Remember Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) $280 million investment in a San Mateo solar company in mid-June?
SolarCity wowed the Internet giant with its solar rooftop leasing plan that allows homeowners to pay installments on solar energy without facing the high upfront cost.
Now SolarCity is taking that plan and applying it to electric vehicles.
In the past, the company had tapped into the EV industry by building quick-charging stations along Highway 101 that extends from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
This time, however, the product applies directly to homeowners.
Teaming up with Auburn, California-based ClipperCreek, a manufacturer of electric vehicle charging stations, SolarCity is aiming to provide an even cleaner version of ClipperCreek’s product.
The collaboration will produce 240-volt Level II chargers, the same ones that ClipperCreek already makes, but they will power them with rooftop solar panels.
These systems will have the capability of fully charging a vehicle in 4 to 8 hours, depending on the vehicle’s size, and they will start selling for around $1,500 a pop.
They will be available in the 11 states that SolarCity services, as well as in Washington, D.C.
Forbes describes the estimated savings, as analyzed by SolarCity. According to the company, the average San Francisco resident spends around $230 a month on gas. At this rate of use, owning an electric vehicle would bring this cost down to $107 a month. And using SolarCity’s charger for that EV would cut that in half again, costing this resident only $54 each month.
Revolutionary as the idea seems to be, SolarCity is not the first to come up with it.
Nissan has put out solar EV chargers with backup batteries for charging after dusk, and an Italian designer named Pininfarina created a tree-like charging system whose canopy is made of solar panels and whose trunk can charge two vehicles, according to CNET News.
The Italian designs have been installed in Chicago.
SolarCity, however, brings this directly to the home or business, and it offers the leasing program that will save consumers.
To see if your area qualifies for SolarCity’s products, and to calculate your savings, visit SolarCity’s website.
That’s all for now,
Brianna
