I’ve been living for about a month in a co-housing condo community called Highline Crossing Cohousing in Littleton, Colo.

I really like it here — I’ve met lots of friendly people, gone to several events, played ping pong with my kids in the community center, even helped out on a quarterly clean-up day Saturday.

It’s clearly been the right decision for me — but, as I noted in a blog entry a few weeks ago, one drawback is that I do not own my own roof. Not the roof over my townhome and not the roof over my garage.

I am itching to get back to solar-charging my 2014 Nissan LEAF, but it’s fairly likely I will need to wait months and months as a proposal to add six to eight solar panels on my garage + a 220 volt outlet (or EV charger) + a possible Tesla Powerwall, winds its way through the HOA association decision-making/approval/hopefully not rejection process.

In theory, my ideal scenario would be one where I get approval to put a 2 kW solar system on my garage roof + a Tesla Powerwall + an EV charger. The goal here would not be to save money — and, with a Powerwall in the equation, I’m guessing I might not save money — but instead to achieve fueling independence, flipping “it” to Utility Monopoly (in my case, Xcel Energy) and to Big Oil/OPEC, etc. all at once.

However, in addition to not quite understanding what the best approach might be to getting my HOA on board with my plan, I have to confess I do not fully grasp how a solar rooftop + Powerwall + EV charger set up would work.

I have a bunch of questions –>

1. How would the solar energy stored in a Powerwall during the day, when I am mostly not at home, but at work with my Nissan LEAF, get from the Powerwall into my LEAF’s battery? Could I charge my LEAF directly from the Powerwall? More important perhaps: Would the Powerwall be able to fill the LEAF’s battery up or not?
2. Would everything need to be installed at the same time, so that the components of the set-up would be properly connected and able to “communicate” and work with one another? Or, could I first install a 220-volt outlet, then a solar system, and eventually a Tesla Powerwall awhile and still have a “seamless” home solar-EV charging system?
3. I am quite unclear about the utility meter question: My HOA has 40 garage units whose collective electricity use is measured by a SINGLE utility meter and the electricity bill for the garages is paid through HOA dues. I’m pretty sure I would like to have my own utility meter, but — is this possible? How much would it cost? Would Xcel add a meter for me? If I could not get an individual meter for my solar system and my 220-volt outlet charger and had to stay connected with/together with 39 other garages and their electric use on a single meter, would my utility, Xcel Energy allow me to have a solar system on my garage — whose roof, once again, I do not own, but which is so-called “common property” of the entire HOA?

I just sent in a request for information from Tesla. I guess I will call an electrician of some sort to ask about the addition of a 220-volt dryer outlet and what this might entail given the current electrical wiring of my garage. Finally, I will call a couple of solar companies and have them take a look at the situation I have and see what they suggest.

I probably will call SunRun — because they installed our 5.5 kW solar system at 4000 S. Atchison Way in Aurora, Colo. in June 2010 (actually, REC Solar installed the system, but the residential side of REC Solar was bought out by SunRun three years after our installation). I think I’ll call Namaste Solar as well because our neighbors back in Aurora, who went solar about two years after we did, in part inspired by us, used Namaste and were satisfied with them.

Hopefully, some of the “experts” at Tesla, SunRun, Namaste and some local electrician will have some answers for me in terms of some of the questions above — although, honestly, I wonder if they will have ever encountered a situation like mine — where I want to solar-charge an EV in a condo HOA where I don’t own the roof and where I do not even have my own utility meter for the garage over which I would like to place a 2 kW solar system.

I’m guessing this type of situation is probably quite rare, don’t you think?

This house with solar shingles, a Tesla Powerwall and two solar-charged Teslas shows what the world could look like — if we all became solar-charged drivers.

The promotional video below, produced by Miysis Studio 3D, pretty much puts forward the dream house I’d like to have: Tesla solar roof shingles, Tesla Powerwalls and Tesla Model 3 and Model X.

