EV Ownership + Rooftop Solar Ownership — New Report & Charts


Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

We were curious whether EV ownership/leasing correlated with rooftop solar panel ownership, and also whether driving an EV encouraged people to drive more efficiently or even conserve energy more at home, so we surveyed thousands of EV owners. Guess what the results were.

For years, it has been common for businesses, consumers, and environmental activists to link electric vehicles with solar power. In these 2019 surveys, our data again showed that many EV drivers do indeed have rooftop solar power, with more than 30% or even 40% of EV drivers in many of the surveyed countries and EV groups indicating they had rooftop solar.

The group with the highest share was Tesla drivers in the UK (52% of EV drivers had rooftop solar) while the group with the lowest share was plug-in hybrid drivers in North America (just under 32%). In general, a few percent of Brits have solar power and less than 1% of Americans do.

We also asked again whether having an electric car encouraged drivers to save energy while driving (beyond the huge efficiency boost you get inherently from driving electric). As you can see in the charts above, a large majority of drivers said it did, and a decent portion of the respondents were unsure of the connection.

Similarly, we asked if having an electric car encouraged drivers to conserve energy at home. A little more than half of respondents said it did. A bit less than half said it didn’t. Some were unsure of the connection.

Related articles:

The article above is a segment of our new report, Electric Car Drivers: Demands, Desires & Dreams (2019).

CATL and Volta generously sponsored this report. However, they did not have any influence over what was written in the report. Here’s a bit more about these two EV-related companies:

CATL EV Batteries LogoContemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (“CATL”) is a global leader in the development and manufacturing of lithium-ion power and energy storage batteries, with businesses covering R&D, manufacturing and sales in battery systems for new energy vehicles and energy storage systems. In 2018, the company’s sales reached 21.31 GWh worldwide, which was leading in the world (according to SNE Research).

Volta Charging LogoFounded in 2010 out of a passion for advancing transportation, Volta has mastered the art and science of developing cutting-edge electric vehicle charging networks. Volta is accelerating the electric vehicle movement by providing seamless, simple, and free charging experiences. Thoughtfully located along the paths of our busy lives, Volta chargers are the most used in the industry. With the support of forward-thinking brand partners, Volta delivers free charging solutions to real estate owners, power to the electric vehicle community, and impactful brand stories to everyone.


Sign up for CleanTechnica's Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott's in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and follow us on Google News!
Advertisement
 
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week if daily is too frequent.

CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

CleanTechnica's Comment Policy


Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about electric vehicles and renewable energy at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.

Zachary Shahan has 9039 posts and counting. See all posts by Zachary Shahan