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Friday, January 2, 2015

Solar Powered EV Driving 2014

Tree filtered sunshine via Clark's Oregon Wildflower Blog

2014 was the seventh year that I've been "fueling" my driving with solar panels. Yes, it is possible, even here in the rainy NW corner of Oregon.

Our little 4kW solar system generated 3,800 kWh in 2014. Here is a chart of the production since we installed our panels:
Seven years of energy solar energy production
2014's production was enough to drive my electric car about 11,000 miles. During the year, I only drove about 7,400 miles.

2014 Solar Powered EV Driving
This left us with about 1,700 kWh of energy that were not used by our EV driving. This reduced our home energy bill. This is especially helpful in the summer when the home AC is on.

Our home is in rainy Oregon, our PV system is a small (4kW) system, and it is facing-west (rather than the more optimal south). If solar powered driving can work here, it can work in a lot of places on the globe.

Oregon Sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum) flower by Arboreal Boids

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