How Many Solar-Charged LEAF Drivers?

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solarchargeddriver

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Messages
49
Location
Colorado
It's really exciting and heartening to see all of the discussion here on MyNissanLeaf about solar and the Leaf.

We'll be solar-charging a LEAF in Colorado (once LEAFs actually get here, that is), where we have a 5.59 kW home solar system we had installed in June 2010. We're banking kWh with our utility, Xcel Energy, for when the EV arrives. In 6 months, we've banked 2,700 kWh, meaning we've produced 2,700 kWh more than we've used.

I'm wondering how many LEAF folks out there are planning on using home solar to charge their LEAF.

Also wondering about what your motivation for doing so is.

Also, how many people do you know (but who are not on MyNissanLeaf) who are planning on doing the same thing, going EV+PV with a LEAF?

Finally, I would love it if those of you who are planning on solar-charging a LEAF (or perhaps already are), would be so kind as to respond to a poll/census I have running on my web site, SolarChargedDriving.Com. The Poll/census is at http://solarchargeddriving.com/news.html

Friendly qualifier: I may write about what some of you post in your responses (if any responds) for SolarChargedDriving.Com, http://solarchargeddriving.com and/or for Nissan-Leaf.Net, where I'm a contributor.

Thank you.

--Christof Demont-Heinrich
Editor & Founder, SolarChargedDriving.Com
 
solarchargeddriver said:
It's really exciting and heartening to see all of the discussion here on MyNissanLeaf about solar and the Leaf.

We'll be solar-charging a LEAF in Colorado (once LEAFs actually get here, that is), where we have a 5.59 kW home solar system we had installed in June 2010. We're banking kWh with our utility, Xcel Energy, for when the EV arrives. In 6 months, we've banked 2,700 kWh, meaning we've produced 2,700 kWh more than we've used.

I'm wondering how many LEAF folks out there are planning on using home solar to charge their LEAF.

Also wondering about what your motivation for doing so is.

Also, how many people do you know (but who are not on MyNissanLeaf) who are planning on doing the same thing, going EV+PV with a LEAF?

Finally, I would love it if those of you who are planning on solar-charging a LEAF (or perhaps already are), would be so kind as to respond to a poll/census I have running on my web site, SolarChargedDriving.Com. The Poll/census is at http://solarchargeddriving.com/news.html

Friendly qualifier: I may write about what some of you post in your responses (if any responds) for SolarChargedDriving.Com, http://solarchargeddriving.com and/or for Nissan-Leaf.Net, where I'm a contributor.

Thank you.

--Christof Demont-Heinrich
Editor & Founder, SolarChargedDriving.Com
Click to expand...

Heinrich...

I have a 6.75kWh solar system on my house. That does virtually all of my electrical needs plus a little extra. While not directly 'charging' my leaf, the solar will provide power that goes into my home and the Leaf. I'll wander by your site and see what the poll is about.
 
Christof, nice to hear from you.

Our story is documented in detail in my blog at: http://drivingelectric.blogspot.com/

We've had a 5.16 kW rooftop PV system running in coastal Southern California for just about 4 years. Our motivation was environmental. We also thought that electricity rates are sure to climb, and that we were also adding a valuable home improvement to our home.

Adding a PV system brought more energy awareness, as we watched the output of our system in relation to our usage. That brought an additional emphasis on energy conservation. So we converted to CFL lamps, a front-loading clothes washer, LED Christmas lights, and eventually a more energy efficient, though larger, refrigerator. We'll end 2010 using just under 65% of the electric energy that we used in 2005, the year on which we based the size of our PV system.

We've consistently produced 1,000 kWh per year more than our usage over the first three years. With the refrigerator change and some recent lighting changes, we'll end 2010 with over 1,500 kWh of excess generation, and this should come closer to 2,000 kWh for a full year next year.

In fact, the excess generation got us thinking about an EV.

Keep us posted on your own progress. I'll take your poll and we'll look for your work online, as you mentioned.
 
Here's a brief story on my situation/motivation. I hope to get my LEAF in April.

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_e921ce2a-4143-11df-843b-001cc4c002e0.html
 
My Leaf will likely end up 100% solar powered off my system, I'm presently running a large surplus and have charged three EVs before completely off the solar.
 
