Driving on Sunshine

[bedoig]

My system produces around 16 kWh - 17 kWh per year.
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I assume you meant 16-17 MWh per year, something around a 7 kW system? I've played with the idea a bunch of times and would still like to do it, but economics are very different in places like Texas. Our current house is in tree covered suburbia so it wouldn't work anyway. Our last house would have been perfect ("barndominium" steel building framed out as a house internally, 80' of south facing angled roof), but economics still didn't really make sense. Plus Texas is mostly gas and wind at this point.

 

[Sandiegodoug]

My system completely payed for itself in 4 years, not including charging my 3, not Including the savings for No gasoline purchase. Before covid 19, our rates starting 6/1 , if you exceeded 1000kwh was .64/kWh. They since dropped, now .43
My model 3 runs completely on my solar system along with house and pool. I now use my power company as a bank, depositing lots of extra during summer, withdrawal during winter when sun is low and week, with the goal of zero at our yearly true up.

 

[Sam1]

I've got the Tesla 7.56kw system, it has been running for 75 days now; over 2 megawatts generated. I drive the car a minimum of 100 miles per day 7 days a week, and sometimes I get upwards of 150 miles per day.

This is a screenshot of my power offset, the solar panel system generates 90% of my total electric consumption

 

[bigroccrek]

I assume you meant 16-17 MWh per year, something around a 7 kW system? I've played with the idea a bunch of times and would still like to do it, but economics are very different in places like Texas. Our current house is in tree covered suburbia so it wouldn't work anyway. Our last house would have been perfect ("barndominium" steel building framed out as a house internally, 80' of south facing angled roof), but economics still didn't really make sense. Plus Texas is mostly gas and wind at this point.

Yes...MWh....9.2kW system, 28 - 327W panels.

 

[arghx7]

People in warmer and sunnier climates are going to fare a lot better on this. You've got more sunshine, and your Model 3 is more efficient because you're not taking such a hit in the winter.

 

[smartypnz]

Wife puts a lot of miles on her MS - me - M3 - 4 miles to work (except during Pandemics, then just her). Anyway got our yearly electric bill - approx $2000. That's for the house and running pretty much all of both cars. So, 35,000 miles this year for her and 7,000 miles for me. Plus our house electric is in that cost.

If that cost had been just for the cars it would be about 4 cents a mile.

No real way to compare since our solar was installed same time as the first MS in 2013.

 

[TMThree]

16.8kW system. Panasonic N330 panels with Enphase IQ7X microinverters. 25 year warranty on both. Guaranteed production of 26,800 kwh. $31,000 after fed rebates. 100% of my power consumption, so I only need to pay $10/mo for customer fee.

More panels are on the rear of the roof.

I would have gone with Tesla roof, but it wasn't worth $10,000 more to me (over the cost of new shingle + PV). I also tried Tesla PV, but their new Chinese panels aren't as nice as Panasonic they used to sell, and their inverter system doesn't have 25 year warranty. But Tesla is now a bit cheaper in price after going with Chinese panels.

 

[Rothgarr]

We have solar that produces over 100% of our electricity needs, including charging my Tesla. We make enough excess to where we will also replace my wife's Honda Pilot with a Tesla Model Y and we'll still produce enough power to charge it and not have to pay for electricity.

Three pics below, one showing our best production day two weeks ago (just shy of 122kWh), the second shows the effect on a day we charged the Tesla (the large orange block), and the third pic shows our install. We net export a LOT during spring, summer, and fall, which gets us through the winter since we have Net Metering. We live in Connecticut, btw, plenty of sun as you can see.

 

[MX108]

Living in Oregon I'm still able to power my home and M3 (and the MX it replaced) completely on solar. In fact, last year I made 196% of the power I used and am currently at about 230% this year.

I have a small home and a 6.2 KW (5 KW max inverter) system and couldn't be happier with the setup.

 

[Sam1]

We have solar that produces over 100% of our electricity needs, including charging my Tesla. We make enough excess to where we will also replace my wife's Honda Pilot with a Tesla Model Y and we'll still produce enough power to charge it and not have to pay for electricity.

Three pics below, one showing our best production day two weeks ago (just shy of 122kWh), the second shows the effect on a day we charged the Tesla (the large orange block), and the third pic shows our install. We net export a LOT during spring, summer, and fall, which gets us through the winter since we have Net Metering. We live in Connecticut, btw, plenty of sun as you can see.

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Jesus that's a big system!