Collectively, they’re kicking the monopolistic utility, gas, air pollution, and Big Oil all to the curb.

Bet you’d love to have this set-up, too.

Am I right?

My 2017 Chevy Bolt now has my old custom plates that were on my 2014 Nissan LEAF for three and a half years. I turned in my leased LEAF for a Bolt (which I also leased) at the end of September 2017. Also found a good spot for a new “SolarChargedDriving.Com” bumper sticker [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich

My 2014 Nissan LEAF parked under 600 kW solar carport at Kaiser Permanente’s Centennial, Colo. location.

In late September, I leased a 2017 Chevy Bolt to replace my 2014 Nissan LEAF, which I had leased for three and a half years. That was seven weeks ago. It took me until early November to get my old LEAF plates — and a SolarChargedDriving.Com bumper sticker — onto my red Bolt.

It feels good to have these back on my current all-electric Bolt, which I love!

The vanity plates read “SOLPWRD”, short for “solar powered.” Technically, my Bolt is not really solar-powered — because divorce forced me to sell my house with solar panels two years ago.

However, I do pay extra money — about .02 cents more per kilowatt hour — for Xcel Energy’s Windsource, so my Bolt is still indirectly fueled by renewable energy. And I am hoping that eventually I will be able to get solar to fuel my Bolt in the HOA cohousing community that I moved into three months ago.

It’s great to have my “SOLPWRD” plates back, even if, technically, for now, the plates should really read: “WINPWRD”

I also figured out a good place to put my “SolarChargedDriving.Com” bumper sticker on my Bolt. Safety sensors on the Bolt’s rear bumper made it a bit challenging to find a good spot for the sticker. But I found a nice, visible, symetrical  place for it, as you can see in the picture above.

Happy Sun Miles® everyone!

My cajun red Chevy Bolt (left) parked directly next to another Bolt in Estes Park, Colo. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]

But I found a second Bolt right next to me in Estes Park, Colo. this past weekend. And the owners, like me, were attending a meditation retreat.

Guess Buddhists like the Bolt

The owners said they love their Bolt — and they have home solar to fuel it with.

She’s a retired teacher; he’s an international pilot for United Airlines.

May you experience many, many Joyous Sun Miles®, Shari and J.D.

My red Chevy Bolt parked next to Deena Rowe’s brand new blue Chevy Bolt. We go to church together and Deena said I had a big influence in persuading her to go all electric. She’s also got a solar system on her home’s roof with which she can fuel her new Bolt. Also, notice the white Chevy Volt in the upper right hand corner of this photo. [Photo by Christof Demont-Heinrich]

That means I get to spread the word about how clean, green, quiet, quick, and fun having an electric car can be.

One of the places I’ve spread the word about electric cars is at the Unitarian Universalist church I go to, Prairie Unitarian Universalist Church, which actually meets in the gymnasium of Pine Grove Elementary School in Parker, Colo. every Sunday.

There are several people in the church who have expressed to me strong interest in electric cars, and, in particular, interest in the the exciting synergy between home solar and electric cars. I’ve been more than happy to comply by promoting the many advantages of driving a car fueled with electricity generated by home solar at church, sometimes making announcements about what I am doing during so-called candles of community, a time when we can share something that’s on “our minds and on our hearts” to the rest of the congregation.

One of the people who’s been talking about going electric is Deena Rowe. She and her husband put a 5.6 kW solar system on their home about a year ago. Well, Deena made good on her word to go electric and just went out and bought herself a bright blue Chevy Bolt a few days ago.

She surprised me by parking next to my cajun red Bolt this past Sunday (I’ve had my Bolt for about three months now) (see pics).

