Charge your EV with Solar Energy

When combined with an electric vehicle, solar power is a great way to fuel up your car with free electricity!

Interested in solar energy? We’ve attempted to list the most popular solar installation companies and quote services as a starting point for your Solar PV Installation research.

(If we’ve missed something, please let us know by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page.)

 

 

!We've noticed you are in New York, United States. Only solar options available in your location are displayed.
If the location is incorrect, please click here to view all


Solar Purchasing Options - Ways to Pay


1. Solar Cash Purchase

If you have the money available, this is a great way to buy the system outright and own all of the energy produced right from day one. Any benefits from available tax credits also go straight to you, since you funded the installation.


PickMySolar's free service designs a custom system based on your specific electric vehicle. They'll do the legwork and come to you with competitive quotes from top, local installers. Visit PickMySolar
Available in USA

Understand Solar is a 3rd party service that gets you the best prices with trusted solar installers - all without salespeople in your home. Over 150,000 solar customers served! Visit Understand Solar
Only available in the USA in these states: CA, MA, NY, NJ, FL, TX, AZ

SolarGuide is a free service that supplies up to 3 quotes from MSC certified, highly rated, local installers. After receiving your no-obligation quotes, Solar Guide can answer any questions you have and help you select your preferred tradesman. Visit Solar Guide
Available in UK

2. Solar Loan

A solar loan is an investment in the cost of the system spread out over time. With a $0-down payment, you pay for your system every month at a low, fixed cost - similar to a house mortgage. Unlike the Solar PPA and the Solar Lease options, with a Solar Loan, you own the solar installation, so any available tax credits go straight to you.

Many of the companies that allow solar purchases (item 1 above) also have payment/loan options. However, sometimes they require you get a loan from a 3rd party. Often a second mortgage is a good way to fund a solar install since it would increase the value of the house, and be sold with the house.


PickMySolar's free service designs a custom system based on your specific electric vehicle. They'll do the legwork and come to you with competitive quotes from top, local installers and the best financing options from certified providers. Visit PickMySolar
Available in USA

3. Solar PPA

With this option, you only pay for the energy produced each month as an industry-low rate. The company covers installation, roof warranty, and energy monitoring. You simply pay for the energy that your roof produces, vs other options that have you paying for the full installation cost regardless of how much is produced. This option can be great for areas that don't produce as much solar energy. Any tax credits go to the solar company.


SolarCity is run by Elon Musk. With $0 down and partioal or full prepay options, SolarCity maintains ownership while you make monthly payments over a 20 year term. Visit SolarCity
Available in USA and Canada

4. Solar Lease

With a solar lease, you are basically renting a solar system for your roof for 20 years. With a fixed monthly lease rate, or at a percentage that the initial rate will increase each year, it's a great way to get in the solar game with no money down. Having a fixed monthly payment can be an advantage especially for people on a fixed income, but since solar production drops during the winter, you can actually end up paying more than your total utility bill during the cloudier months. Any tax credits go to the solar company.


PickMySolar's free service designs a custom system based on your specific electric vehicle. They'll do the legwork and come to you with competitive financing options from certified providers and help you select a highly-rated, qualified, local installer. Visit PickMySolar
Available in USA

SolarCity is run by Elon Musk, and is one of the pioneers in the 'lease your roof' options for solar power. With $0 down, SolarCity maintains ownership while you make monthly payments over a 20 year term. Visit SolarCity
Available in USA and Canada

Still not sure if Solar is right for you?

Going solar is a big decision, and an expensive decision. If you still don't feel like you have all the information you need, why not get some data specific to your location? Here are some companies that offer solar reports based on hours of sunlight per year, and local energy costs, and can estimate how much money going solar will save (or cost) you.


