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Badging for Solar-Charged EVs

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UPDATE: This thread was originally titled: "I've paid for all my fuel for life, at zero emissions!" (A little catchier than intended)

Ok, the catchy title was to just to get your attention...

But that is actually a goal I have, and that I am actively working on, and is quite obtainable-- and I think many Tesla owners are aspiring to reach this same goal.

Here's how you do it:

Step 1. Buy a Tesla.
Step 2. Drive it for a few months.
Step 3. Carefully view your average Wh/mile figures as well as average miles driven per month for your typical driving habits.
Step 4. Calculate exactly how much solar you need to offset that use. Add on an extra 20% for safety.
Step 5. Get solar panels, equal to this amount or more.

After executing these steps- if you do most of your charging at home, and use superchargers for most of your road trips, you've effectively paid for all your fuel use for the rest of your life (as long as you are driving your Tesla as your primary vehicle) with guaranteed renewable energy sources. OK, I realize that not all superchargers are currently net zero CO2 emissions, but longer term I believe most of them will be.

This may not be easy, especially if you live in a state that does not have the best solar incentives. But one thing to consider when running the numbers is that this solar is in effect replacing gasoline, not electricity, so the ROI looks a lot better if you look at it that way. Especially the ROI for our planet.

Step 6. I would love to see some kind of incentive from Tesla directly for owners who commit to do this and execute it. A financial incentive would be great, but it doesn't have to be. It could be something small-- Maybe some kind of special badge, that has a little beautiful high quality emblem of the sun next to it? That sits next to your P85+ (or whatever you have) badge that is already on the car.

I'd like to see this goal encouraged, promoted and marketed by Tesla, and made into a point of pride among all of us Tesla owners as we challenge each other to get on board with this goal. Imagine the benefits if people commit to doing this in mass numbers.

Thoughts?
 
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I realize that a lot of people have had the same idea. I think the new twist is having Tesla give some incentive for it. I really like the badging idea.
Maybe later if I have time I'll try and do some photoshop artwork on my conception for how that would look.

Even if Tesla doesn't want to officially do something like this, no reason we couldn't sponsor it ourselves. That's more what I'm hoping on getting feedback on with this thread. I tweeted these ideas to @TeslaMotors and @elonmusk, but I think with their busy schedules, it's very random luck on if they actually read what I've suggested, much less respond to it and/or think it's a good idea.
 
Here's a first attempt at a badge that would indicate that one has jumped out of the oil/CO2 emissions grid forever.
The idea is to have something beautiful and a little bit subtle that we would all recognize the meaning instantly.
I'm not so great with photoshop, the earth is intended to also be on the same chrome beveled raised surface as the P85 badge...
p85earth.jpg
 
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I realize that a lot of people have had the same idea. I think the new twist is having Tesla give some incentive for it. I really like the badging idea.
Maybe later if I have time I'll try and do some photoshop artwork on my conception for how that would look.

Even if Tesla doesn't want to officially do something like this, no reason we couldn't sponsor it ourselves. That's more what I'm hoping on getting feedback on with this thread. I tweeted these ideas to @TeslaMotors and @elonmusk, but I think with their busy schedules, it's very random luck on if they actually read what I've suggested, much less respond to it and/or think it's a good idea.

This would be a good idea. I am not an expert of solar panels so I would like a thread be started on TMC concerning how to install solar panels from ourselves and suggestion on this subject given from TMC Members. I very much like the idea of being as much as possible independent in the field of energy.
 
I am not sure I would add 20% more solar collectors. I am installing solar and am targeting for 90% for three reasons. First our local power company give 0 incentive of I produce more than I use. The most I can reduce my bill is to about $6, the connect fee. but if I produce more than I use I will never receive money back. the second reason is I hope I can continue to reduce electrical use. Heat pumps, refrigerators and light bulbs are getting better, so I hope my use drops in the future. The third reason is I hope someday my kids will launch, and that should reduce my utilities as well.

Solar panels are expensive so I for one do not want to over buy.
 
I am not sure I would add 20% more solar collectors. I am installing solar and am targeting for 90% for three reasons. First our local power company give 0 incentive of I produce more than I use. The most I can reduce my bill is to about $6, the connect fee. but if I produce more than I use I will never receive money back. the second reason is I hope I can continue to reduce electrical use. Heat pumps, refrigerators and light bulbs are getting better, so I hope my use drops in the future. The third reason is I hope someday my kids will launch, and that should reduce my utilities as well.

Solar panels are expensive so I for one do not want to over buy.