Deena was SO happy — and so am I

She had been thinking about a Nissan LEAF (her sister owns one), but never pulled the trigger on a LEAF due to concerns about range. The 200+ miles of range offered by the Bolt, however, are more than enough for Deena. And her decision to buy an electric car shows, albeit anecdotally, how 200+ miles of range is a thresh-hold for many American car buyers, meaning it is finally enough to get large(r) numbers of Americans actually thinking about, and even purchasing, an electric car.

Another friend of mine in the church, John Kelty, has a Toyota Prius with 300k miles on it that’s about to become a serious “money pit”. He asked me about my Bolt this past Sunday, and, like Deena, John’s got home solar too. He’s considering buying a Bolt or a Volt or maybe a plug-in Prius.

So, we may have three Chevy Bolts in our church parking lot sooner than I ever thought we would.

That’s great news — and definitely news worth sharing here on SolarChargedDriving.Com.

Deena R. standing in front of her new Chevy Bolt — and the solar “gas station” on her home’s roof in the Greater Denver, Colo. area.

So, I have a friend from my Unitarian Universalist church who I managed to persuade to buy a Chevy Bolt, Deena R.

Deena is a longtime environmental activist and has had a 5. 5 kW solar system on her family house’s roof for about a year. She is one of many, many, many people who have plugged into solar-charged driving since I started SolarChargedDriving.Com in September of 2009.

Congratulations Deena!

The world is a cleaner, quieter, greener place thanks to your blue, solar-charged Chevy Bolt.

Three proud Chevy Bolt owners in the parking lot of Prairie Unitarian Universalist Church this Sunday. John K. (left), me (middle), and Deena R. (right).

So, about four months ago I turned in a 2014 Nissan LEAF I had been leasing for three and a half years and started a new three-year lease on a Chevy Bolt. It’s been a great decision for me, especially since I am in a post-divorce, one-car household.

I am not the only one who has found that 200+ miles of electric range at an affordable price — I’m paying $338 per month for my 39-month lease on a red Bolt LT with a couple of option packages — extremely attractive.

Two other members of the Unitarian Universalist Church I attend in Parker, Colo. Prairie Unitarian Universalist Church have now gone out and gotten themselves a Bolt. So now, in a church with only 140 members, we have three brand new Chevy Bolts — red, blue and black.

Those same members who just got a Bolt, Deena R. and John K., have been watching electric cars and waiting. Less than 100 miles of range, which is what the first generation of mainstream affordable electric cars offered, was not attractive to them. And they waited, and waited — for exactly this threshold to be reached, the “magic” number of 200+ miles.

You might say, well, that’s rather arbitrary. Yes, in some ways, it is. But I have been able to do many trips in the Denver-Boulder area over the past four months with the Bolt that would have been a pain with my 84-mile LEAF as they would have required charging and charging in places where there is not a convenient EV charging station around.

I’ve also been able to do trips that would have been essentially impossible in my 2014 LEAF, which did not have a quick charge port (I did not need a quick charge port when I bought the LEAF as I/we had a gas car at that point to use for any mid-to-long-distance trips).

Two-hundred miles also gives the driver a lot more peace of mind than 84 — and a lot less worry!

I’m happy I have been able to persuade two other UU church members to go electric — they both have home solar, BTW :-). But the “magic” moment of  having an impressive three BEVs in one, 140-member UU church parking lot revealingly did not happen until after mainstream and affordable EVs hit the 200+mile range barrier.

There are now three Chevy Bolts at Prairie Unitarian Universalist Church in Parker, Colo. — which has only about 140 members.

So, it’s 2018, and Wired, a supposedly “progressive” media outlet with supposed expertise in new technologies just published an anti-electric car article with a telling headline, ‘The potential pitfalls of electric cars, in 5 charts,’ that, surprise, surprise — NOT!, recirculates the same old arguments about electric cars allegedly being “just as dirty” as gasoline cars.

Wired magazine is still re-circulating tired old — and false — anti-electric car arguments.

Nope, not true. Never was, and never will be true.