Christof, welcome to the forum!
We're waiting for our PV system to go 'online', maybe in a couple weeks. If I hadn't ordered a LEAF, I still would have had the PVs installed as I have been wanting these for about 30 years. The other house (all electric) I had bought in 2004 (1500 sq.ft.) was switched over to all CFLs, had a hot water timer, desert landscaping (drip system), and all Energy Star appliances. The highest electric bill was less than $100. Now, we have a similar home, but there are two of us. Here, we stopped using the dryer, switched over to desert landscaping (no grass!), have all CFLs (will switch to all LEDs in a year or two), LED Holiday lights (350 LEDs @ 40W total), hot water timer, solar screens, and PVs (only on peak hours are 3-6 PM M-F) on the roof. I also am presently driving (since 2004) the cleanest ICE (Honda Civic GX) in the world, but am looking forward to true zero emissions with my LEAF, and no longer using our natural resources.
I know we will be saving a ton of money, our home's value will increase by about $20K, and the system will be paid off in 4-5 years, but I did it mostly for environmental reasons. :mrgreen:
 
We have a 5.8 kW system that was installed in late October so we can charge our LEAF with solar power. This system should make more than enough electricity 7 months of the year, but when we have to use the AC we will buy some power from the electric company. We will be keeping records to see if this works out the way we hope. I'm hoping for a February delivery, Sept 7 order. I sent you a PM about connecting to your website.
 
5.25 kW system installed appx 2 years ago. Unfortunately in the summer I definitely do not generate enough to cover my current (hah!) electrical needs. I only have 141 kWh banked this winter so far. So... although I will be a Leaf owner who is also using solar, it's questionable whether you would say I am using the solar to charge my Leaf.
 
6.2kW system here...just went on line about 2 weeks ago. Making ~24kWh on sunny winter days and hope to make ~35-40kWh daily during summer. Should be good for both our household (16kWh daily/winter, ~20kWh daily/summer) and the LEAF (~16kWh daily expected).

I used to like rain, and cool overcast days. Not so much now, especially when production sinks to next to nothing on a really bad day. :lol:
 
I feel the same about cloudy days. The sun is my friend. Yesterday, practically no production as it rained most of the day here.
 
Mwalsh, my system is just a little bit bigger than yours and my best month in the Summer here in AZ was May. I averaged 39.74kw a day that month. There rest of the summer months here somewhere between 33-35.
 
solardude said:
Here's a brief story on my situation/motivation. I hope to get my LEAF in April.

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_e921ce2a-4143-11df-843b-001cc4c002e0.html
Click to expand...

Great story! Enjoyed reading it -- hats off to you too!

--Christof
 
PV self-install in June 2008 around the same time I owned my first EV.
Thought it was an interesting experiment to show my kids the possibilities of living a less oily lifestyle.
Once I experienced the "cool", quiet, efficiency of PV, I got a little crazy and LED'd my household lighting and timer'd up my non-essential loads like TV and wall-warts. Now, with less than a 5kW system, I expect to supply my house and about 8k miles of LEAF.
It's weird, but the knowledge that photons landing on my roof can push my butt around town is immensely satisfying.
 
Timaz said:
Mwalsh, my system is just a little bit bigger than yours and my best month in the Summer here in AZ was May. I averaged 39.74kw a day that month. There rest of the summer months here somewhere between 33-35.
Click to expand...

Good to know....it will be interesting to compare. How are your "good" winter days comparing to mine?
 
We have solar panels that provide a little more energy than our house uses per year. We deliberately sized them that way. Many new homes here are built with solar panels, but nearly all of them are undersized because the rate structure has been such that you don't get paid a cent for any excess electricity you produce. http://walterbays.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/roi-for-sun/ They even hit you with a special fee on months you produce excess electricity, so on months when production is just slightly ahead of consumption you could actually make money by leaving your oven on all day to move the meter back into the negative (!).

Over the years I think the energy production has fallen off a bit from when they were new, but we've replaced incandescent lights with CFL and LED to make our consumption fall off even more. I calculate that solar will provide about 70% of the combined energy needs of house plus Leaf. If the new rate structure pays a fair rate for surplus energy production, after considering any hidden or trick charges, then we might add more panels to bring it back up over 100%.
 

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