Solar for EVs

[JeremyP]

In my area, the quotes I got 4 years ago were right at $4 per watt. I bought the equipment myself and did the permitting with the county and utility company, and my cost came out to $1.30 per watt, or around $0.80 per watt after the tax credit. Our electric rates aren't too bad, about 14 cents/kwh so the typical installation in this area has a long payback period and the solar companies must be making a lot of profit.

I really don't understand solar well enough. We had a quote here and it was like 80K dollars to get a system installed. With the costs of installation vs power it would take us 20-30 years to get the pay off which is the rated life of the system. In other words I'd be much better putting that same 80K into an investment vehicle if saving money was my goal.

Is it a hedge assuming sky rocketing future energy costs? Is electricity that much more expensive where everyone else is? Or am I just getting scalped with an installation quote?

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[SRO]

Good point. No, I was referring to ROI as a solar project just on the electrical generation side.

I think you need to for more complete B/C ratio. It’s a real savings. My savings are a bit-more I’m grandfathered into a net metering where what I get from Nevada Power is the same price they credit me for the solar I give them. 1:1.

 

[Zoidz]

I really don't understand solar well enough. We had a quote here and it was like 80K dollars to get a system installed. With the costs of installation vs power it would take us 20-30 years to get the pay off which is the rated life of the system. In other words I'd be much better putting that same 80K into an investment vehicle if saving money was my goal.

Is it a hedge assuming sky rocketing future energy costs? Is electricity that much more expensive where everyone else is? Or am I just getting scalped with an installation quote?

I obviously don't know your market or the size system you were quoted, but I would definitely get another quote. In my area at that price, that's a HUGE, overkill solar system for a residential home, even if it includes a battery/inverter standby system.

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