How do solar powered cars save money?

They don’t, but you get on Al Gore’s mailing list.

Thats the only way they save money and preserve the nature through not using gas.

Well, it really doesn’t save much. The energy is NOT free as Gore and company would have you believe. What most people seem to ignore is the initial investment COST for the solar array. Solar panels are NOT cheap. A friend converted and added solar panels and storage batteries to his house. Initial cost to convert his house to solar from the utility company electricity was $30,000. Plus he had to buy new appliances which could run off the battery power OR buy an inverter to make the power that the appliances use. The cost of new appliances was about equal to the cost of the inverter. He chose to buy new appliances for another $5,000. So his total cost to convert was about $35,000. He took out a 2nd mortgage to pay for all this, which now means he has a monthly mortgage payment to make and will be charged interest. His monthly payment is twice as much as his electric utility bill used to be. His utility company does NOT buy back electricity as some utility companies do. The 2nd mortgage has an interest rate of 7% with a 15 year term. The bottom line is this; he will spend twice as much making the mortgage payments over the next 15 years than he would have spent for the electric bill over that same period of time. And then it will take 15 MORE years to break even on the initial cost (remember, he was essentially paying double his old electric bill). And only THEN will he actually be saving money as compared to doing no conversion and simply using the electricity as before. It is this initial cost that everyone conveniently forgets to mention when they say converting to solar saves money. YES, IT DOES, but NOT until the cost of conversion is paid back. Everything AFTER the conversion cost is repaid is PURE PROFIT. The problem is for my friend, he won’t be making a profit until 2029 (he converted in 1999. He thought the Y2K thing was going to cause economic disaster). Somewhat sooner, if his utility company would buy back power he makes in excess of his needs after his batteries are fully charged. Now for his car. He drives a Geo Metro, which gets 50 or so miles to a gallon of gas. So, his cost per mile to run is about 20 cents and is directly related to the price of fuel. All electric cars (to date anyway), cost about 30% MORE than an equivalent gasoline powered car, so that added investment has to be paid for to break even AND the cost of electricity to recharge the car’s batteries has to be 20 cents per mile or less before you save any money over simply buying a Geo Metro and buying the equivalent in gasoline. The one thing an all electric car DOES save is emissions. All electric cars have no exhaust and if the recharge comes from a solar panel, that is that much less power generated by a coal fired power plant. People keep on saying that not having to buy gas saves money which is true in that you are not spending money on gasoline, but you are STILL spending money for energy and until that additional investment cost is repaid by what you did NOT spend on gas, it saves you nothing. For someone like me, retired on a limited fixed income, it really makes no economic sense for me to put myself deeply into debt and have to pay higher monthly payments than I pay now for my electric bill and my gasoline that I use. I’m 61 years old. My father died at 72, my mother at 73. None of my grandparents or any other relatives lived past 75. Based on my family heritage, I do not expect to live to be 90 to reach the 30 year break even point of my friend who converted. And while I am still living, my cost of living would be much higher than it is NOW. I gain nothing by converting other than to have higher monthly bills than I do now. If I convert, true, I help the environment (whoopee! Good for me!), but I have that much less money in my pocket every month than I have now. The thing is this, I actually DO have that much money in the bank and in other investments so I actually COULD completely pay for the conversion. The problem then becomes one of the interest and dividends I LOSE by liquidating my investments. I currently make thousands of dollars a year from my investment portfolio and I USE that money to supplement my retirement income so I can make ends meet every month. I can’t afford to live in my own house without that additional income even if I have no electricity and gas to pay for, so again. I gain nothing by converting and I would have that much less money in my pocket every month. Like I said, for me, it makes no economic sense to convert to solar power. Now, when my mortgage is finally paid off in another 9 years and I no longer have a $590 monthly mortgage payment to pay every month, THEN, it MIGHT be cost effective to take out a $35,000 2nd mortgage which would have much lower monthly payments than the one I have now. In the long run, yes, I will eventually actually save SOME money, but until that break even point, my monthly cost of living would increase. I would just be paying more money to different people every month. More questions to consider: how long does a solar panel last? When will the batteries need to be replaced (all rechargeable batteries have a limited number of recharge cycles. The typical lithium battery in your MP3 player will last about 800 cycles, which equates to 3 or 4 years give or take before you buy a replacement battery or a new player)? When will the panels have to be replaced (ultraviolet light from the sun causes solar cells to slowly lose generating power. Typical life for a cell made today is about 10 years even if shielded from UV, less if bare)? How long to I have before I have to spend MORE money on replacement parts? Nothing lasts forever, so you have to figure in replacement cost sooner or later which pushes your break-even point even further into the future.

Sorry, to bust the bubble here. You are asking for reasons TO convert to solar and I heap on all this bad news about how converting doesn’t save money until MUCH later. Do the math for yourself. Find out how much it all costs to actually convert to solar and maintain the system. Compare this cost to how much you will not be spending on electricity and gasoline. Do the research. My numbers are from a few years ago when I researched this, and from 1999 when my friend actually DID the conversion. If the materials cost is less today, then the payback time to get to the break-even point will be that much less and you actually are adding money to your bank balance instead of paying off debt. The same applies to longer lived panels and batteries giving you a longer time before they need replacement. You help the environment a little NOW but you save nothing until the break-even point and only then do you incur a substantial saving. This process, the research, determining the benefit gained in return for the money spent is simply a cost-benefit analysis.