FollowRunning an electric car on the power of the sun is many an EV enthusiast’s dream. Ford isn’t the first company to combine EV charging with solar energy, but it is trying to make it as easy as possible to go from driving on imported oil to extremely local energy.
Through a new partnership with SunPower, Ford will offer a 2.5-kilowatt rooftop solar system to people who buy the upcoming Ford Focus Electric (and, later, the C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid) that should, under the right conditions, create around 3,000 kWh of electricity a year. Put one of these on your house and, Ford says, that’s enough to drive 1,000 miles a month. But, you say, I like to drive during the day and so then how will my car charge? As solar advocates know, the idea here is to offset the (potentially) coal-generated electricity your car charges with at night by feeding totally clean energy into the grid during the day. Until solar panels and EVs become so efficient that cartop solar devices can power the car, this type of setup is about as clean as you can get with a “normal” car. Ford’s even calling the new partnership “Drive Green for Life,” which is not inappropriate. The only problem? Adding the SunPower “option” to your Focus will cost you around $10,000 (after federal tax credits).
Source: autoblog
