Why no one is talking about cheap solar panels helping people to transition to EVs?
When we talk about electric cars, the conversation typically drift towards how this new technology will help us save the environment and while this is certainly a noble cause that we can all support, the reality is that not many people think about trees when they are buying a car.
Most people step into a car showroom with a lot of trepidation because they don't really like the idea of spending so much money on something that they don't really like. Obviously it is nice to own a car but it takes up so much money every week and every month to run and maintain a car.
The nice thing about owning a car that everyone can agree is that it gives us a very convenient way to move around to wherever we want to go at any time we want to move. Most people who buy cars don't really want a car at all, what they want is a mode of transportation.
While cars are fantastic, everyone hates buying petrol and if there was a way to make it that expenditure go away, many people would take the plunge.
Solar powered electricity is the answer.
While the price of solar panels coming out of factories in China have fallen off the cliff, the cost reduction is yet to make it into our realm but it is a matter of time someone on tiktok or some other social media starts advertising cheap solar installation.
As it stands now a solar panel installation of 7.5kW will set us back roughly RM25,000, which is a very pretty penny and it would require some thinking and a calculator to figure out if it would make sense.
Let's use a hypothetical example of someone with a young family of two children and runs a two car household, a Perodua Myvi and maybe a Proton X50.
It is likely that the household will have an electricity bill in the region of RM150-RM170 a month if they are careful and nearly RM200 a month if they are trigger happy with the air conditioning. This works out to them consuming and estimate 300kWh of electrons a month.
Let's say they decide to put one foot in the EV world and sell the Myvi and buy a BYD Dolphin or an MG4. I am suggesting they sell the Myvi because most people are still not too keen to travel long distances with electric cars and of the two cars in their garage, the X50 is the one they are likely to take on road trips.
Assuming that on average they travel about 2,000km per month or about 70km per day, which is smack in the middle of the Malaysian average, and further assuming that the Dolphin returns roughly 6km for every kWh of electricity then they would need about 330kWh of juice every month to run the car.
That would double their electricity consumption to about 550kWh to 600kWh per month, which should bring their bill to between RM350 and RM400.
If they typically fill their Myvi with RON95 dino juice every week and it costs them about RM80 to RM100 every week, the EV already offers them savings of nearly RM200 per month but now they have an option of further reducing their expenditure.
They decide to apply for Net Energy Metering scheme for domestic solar installation.
So they install 7.5kWh first and see that on a daily basis, when solar is producing maximum power for about four hours a day and decent output for the rest of the day from 10 am to 4pm, the sun pumps about 30kWh to 45kWh every day.
Which means their roof will generate between 900kWh and 1300kWh every month and suddenly they will have excess power of at least so much excess kWh every month and thanks to the net metering, their bill is now either zero or a small negative.
Although they are producing so much power the purchase agreement with TNB means that their selling price is about a third of what they pay to TNB for electricity and since the metering works with TNB working out how much you owe them first, then deducting what you generate, your bill vanishes when your solar generates about three times more power than you use.
This might be a little infuriating but that is the state of things right now.
Be that as it may, you can easily imagine the family thinking about installing another 7.5kWh on the roof to take up their maximum allocation and buying a second electric car and see their energy bill vanish completely.
Two electric cars will need about RM800 to RM1,000 per month worth of petrol or RM10K to RM12K per year and if you consider the cost of 15kWh of solar to be between RM40K and RM50K, then you the cars will pay back the investment in about five years.
If you consider the RM200 monthly electric bill, then thetime period shriks to about four years.
Given that solar panels are guaranteed for 25 years, the best place to invest RM50K of your money right now, or a bit more if you have alarge home and more cars is in solar panels.
Tell me I'm wrong.