Charles and Val Willett with the Nissan LEAF they won from Planet Solar. The Willet's new EV will be partially powered by the new solar PV system you see on their roof. [Photo Credit: Planet Solar U.K.]

Here’s another sign that solar installation companies are starting to wake up to the incredible power of electric cars to power a solar revolution around the world: A U.K. solar company, Planet Solar, recently gave away an all-electric Nissan LEAF to Charles and Val Willett of Lancaster.

The Willets, who’d recently had solar installed on their home’s roof by Planet Solar, were part of a unique, and, as far as we can tell, first-ever electric car contest by a solar installer to promote residential solar.

At the beginning of 2011, Planet Solar ran a promotion in which the first 200 customers who purchased and installed solar panels on their homes in 2011 were entered into a drawing to win a brand new LEAF. The Willetts were the lucky ones to take home the prize.

Couple can’t believe their luck
Charles Willett says he and his wife could hardly believe their luck: “At first I thought Planet Solar was ringing me to tell me I was to receive £250 for recommending a friend. When they told me I had won a car I could not believe it, we were absolutely astounded but very pleased, I have not won anything since I was about ten years old.”

The Nissan LEAF is a three-door mid-size hatchback electric car and is one of the first mass-produced electric cars for sale from a major car manufacturer. The electricity generated from the photovoltaic systems the Willetts had installed by Planet Solar in June can now be used to cleanly and cheaply power their prize.

Planet Solar ran the competition in partnership with Fred Coupe Nissan Garage in Walton-le-dale, U.K.

Val Willett says she is very pleased with the couple’s new car.

“If somebody had told me a year ago I would be driving an electric car I would never have believed them,” she explains. “But it is a great car and the fact that is cheap to run and good for the environment is an added bonus.”

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