 

[boriszima]

I would like to get some commentary on the accuracy etc of the attached image I created to convince my ICE relatives that you can indeed run EVs on sunshine.

I read somewhere that that the M3 can travel 4.1 EPA rated miles on 1 kWh so 15,000 miles over a year will use 15,000/4.1 or 3,658 kWh.

My 225 sqft Enphase solar array output for a year of 6,793 kWh was given to me by the installer. I haven't had it a year yet so can't totally verify that number but it looks about right based on a month of data plus taking down some branches which currently partially shade the panels.

Thanks

This seems reasonable, 15,000 miles you will need around 4,000 kWh. So if you know how much you need for your house, if you add those up, then you will know total you would want to offset your house and car if roof size, budget, permits, main panel permits this. In your case, its around 3,000kWh for the house needs

As some said, for most, it is cheaper to charge at night, so technically if one charges their car at night to save credits, lower charges, then car charges from the power plant/electrical gride.

Some of those photos in this thread are very nice and gorgeous solar setups. I think it is just natural, if you own your own roof and you have electric car, it makes sense to get solar, to save money over long term and keep community green and in some cases where power is not stable, such as winds, snow, wildfires get a battery to run off the grid.

After this year, Federal Tax Credit for Solar will decrease again. good site to learn about solar, get quotes, etc
Why the Solar Tax Credit Extension is a Big Deal in 2020 | EnergySage

 

[Beardley]

People in warmer and sunnier climates are going to fare a lot better on this. You've got more sunshine, and your Model 3 is more efficient because you're not taking such a hit in the winter.

I live near Syracuse N.Y. home of the gloom for 6 months. It costs more because you need a bigger system, but N.Y. incentives go up to 110% of your annual usage so even in colder snowy climates it can be done. My ~9kwh system made 4.32 MWh last year. Not nearly as productive as AZ or CA, but basically wiped out my bill for the year. Pay off not factoring in gas savings is 8 years.

 

[TMThree]

I live near Syracuse N.Y. home of the gloom for 6 months. It costs more because you need a bigger system, but N.Y. incentives go up to 110% of your annual usage so even in colder snowy climates it can be done. My ~9kwh system made 4.32 MWh last year. Not nearly as productive as AZ or CA, but basically wiped out my bill for the year. Pay off not factoring in gas savings is 8 years.

Damn. I made 2.28 MWh last month alone and 6 days of that wasn't online.

 

[Rothgarr]

Jesus that's a big system!

Yup... Fifty 360w LG Neon panels.

If I had to do things differently, I would have replaced my hot water heater first and maybe some other appliances. Wouldn't need such a big system. Now that we've replaced a number of appliances after the fact, we are overproducing a lot. That's how we are able to charge one (I think two) EVs. We didn't even get the Tesla until after we got the solar, we got the Tesla to use up some of the excess.

 

[Rothgarr]

Damn. I made 2.28 MWh last month alone and 6 days of that wasn't online.

We are very close. We made 2.6 MWh in May (you probably would have done the same if yours wasn't down for those 6 days).

Why was your system down, if you don' mind me asking?

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Yup... Fifty 360w LG Neon panels.

If I had to do things differently, I would have replaced my hot water heater first and maybe some other appliances. Wouldn't need such a big system. Now that we've replaced a number of appliances after the fact, we are overproducing a lot. That's how we are able to charge one (I think two) EVs. We didn't even get the Tesla until after we got the solar, we got the Tesla to use up some of the excess.

A convenient excuse.

 

[Beardley]

Damn. I made 2.28 MWh last month alone and 6 days of that wasn't online.

Looking again, I was actually looking @ 2020, duh. 2019 was 10.6 MWh on a 8.97kw system. I presume with that much production, you are way over 100% covered.

 

[TMThree]

Looking again, I was actually looking @ 2020, duh. 2019 was 10.6 MWh on a 8.97kw system. I presume with that much production, you are way over 100% covered.

No, my system is designed for 100% of last year's power usage.

Most of the power consumption is from AC. Power bill is ~450 in the summer, and around $210 in the winter.

 

[TMThree]

We are very close. We made 2.6 MWh in May (you probably would have done the same if yours wasn't down for those 6 days).

Why was your system down, if you don' mind me asking?

Wasn't approved for net metering till then. System was installed late Feb and waiting for approval since then. Duke energy only started to move when I complained to the state that they were stalling.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I originally answered this poll years ago, before we had solar installed. I noticed that we weren't able to change our answers so I requested and one of the mods opened to poll back up. Thanks!

I'm now in the "Yes" category.