NYT drives solar-charged driving onto media radar

nyt-blog-solar-chargededitors-blog-entry3Okay, so solar-charged driving has a long way to go before it becomes truly mainstream. But we are getting there — as evidenced by a recent story — “Off the Well, If Only for One Week” — published in the New York Times Auto Section in which the author talks about an experience with solar-charged driving, his own.

New York Times reporter Dexter Ford gives a converted plug-in hybrid Prius a good, one-week test drive, all the while plugging it into his home electric power system — a 36-panel, 6kW home solar array on the roof of Ford’s Southern California home.

“While it is true that a lot of coal stands to be burned recharging the batteries of these cars, let me point out that they can also wring many of their miles from cheap, potentially carbon-free energy sources ā€” like those 36 sparkly blue photovoltaic panels on the roof of my Southern California home,” notes Ford.

And there’s plenty of economic savings on top of the green potential of solar-charged driving, Ford adds. He calculates he’ll save nearly $80,000 in electricity costs over the lifespan of his home’s solar system, which was installed three years ago. And that’s without adding in the savings in reduced gas costs a plug-in hybrid would provide.

While it is true that a lot of coal stands to be burned recharging the batteries of these cars, let me point out that they can also wring many of their miles from cheap, potentially carbon-free energy sources ā€” like those 36 sparkly blue photovoltaic panels on the roof of my Southern California home.
— Dexter Ford, New York Times Reporter in a May 2010 NYT article on the plug-in Toyota Prius

Not everyone will realize the same savings potential notes Ford — something we’ve also noted here at SolarChargedDriving.Com. But there are millions of Americans with great solar rooftops living in states with very good solar and electric car incentives (California, Colorado, New Jersey, etc.) who would realize substantial long-term savings and who could do their part in greening America and cleaning its air if they plugged into solar-charged driving.

Of course, most of these people don’t know they’re sitting a huge potential envirionmental gold pot as well as substantial economic savings. At least not yet.

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But, with a mainstream media outlet as influential as the New York Times starting to pay attention to solar-charged driving, it won’t be long before more and more of them come to this realization.

It’s exactly this type of awareness we’re trying to build at SolarChargedDriving.Com — which is why it’s so exciting to see the newspaper whose mantra is “All the news that’s fit to print” print a story about solar-charged driving.

Solar-charged driving is, in the New York Time’s view, “news that’s fit to print”! That’s good news indeed — news that’s fit to print right here on the pages of the world’s first web site devoted exclusively to solar-charged driving.

Solar-charged driving it appears your time is about to arrive — perhaps even earlier than anyone (including this writer) ever would have thought.

P.S. — The L.A. Times also recently published an article about solar-charged driving by reporter, home solar-owner, and soon-to-be-solar-charged-driver Susan Carpenter. You can check it out here –> ‘Driving in Savings Neutral Territory So Far’.

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prius-resources-page-image Like this story? Interested in the solar EV/PHEV synergy? Join our Sun Milesā„¢ Club and start meeting & interacting with other people around the worldwho want to drive, or already are driving, their cars on sun! Register to join us today!