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Solar Panels + Electric Car

Making your money go further
Itsallaguess
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Re: Solar Panels + Electric Car

#444604

Postby Itsallaguess » September 23rd, 2021, 6:35 am

funduffer wrote:
Itsallaguess wrote:
funduffer wrote:
I have not paid for a single mile of travel so far


A very interesting post fd, and a great position to get yourself in regarding low-cost and low-pollution travel, but unless your solar panels were free, isn't the above statement ignoring the initial cost of the panel installation?

How much did it cost, out of interest?


You are right of course, the solar panels were not free. They cost just £4K, which I think is a bargain, and shows how cheap solar is these days. I should recoup the cost in less than 10 years just based on home usage, I.e. ignoring the electric car usage.

Overall, the solar cost £4K, the charger £750 and the car £32k.


Thanks fd, and that does indeed seem like a good value installation, and I can see why you're so chuffed with the end-to-end electrical delivery now, including exported power etc.

This is something I've taken a keen interest in over the years, with various posters detailing their own experience of such things, and whilst I've not yet taken the plunge myself, your progress in this area is really inspiring so thanks for sharing.

I hope you can continue with the updates as you find yourself venturing a bit further in the Kia E-Niro, and also see how the panel installation performs over the UK winter as well.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Dod101
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Re: Solar Panels + Electric Car

#444616

Postby Dod101 » September 23rd, 2021, 7:59 am

I am interested merely out of academic interest because I am afraid at my age I am not going down this route. Travel by car is free is true up to a point, but of course fd is foregoing the financial benefit of exporting the surplus electricity so in that sense it is not quite free.

It seems though that all round it is a good way to help the environment as well as his own pocket, with a substantial up front investment of course. The charger costs £750!

Dod

scrumpyjack
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Re: Solar Panels + Electric Car

#444623

Postby scrumpyjack » September 23rd, 2021, 8:51 am

Dod101 wrote:I am interested merely out of academic interest because I am afraid at my age I am not going down this route. Travel by car is free is true up to a point, but of course fd is foregoing the financial benefit of exporting the surplus electricity so in that sense it is not quite free.

It seems though that all round it is a good way to help the environment as well as his own pocket, with a substantial up front investment of course. The charger costs £750!

Dod


You get the financial benefit of exporting the electricity anyway as you are deemed to export 50% of what you generate whether you export all or nothing (unless you opt for an export meter). I have solar panels (since 2011) and use all the power generated but still get the export payment. I also have an electric car but just charge at night rate with no special tie up to the solar panels.

scotview
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Re: Solar Panels + Electric Car

#444626

Postby scotview » September 23rd, 2021, 9:12 am

Thank you funduffer for posting that interesting info.

I have recently purchased a VW ID.3 BEV and installed a Zappi charger. We used a ChargePlaceScotland charger yesterday for the first time and the charging was free.

I probably wont install solar roof panels until we renew our roof tiles and then install integrated roof panels.

I am currently looking at installing a small battery storage system (5kWh) to exploit the Octopus night time tariff. MORE IMPORTANTLY, this battery system will be used as electricity backup in the winter to keep our gas central heating running in the event of possible forthcoming power blackouts. This size battery should power our boiler electrics, pump and zone valves for about 2 weeks if needed (about 150 watts).

Dod101
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Re: Solar Panels + Electric Car

#444628

Postby Dod101 » September 23rd, 2021, 9:14 am

Very interesting thank you, even if the whole economics of green electric power generation seems weird and filled with subsidies.

Dod

funduffer
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Re: Solar Panels + Electric Car

#444763

Postby funduffer » September 23rd, 2021, 3:43 pm

scrumpyjack wrote:
Dod101 wrote:I am interested merely out of academic interest because I am afraid at my age I am not going down this route. Travel by car is free is true up to a point, but of course fd is foregoing the financial benefit of exporting the surplus electricity so in that sense it is not quite free.

It seems though that all round it is a good way to help the environment as well as his own pocket, with a substantial up front investment of course. The charger costs £750!

Dod


You get the financial benefit of exporting the electricity anyway as you are deemed to export 50% of what you generate whether you export all or nothing (unless you opt for an export meter). I have solar panels (since 2011) and use all the power generated but still get the export payment. I also have an electric car but just charge at night rate with no special tie up to the solar panels.


This is true under the old FIT scheme which came to an end a few years ago, but sadly not for a new installation like mine. I get 4p for each kWh exported with a SEG tariff, which is measured by the smart meter.

Dod is right, it is not free motoring, because solar power used in the car would attract 4p per kWh if it was exported instead. But 4p per kWh is about 1p a mile. This compares to about 12p a mile for a petrol car doing 50 mpg paying £1.30 for a litre of petrol - over 10 times the cost.

All in all, it is not clear whether the solar + EV will be a cost saving overall compared to a petrol equivalent, as the fuel cost is only part of the story. Other factors are maintenance, insurance, initial cost, road tax, the price of oil and eventually residual value.

I intend to try and produce a comparison between an electric Niro and a petrol Niro, both bought from new, running the same number of miles over 5 years. It will be interesting to see the comparison, although the biggest unknown at this stage is the residual value. I think this is the biggest risk in buying a new car today. PCP finance or leasing is a way of mitigating this risk, but of course you pay more.

On residual values, let's project forward 5 years to 2026/27. On the one hand electric cars will almost certainly have longer range and be cheaper to buy. The 2021 Kia might look a bit aged technically so may not be that attractive as a second hand car. On the other hand, the 5 year old petrol Kia will be being sold not long before no new petrol cars are being sold at all. Who knows what the tax regime will look like then, nor the price of oil. It may be that the petrol Kia is unattractive for these reasons, and the electric alternative is more desirable. Who knows?

FD


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