That's a very good point. Obviously one has to run all the numbers. I initially decided to use the 20% overage factor to cover the odd case where maybe I'm driving a little more than usual-- but one could certainly come up with any other figure that suits their situation. I may end up going with matching my exact charging usage more closely and not using the 20% overage as well... (this comes out to about 20kWh per day.) Another issue I'm running into is that my roof orientation and shading may not even accommodate a system that can generate quite as much as I need (I think I'm right up against 20kWh avg. max daily generation, or maybe even less...) Studying that at the moment.
 
Been there, done that, got the panels. Have enough solar (12.5 kW) to cover two EV's and then some with a 20 year SCTY lease. Using today's gas prices and mileage we put on two cars, the lease will be "paid back" in 3 years. That leaves 17 years of "free" EV driving. Geothermal next on the list!
 
Back in 2008 we were approached by a little Bay Area company called Solar City to do a lease which would save us on our electric bills and we would be guaranteed savings. BTW one of their selling points was that one of the founders of Paypal was a major investor. They worked out the sizing for our house by analyzing a year's worth of our electrical bills to hit the sweet spot in the electrical rates (so that we would be paying the second tier on the rate schedule, since that was most cost effective for the investment). We were on the list of installations for early 2009. By that time, the financial markets had crashed and SC lost their promised bank financing. So they offered a big incentive to customers who could afford to pay up front for the system (to keep them working). We did and I also decided to increase the size of our system, since we had the additional space on the roof. It meant we would go negative some months of the year, particularly when we were travelling, but it was good for the environment and, what the heck, maybe we would eventually get an electric car (we were thinking a plug in Prius). Fast forward to 2013 and our Solar City system is over 4 years old with no problems other than a recall on the inverters which were replaced for free and a stronger wifi transmitter for reporting to our receiver. We never got the Prius.

Instead we had a few surprises. First was that we would be dealing more directly with Elon Musk than we thought and our gas savings makes a signficiant contribution to our total utility bill savings. Second, global warming means more use of AC during the summer (and even sometimes in the shoulder seasons). And third, there are more electrical appliances in our home than before.

So I would size a little larger than a liberal estimate of your need. Most everything says either you will use the extra energy or make some money from selling the excess back to the utility company. In the SF Bay area, currently we sell high (during the mid day peak rates of the summer) and buy low (during the midnight rates).
 
Have had panels for 7 years, car for less than a year. Got the panels to cover the small house to generate electricity cover the pump(s) for the koi pond(s). (At intervals I've had more than one of each going)

Now down to one pond, one electric car and the electric bill is mostly just the home and AC. =)
 
People replying with "Been there, done that" or "Already done" seem to be missing the entire point!
Are you reading the original post?
Perhaps I should have named the thread something like "Tesla Should Incentivize Going Solar For Good"
 
Agree, waiting for you to rename the thread, and I will rework the original post then...
Or, alternatively I suppose I could start a whole new thread. But there has been some valuable input here.
 
I would love to see some kind of incentive from Tesla directly for owners who commit to do this and execute it. A financial incentive would be great, but it doesn't have to be. It could be something small-.....

I'd like to see this goal encouraged, promoted and marketed by Tesla, and made into a point of pride among all of us Tesla owners as we challenge each other to get on board with this goal. Imagine the benefits if people commit to doing this in mass numbers.

Thoughts?

Why do people want incentives to save the planet? I know that sounds a little flippant (sorry), but the ability to get a badge or something isn't going to motivate me to do something if I don't feel it's important. If it's important I'll do it anyway.
 
I would like to give incentives in order to highlight and magnify the effect. To cause people to rally behind it. To make it happen faster. To bring it in to focus. To draw attention to it. Also if the incentive is financial, it may bring some people into the cause who otherwise could either not afford to or would not be interested.

@bonnie please don't have the thread title watered down like that! Would appreciate having thread renamed exactly as I specified! "Tesla Should Incentivize Going Solar For Good" - Or don't do it at all.
 
I'm not the mod for this area, I only alerted the mod for the section.

Starting a thread does not make the OP the 'owner' of the thread. Everyone is free to post and converse. The mods make decisions daily to encourage conversation, lessen confusion (usually when fixing thread titles), keeping it family-friendly, discouraging snippiness, etc.

If other people have ideas about how to incentivize people to do exactly as you suggest (and as so many of us have already done), why would you not want to encourage them to post their ideas?

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and, ftr, I don't see how that waters it down in the least. You yourself posted a couple of ideas.