Three points here:

1. Gasoline cars ALSO need to have utility plant grid mixes factored in, because — guess what — refining oil into gasoline requires electricity, a lot of electricity! This is ALWAYS (conveniently?) forgotten by the anti-EV crowd.
2. Gasoline cars spew sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and cancer causing diesel particulates directly from their tailpipes into our lungs. D-I-R-E-C-T-L-Y. Electric cars do not spew pollution directly into our lungs, no matter how their electricity is generated. EVs have no tailpipe — and are, btw, safe to start, and sit in, in a closed garage! Do that with your gas car and, well … you won’t be around very much longer.
3. Electric cars can be, are being powered, and increasingly will be powered by more and more renewable energy. And, yes, we will reach 100 percent of global electricity produced by renewable energy. There. Is. No. Other. Viable. Way!

These three points are all that needs to be said — despite what the ever-shrinking pro-gasoline Fossil Fools crowd maintains. But let’s say point No. 3 again, just to drive it home –>

Gasoline cars will never,  never, never — 1,000 times never — be emissions free; in contrast, electric cars can be emissions free with a renewable energy powered electric grid, and the grid will one day be 100 percent renewable, perhaps a lot sooner than the ever smaller Fossil Fool crowd would have us believe!

I was just surfing and Googling around on the topic of solar-charged driving, EV + PV, etc. when I came across a very interesting article summarizing a report co-authored by the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and the Carbon Tracker Initiative.

This house with solar shingles, a Tesla Powerwall and two solar-charged Tesla shows what the world could look like — if we all became solar-charged drivers.

The report basically finds that the fossil fuel industry is stuck in BAU mode — Business As Usual — mode, meaning it is not taking the threat posed by electric vehicles + solar combination to its future seriously.

To be sure, the article is published by a group called Carbon Tracker Initiative, which is clearly trying to persuade people to buy into the reality of human-caused climate change.

Not a bad goal, given the increasing intensity and severity of global weather, which very clearly is being affected by climate change.

The summary of the report has got some great quotes. The quotes show that solar-charged driving, meaning the electric car + solar combination that, back in 2009 when I started SolarChargedDriving.Com barely anyone took seriously, or, for that matter, even talked or wrote about, has seriously taken off.

Indeed many, many activist media, and regular media, web sites/news outlets are very much aware of the tremendous disruptive potential of EV + PV, or what is sometimes called “Driving on Sunshine.”

Here are a few of the scathing quotes and statistics from the report below, each one of them taking a major dig at the complacency of the fossil fuel industry –>

• “Electric vehicles and solar power are game-changers that the fossil fuel industry consistently underestimates.“
• “Solar PV could supply 23 percent of global power generation in 2040 and 29 percent by 2050, entirely phasing out coal and leaving natural gas with just a one percent market share. By contrast, ExxonMobil sees all renewables supplying just 11 percent of global power generation by 2040.”
• “EVs could make up a third of the road transport market by 2035, more than half the market by 2040 and more than two thirds of market share by 2050. BP’s 2017 outlook expects EVs to make up just 6% of the market in 2035.”
• “Fossil fuels may lose 10 percent of market share to PV and EVs within a single decade — this may not sound much but it can be the beginning of the end once demand starts to decline. A 10 percent loss of power market share caused the collapse of the US coal mining industry.”

In fact, it’s only a matter of time before renewables — which more and more experts are establishing could indeed power the world 100 percent! — overrun fossil fuels and replace them once and for all.

Sean Palmer and Rita Hennessy in front of their solar-charged Chevy Bolt.

Quite frequently someone will post to a Chevy Bolt Owner’s Group on Facebook that they are solar-charging their Bolt. The picture to the right is an example of exactly that: Sean Palmer, a Bolt driver, showing that he’s driving his EV on renewable energy. In the comment stream below his post of this picture to Facebook, you can see many other people with Bolts/EVs noting that they also use solar to partially/fully charge their Bolt and/or other EV(s).

