Electric Cars and Solar: A Match Made in Japan

Published: 04-Feb-2014

Renewable transportation seems like the most obvious solution to the simultaneous need for emissions-elimination and personalized and flexible transportation, but there’s still a ways to go before electric vehicles can be completely renewable.

Of course, depending on where you live, recharging your electric vehicle could be fairly close to emissions-free. Unfortunately, this is often not in the hands of electric vehicle owners. Rather, they must rely on the energy mix their particular region utilizes. In the US, for example, each region and state has a varying mix of renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Vermont is about 94% renewable, while Florida is about 13% renewable. If you want to buy an electric vehicle and make it as clean as possible, you’re out of luck if you don’t fancy moving to Vermont.

Combining renewable energy, such as solar power, seems like it could be the perfect match for electric vehicles, but it depends on the size of the panels and the batteries in both the charging station and the electric vehicle. In fact, some of Tesla Motors‘ Superchargers are supposed to be, at least partially, solar powered. In Japan, Toshiba and Honda are partnering to see how well solar power and electric vehicles go together, a match made in heaven?

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