We are rapidly approaching a revolutionary time for the automobile. While it didn’t start with the Prius, a hybrid car the masses adopted, it will certainly be seen as an important step for the automobile in its journey. Cars nowadays have become less reliant on gasoline as a means for movement and more on electricity. Take the blossoming popularity of the Tesla Model S for example. This is a car that is not only sleek and attractive but also completely electric, able to go up to 315 miles on a single charge. The Tesla Model S is, however, an expensive car by most people’s standards starting at $68,000. While this is unobtainable for many of us, Tesla is planning on releasing their new Model 3 soon, a cheaper all-electric car similar to the Model S. Tesla has received over 325,000 pre-orders for the Model 3 already.
What does all this mean for the average homeowner then? Well considering these cars “fill-up” at an electrical outlet at your house, and not at the pump it will mean higher electric bills for prospective electric car owners. While these cars certainly still save you money, electricity being far cheaper than fuel, it will undeniably hurt looking at that electric bill the first time you get it. So what can you do to save yourself some sticker shock after you buy your fantastic new electric car? Solar Panels can be a fantastic addition to your house along with an electric car.
How Solar Panels Help Electric Car Owners
As an electric car owner, it’s clear you’re interested in either saving the environment, or saving money, or maybe both. This is where the interests of electric car owners and prospective solar panel owners overlap. Here on Long Island a large amount of our power comes from burning natural gas. While it’s cheap and abundant, it is still the combustion of a fossil fuel which puts carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. Not only that it also produces NOx gases, a precursor to smog. So if you get an electric car to help save the planet, but you’re still depending on the burning of natural gas to power it, it’s really just trading one evil for another. Especially when you consider your house is going to be using more electricity after purchasing an electric car. Solar Panels on your house can help significantly cut down the use of natural gas by your household, even if you don’t own an electric car. Solar Energy is 100% renewable and guilt free and the perfect way to power your electric car if you’re trying to save the planet. Another reason to buy an electric car that runs in parallel to getting solar panels is saving money. It’s cheaper to commute daily on electric than it is on petroleum, which is another reason electric cars have gotten so popular. However as discussed already owning an electric car does increase your electric bill. A great way to offset these costs would be a new set of solar panels installed on your house. Most people who install solar panels see savings of over $1,000 per year on their electric bill. Not only that electricity costs continue to rise nationwide so homeowners with solar panels will continue to see rising savings after they install solar panels.
Why Electric Cars are the Future
Similar to Solar Panels efficiency, electric car efficiency is another technology that continues to advance at a rapid rate. One of the big criticisms of electric cars is “range anxiety” or the fear of prospective or current electric car owners of being stuck somewhere with an immobile electric car that has a dead battery. As more electric cars appear, more charging stations also continue to appear. This makes range anxiety a rapidly disappearing phenomenon and one that may completely disappear in the near future. Not only that the range of electric cars is increasing dramatically as well as battery technologies advance. This combined with the increasing attention on the impact fuel burning has on the environment, as well as the global political issues that come with petroleum make the push towards electric cars even stronger. Many states offer strong incentives on buying cars such as Teslas and Chevy Volts. New York for example not only offers a $7,500 rebate on such vehicles, but they also offer special privileges such as driving in the HOV lane and avoiding traffic without a passenger. Electric cars are also quieter, and many performance cars such as the Porsche 918 are also showing the performance advantage of hybrid/electric cars. All this combined with stricter emissions and fuel economy laws for gas burning cars combines to show that electric cars are surely the future of transportation and the time to adapt with them is now. If you are an owner of a plug-in hybrid such as a Chevrolet Volt, or a full electric vehicle such as a Tesla, solar panels on your house are the perfect addition to prepare yourself for the future.
If you want to help save the environment and save money on your electric bill each year give Greenleaf Solar a call at 1 (844) 464-7652, or fill out our contact form. We can help install a set of solar panels that are the perfect compliment to your electric car.