More and more people are recognizing that solar + electric cars = fueling freedom, money savings, true zero emissions driving and a chance to stick it to Big Oil, OPEC and the “drill-baby-drill” crowd.

It’s not surprising that there are more and more solar-charged electric car drivers. I could see that this would happen way back in 2009 when I started SolarChargedDriving.Com. Now, what we need to do is to keep pushing and pushing renewables + electric cars to get to 100 percent renewable energy generated electricity to power our buildings, homes, lights, stores, and, of course, our vehicles as well

Renewz’ iSun Oasis solar canopy.

There’s a new option for those seeking to solar-charge their electric cars: You can order a solar canopy online. Renewz, a solar-technology startup company, recently made its iSun solar canopy the “Oasis,” available for online order.

According to Renewz, the smart solar canopy “easily” integrates into homeowners’ lifestyle and garden, patio or driveway. Part of the iSun Energy brand, the 1.5 kW system is now available for $9,999 — minus a limited offer $2,500 discount at www.isunenergy.com.

iSun Oasis connects directly to a home’s electrical grid. The durable, aluminum structure holds an American solar panel array which captures and delivers clean power, reducing the homeowner’s carbon footprint by approximately 1.4 metric tons of carbon emissions per year.

Users will also see reductions to their energy bills, and may be eligible for further rebates and tax breaks in their state or province. In the United States, Americans can receive a 30 percent federal tax credit in the first year after installation.

Buyers can also often finance the purchase and install it through their home equity with monthly costs exceeded by their monthly energy savings, claims Renewz in a press release about the canopy.

The canopy expands the use of outdoor areas by protecting from heat, rain, snow and UV whether on driveway, patio or garden. iSun Oasis is controlled and monitored via the iSun mobile app, which has features such as electric vehicle charge control and smart lighting.

The canopy’s functionality can be expanded with accessories like an EV charger, smart lighting, electrical outlets, bluetooth speakers, plant holders and bug nets, notes Renewz.

“One of our main goals in the design of our residential canopy is for it to integrate and improve users’ home lifestyle, in a seamless and cost effective manner. We designed the iSun Oasis so that it would be easy to install, and easy to obtain an installation city permit, since it is considered a temporary structure due to its innovative anchoring system. The iSun Oasis’ access to a host of incentives plus energy payback and increased home value make it a smart financial decision as well,” notes CEO Sass M. Peress, in a press release about the iSun.

Like the previously launched commercial unit (iSun Palm), the iSun Oasis works under all kinds of daylight conditions and features high efficiency, curved solar panels designed to optimize energy generation, according to Renewz.

While maximum power is obtained from direct sunlight, the canopy’s unique solar technology creates energy even in diffuse light or cloudy conditions. It is capable of producing power even when buried under four inches of snow.

A web-based configurator, which Renewz says is first of its kind in the world, allows visitors to generate their own financial analysis as well as determine carbon savings, all from the comfort of their home or office.

The iSun Design Studio also includes accessories, variations and personalization capacities for both residential and commercial systems.

iSun Oasis model is available at www.isunenergy.com. Those who sign up at www.isunenergy.com may qualify for the “early bird” 25 percent discount offer. The estimated delivery date for the iSun Oasis is May 2018.

About iSun Energy/Renewz
Part of Renewz, iSun Energy focuses on solar energy and electric vehicle technology products. The Canadian company is on a mission to create free and clean energy to people, right where they are, through delivering a sharing a smart, shared energy experience. Using state of the art American solar technology, combined with Canadian structure and European software, iSun Energy has created a line of solar power shading systems for all types of uses, from residential to commercial.

Home solar + an electric car will save you a lot in fuel costs!

You actually don’t need that many solar panels on your home, garage etc. to produce enough electricity to fuel your electric car 100 percent with solar.

