Solar Power for Electric Vehicles

SolarCity says it can prepare a home or business to be EV-ready even before delivery of an electric car for those who wish to install EV chargers only and for its solar and energy-efficiency customers. The companies say EV drivers using the charger can save up to 77 percent on fuel costs. They cite, as example, an average San Francisco Bay Area resident paying the national average of $3.65 per gallon gas and thus spending about $230 per month to fuel a gas-powered car. They would spend $107 to power an equivalent-size EV with grid electricity, and, by leasing a solar system from SolarCity, only $54 to power the car with solar electricity for the same miles driven.

Back in the 1990s, ClipperCreek pioneered EV-charger safety features that have become the industry standard. Some of the car models that its UL-listed chargers are designed for use with are the Chevy Volt, Ford Transit Connect, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Roadster, and all SAE-compatible plug-in vehicles due to hit the market soon.

"We are pleased to partner with SolarCity to help increase the number of homes and businesses that can run electric cars on renewable energy," said ClipperCreek president Dave Packard,. "Roughly 40 percent of residential EV owners have solar and we expect these environmental and economic benefits to expand with the coming proliferation of electric cars and increasing use of solar power."

SolarCity is also the North American distributor of EV chargers for Toyota Tsusho, which represents a public EV infrastructure of thousands of chargers. ClipperCreek brings product leadership to the electric vehicle charging infrastructure marketplace with reliable, safe and flexible, software-driven products that have been proven through 15 years of development and field experience. ClipperCreek leads the industry with over 3,000 chargers shipped since January of 2009 and is the exclusive provider of EVSE chargers for BMW’s Mini-E and for Tesla Motors’ Level 2 EVSE charging stations. ClipperCreek also provides chargers to power Mercedes, GM and Nissan vehicles.

SolarCity® — a national leader in solar power design, financing, installation, monitoring and energy efficiency services—was founded with the mission to help millions of homeowners and businesses adopt clean power, protect themselves from rising gas and electricity costs and protect their environment from polluting power sources. The company’s SolarLease® and Power Purchase Agreement (SolarPPA™) options can make it possible for homeowners and businesses to switch to clean, solar power for less money than they currently pay for electricity. SolarCity’s 24 operations centers serve Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawai’i, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, D.C.

www.solarcity.com