Silence the EV critics with the 2.5 kW solar pledge

2.5kw-pledge1 Sign on to our 2.5 kW solar + electric car pledge in the comments section at the end of this article! There’s a lot of stuff out there about how electric vehicles are going to over-tax the grid. None of it’s true, of course, but it’s out there nonetheless.

There’s also a lot of stuff out there that questions whether electric cars are in fact greener than their gasoline powered counterparts. The preponderance of evidence shows that even when the electricity in an electric vehicle’s batteries has been produced by a coal-burning power plant that, on the whole, the EV is greener than its ICE counterpart. Plus, an EV is far more efficient.

Of course, the more of the electricity in your car’s batteries produced by renewable energy, the better. As we’ve noted in our series on what you’re plugging your EV into, if you live in the U.S., there are some great (Idaho, 90 percent renewable energy generated electricity) and not-so-great (West Virginia, 98 percent coal-produced electricity) places to plug in.

Our 2.5 kW solar-EV pledge kills two anti-EV critiques with one stone.

But most people don’t know the grid mix where they live. So you’re bound to get the “you’re just transferring the pollution from the tailpipe to the smokestack” criticism even if you live in Idaho. It’s vexing having to repeatedly deal with all of the ill-informed naysayers on questions of electric grid “overtaxing” and on the comparative green-ness of electric cars.

Don’t just talk, take action!
Yes, you can battle it out in the comment strings and discussion boards on the Internet (which, we’ve been known to do). But there’s a simpler, better, more convincing way to silence the anti-EV folks out there than to try to out-perform them rhetorically on the web.

Take action.

Take our 2.5 kW solar-EV pledge.

What is the pledge?

It’s simple: Anyone who buys a new EV pledges to put a 2.5 kW solar system on their home, garage, or elsewhere on their property.

leaf-solar-rev-smallIn the vast majority of places in the U.S., and in terms of the average miles driven annually by most Americans (10,000 to 15,000 miles), a 2.5 kW solar system is enough to cover all of the miles you drive in your EV per year. More concretely, with a 2.5 kW solar system, we’re talking about a system that can produce between 5,000 solar-charged EV miles in extremely cloudy spots in the U.S. to up to 15,000 miles in ideal solar spots with the out-of-pocket cost for the system somewhere between $4,000 and $10,000 in most places in the U.S.

Our 2.5 kW solar-EV pledge kills two anti-EV critiques with one stone.

It means essentially a 100 percent electricity offset for every EV added to the grid (adding an EV to the grid is approximately the equivalent of adding four large plasma screen TVs). And it means the majority of the miles covered by those EVs will be completely air-pollution free, solar-charged miles (again, via the offset produced by the 2.5 kW system).

Massive change in American fueling infrastructure
Additionally, the 2.5 kW solar-EV pledge means massive, positive change in the American auto fueling infrastructure.

Let’s just say 100 percent of the first wave of EV-ers and PHEV-ers in the U.S. in 2011 — estimated to be somewhere around 30,000 (between the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Volt) take, and act on, our pledge. That means enough electricity to power about 8,500 American homes for a year. More specifically, it’s enough to power 30,000 cars for about 10,000 oil free, air pollution free miles each.

Don’t have the roof space for a solar system? Don’t own a own home?

Then customize our pledge: If you can, buy green energy from your utility and purchase enough to offset as close to 100 percent of your yearly EV miles as possible.

Or maybe you live in a place where wind energy is a better source of electricity generation than solar? Look into the possibility of installing a residential wind turbine to wind-charge your new EV.

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Taking the pledge doesn’t have to be complicated. And, for those of us living in solar friendly states in the U.S. – and there are a lot of them, see this list at SolarPowerRocks.Com for more on this — it doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, taking the 2.5 kW solar-EV pledge and acting on it will save most of us money.

Plus, there’s the satisfaction of silencing the it-can’t-be-done critics.

In sum, taking the 2.5 kW solar-EV pledge saves money, helps the environment, and quiets the EV naysayers.

Not a bad deal, eh?

So why not take the pledge and sign on right now — in our comments stream below!

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