For many people in relatively sunny places in the United States, six to eight 300 watt solar panels can produce enough electricity to drive your electric car 1,000+ miles per month, which is somewhere around the monthly average for driving in the United States.

Most electric cars get about three to four miles per kWh mileage. To make the math easy, let’s assume your electric car gets four miles per kWh. If you drive 1,000 miles per month, you need a solar system that produces, on average, 250 kWh of electricity per month, 1,000 divided by 4 = 250 (kWh).

A current (2018) six to eight panel rooftop solar system = roughly 1.8 kW to 2.4 kW total.

Let’s take a 2 kW system, which would be kind of in the middle of those two solar system outputs. In Denver, Colo., where I live, a 2 kW system produces about 3,100 kWh of electricity per year, or about 258 kWh per month on average. That is essentially exactly the amount of electricity you need to drive an electric car such as a Nissan LEAF, Chevy Bolt or Tesla Model 3 1,000 miles per month, assuming an average mileage of four miles per kWh.

You would need a slightly larger rooftop solar system in Seattle, and a slightly smaller system in Phoenix, to produce enough electricity to Drive Your Electric Car on Sunshine and generate thousands of Sun Miles®  every year!

According to news.energyusage.com, a 2 kW rooftop solar system ranges in cost from a low of about $3,000 to a high of $5,400 in New York State (those are post Federal Tax Credit numbers, meaning they reflect a 30 percent tax credit).

Considering the average American spends $2,000 in gasoline costs per year, $3,000 to $5,000 for a home “gas station” isn’t much.

You’ll start saving on fuel costs after about two to three years in most places in the United States AND you won’t pay at all for your fuel for the next 18 to 20 years (which is about how long you can expect your rooftop solar system to last). That’s $40,000 in gasoline savings across 20 years — and that is assuming the cost of gas in 2018 does not go up for the next 20 years!

This Red Tesla Model S, which belongs to Charlie Wilde, who works for Ecology Solar, is zooming around Colorado while driving on sunshine. It’s a great advertisement for solar, Ecology Solar, and, of course, solar-charged driving and Sun Miles® .

So, I am working toward hopefully getting solar up in the cohousing community that I moved into just six months ago, Highline Crossing Cohousing.

If I succeed (cross your fingers!) it would be the second place I would have brought solar to, with the first being my old house at 4000 S. Atchison Way, Aurora, Colo. where I had a 5.5 kW solar system installed, and which ultimately produced more electricity than I/we ever used, even with an electric car (a 2014 Nissan LEAF). GoogleMap the address in the previous sentence, and you will see the solar system on the roof of that house, which divorce forced me to sell in November 2015.

4000 S. Atchison Way is the first place I managed to get solar installed. Now, I’m hoping to do the same in the Cohousing Community in which I now live, Highline Crossing Cohousing in Littleton, Colo.

Here at Highline Crossing, we had a couple of solar guys come out from a Denver area solar installer called Ecology Solar. One of them — Charlie Wilde — arrived in the red Tesla Model S in the picture above, complete with the custom plate, “SUNZOOM”.

Wilde has solar on his home in Denver and has been plugged into solar-charged driving and Driving on Sunshine for four years!

He’s also a walking, well, I should say, driving ;-), advertisement for solar, Ecology Solar, and the solar + electric car combination.

Very cool, Charlie!

Keep on cranking out those Sun Miles®!

I was looking through Twitter under the hash tag #DrivingOnSunshine when I came across this (above) very cool video about a European trip the Sono Sion — an electric car that can charge itself with solar cells mounted on the car — took recently.

The Tweet was posted by Thomas J. Thias, an electric vehicle + solar advocate I follow on Twitter.

Check it out!

The iSun oasis solar (car)port.

MONTREAL – Renewz Inc., based in Montreal, Canada, partnered recently with SmartReno, a Canadian company that provides homeowners with a trusted network of able and reviewed contractors, for its unique iSun Oasis solar power shading systems/solar EV charging carport, one of which was on display last week at the National Home Show, at Toronto’s Enercare Center.

