EV would allow these people to tell the "if you use electric, you're still burning fossil fuels" crowd to hush up (polite).

$10,000 divided by $4.00 per gallon (we're going forward in time, so future gasoline will cost more and could be more than $4.00) equals 2,500 gallons. If your Prius gets 50mpg average (let's just say), then this is 125,000 miles. How long does it take you to drive 125,000 miles? It varies from person to person. My 2004 Corolla, for example, has 172,000 miles on it right now. So from a dollar to dollar comparison, I would benefit from this deal when I trade my Corolla in for a Prius or Leaf or other in 2012. (based on quick/rough/hasty math)

 

It's not just water hammer - bearings that just 'sit' there in their loaded / mounted state tend to get flat spots as well as oxidation. Moving parts are not subjected to those risks nearly as much.

 

Shear scale has its own issues. It's like asking a freight train to stop and start like a car.

 

Many places already do it with coal plants: they'll shut some of them down at night to follow the drop in base load and use NG peakers to handle the variation.
NG plants are relatively quick (need about 5 minutes?) to start and stop but are more expensive overall than coal.
Nucular* plants are the bunnies that tend to keep going and going.

* With kind regards to W.

 

The idea of offering solar panels with an EV is very good. But is there any actual saving, compared to having solar panels installed independently? Does the Ford EV buyer really need to have Ford's partner install the panels? Would an independent contractor charge more, or less, or the same for an equivalent system?

In other words, is this a serious perk of buying the car, or just an advertising gimmick?

 

I would think that mounting a wind turbine generator to the top of the vehicle would be more beneficial, as it would charge the thing as you drive. Unless one moves at super low speed around town, one would never need to plug it in. Just say'in.