Using data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, SunMetrix provides a report specific to your address complete with energy costs, hours of sunlight per year estimates, and information on rebates and incentives. Visit SunMetrix
Available in USA
!We've noticed you are in New York, United States. Only solar options available in your location are displayed.
If the location is incorrect, please click here to view all


10 Comments on "Solar"

  1. Robert Ingert | March 29, 2017 at 4:56 pm |

    Can a person recharge e/Golf directly through the DC port (directly under the AC input)
    first question….IOW’s can I feed the main batteries DC current DIRECTLY from a 200 watt array of two 120 Watt PV solar panels? If not what’s the minimum amps to wake up the (slow) charge?
    second question…. Would a 200 amp hour 12 Volt battery extend the car’s range plugged into the 12V outlet located to the right of rear door? If not, why not?
    third question… Does VW have plans to market larger capacity, faster charging, REPLACEMENT batteries, sometime in the future? (otherwise, current models will become almost worthless in a few years)
    fourth question.. Will VW market an all wheel drive e.Golf or hybrid as sold in Germany? MayI buy one in Canada?

    Love my e.golf. Age 82 I’ve owned a VW (or Porche) continuously since 1954. (seven vw’s including two TDI’s, a Mico Bus, 1957 Speedster and 1954 Porche Coup)
    Thanks, Robert Inget, Ashland Oregon

  2. Robert Ingert | March 30, 2017 at 12:23 am |

    One more: How difficult would it be to DRAW DC current from the vehicle? A battery this size would be a godsend in a power outage. All a person would need, a proper sinewave inverter and a #10 extension cord. It’s frustrating during a daytime power outage, all that energy inaccessible just like my 8-KW grid-tie solar array. Once the grid goes away so does a person’s power. BTW , older batteries can be rebuilt for home use al la “Power-Wall”.

    Oh, a person can hook-up any used solar panels to the LOWER water heater element after disconnecting AC from lower thermostat. Works on the coldest, even cloudy days preheating icy cold water.
    Water heaters don’t know the difference between AC and DC .

  3. I drive a Model S and decided to go solar three months ago. I worked with Johanna from Pick My Solar and she helped me through the entire process and made sure I got a large enough system for my car. All in all a really positive experience , didn’t feel like I was getting sold to. Check them out!

  4. Peter Barnett | August 11, 2018 at 7:48 am |

    I’m in the UK, so the set up maybe different. I’ve got a 1.4kw peak system facing due south. The outlander charges at 3kw. That means that in the summer, across the middle of the day, the solar will give me nearly half of the load, if nothing else is switched on in the house. Even in the summer, when I return home from work, the sun is too far round to produce any noticeable electricity. I maximise where I can, like waiting till Saturday rather than Friday night, if practical, to charge. Remember the value of the system is the max production at the sunniest time. Either side of midday the peak drops off rapidly. If the car is the major driver, maybe consider directing your panels off due south if you can, to increase morning or evening production, depending on your life style for charging. This will reduce the overall production, but if you have a sunny climate, maybe it’s negligible.
    Although you may get paid for producing the electricity, (depending where you are &c), you need to consider if the car will benefit from your installation, if that is one of the driving factors for getting it. You can now get L-ion batteries (small for their power), to attach to the system, allowing you to store the charge for later. An excellent idea if the house is empty most of the day anyway. We opted for a diversion to heat our water, so it doesn’t help charge the car, which came along later, but we use most of what we produce.

  5. Peter Barnett, hope you don’t mind me asking, but how much was the cost of your installation? How many panels have been fitted? I know hardly anything about how effective solar panels are in the UK and I wonder how long it would take to recoup the cost. Given my age, I wonder if I would live long enough to see any benefit!

  6. Robert Inget | January 5, 2019 at 5:34 pm |

    Does anyone know if and when Nissan’s “Car to Home’ battery storage system will be sold in the US or Canada?
    There must be some regulation forbidding sale here in US.
    Can a person buy such a grid tie system directly from Japan?

  7. Hey all, I just have one solar panel charging one 12volt battery and an A/C inverter. Can I plug my Outlander PHEV into the inverter or is there just not enough power for it? Thanks.

    • I’m not sure if there’s a lower limit of current that is required to charge your Outlander…. if it does work, it will just charge it very slowly – it’s what is referred to as a trickle charge. Your Outlander might just give a warning of not being plugged in or something like that

  8. Kevin T. Dickson | May 24, 2020 at 2:37 pm |

    Solar City is now Tesla

Comments are closed.