“We are proud to have created this partnership with SmartReno, and to be exhibiting our innovative iSun Oasis solar power system,” said Sass M. Peress, CEO of renewz. “The relationship with SmartReno helps ensure complete customer satisfaction for residential customers of our solar-powered canopies, whether used as carports, patio shades or gazebos.”

“This way, we will be able to provide the installation of the iSun Oasis solar power system everywhere in Canada in the most efficient way possible for the renewz customers,” said Andrei Uglar, CEO of SmartReno.

The direct purchase opportunity provided by the isunenergy.com website will include a chance to participate in a renewz 25 percent launch discount.

iSun Energy (http://isunenergy.com/eng/) is a brand of solar energy and electric vehicle technology solutions by Renewz (http://www.renewz.com/). The Canadian company aims to allow consumers to create free and clean energy right where they
are, via the iSun Oasis product.

I put together a PowerPoint on solar-charged driving to present at my Unitarian Universalist Church on April 15, 2018. Enjoy

The SoelCat 12, a solar-powered boat.

Soel Yachts, a company that designed the SoelCat 12, a solar-charged and solar-powered boat that runs 100 percent on sunshine generated electricity when traveling at speeds of six knots or below, recently released a YouTube video that highlights the unique solar-charged catamaran zooming around a beautiful tropical island.

The video is a just a bit too long (2:27) — maybe 40 seconds or so. However, it’s fun to watch the aesthetically pleasing SoelCat “motoring” around in a beautiful tropical island setting with lots of sun!

The SoelCat 12 has a total lithium battery capacity of 120kWh and can operate for six hours at eight knots on batteries alone. The 39-foot vehicle can cruise at speeds between six and 15 knots.

“At six knots, the vessel operates entirely off the energy provided by the solar panels during sun shine hours,” notes David Czap, who has worked on the design of the solar pontoon.

This new Chevy Bolt in Parker, Colo. is solar-charged

I have a friend from my Unitarian Universalist church who I managed to persuade to buy a Chevy Bolt and who has solar on her home, Deena R.

Deena is a longtime environmental activist and has had a 5. 5 kW solar system on her family house’s roof for about a year. She is one of many, many, many people who have plugged into solar-charged driving since I started SolarChargedDriving.Com in September of 2009.

She now has a Colorado vanity plate to show the world she is Driving on Sunshine: ‘SOLR EV’

My Colorado vanity plate = SOLPWRD

Patrick Connor’s custom Oregon plate.

I actually kind of wish I had Deena’s plate — because SOLR EV is easier to parse/understand than SOLPWRD. I had wanted SUNPWRD, but that was already taken in February 2014 when I registered by 2014 Nissan LEAF, which I had for three and a half years.

I didn’t think of SOLR EV it until I saw a picture posted to the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association Facebook page of an Oregon plate with SOLR EV (which Patrick Connor, a longtime EV advocate who lives in Oregon, has).

I actually suggested SOLR EV to Deena, and she got the plate that I wish I had Congratulations, Deena. And thank you for driving another electric vehicle powered by renewable energy.

The world is a cleaner, quieter, greener place thanks to your blue, solar-charged Chevy Bolt.

This Red Tesla Model S, which belongs to Charlie Wilde, who works for Ecology Solar, is zooming around Colorado while Driving on Sunshine. It’s a great advertisement for solar, Ecology Solar, and, of course, solar-charged driving and Sun Miles® .

A Tesla Model X with a Colorado solar vanity plate.

I’ve got a vanity plate that advertises solar + electric vehicle synergy on my 2017 Chevy Bolt, SOLPWRD. I thought it would be interesting to see what kinds of other vanity plates are out there for electric cars that also Drive on Sunshine and amass Sun Miles®  on a regular basis. Check some of these solar + electric car custom license plates out in the slideshow below