Wikipedia: Under its five-cycle testing, the United States Environmental Protection Agency found the Leaf's energy consumption to be 765 kJ/km (34 kWh/100 miles)
This is 340Wh/mile. A 1x1m solar panel in Aberystwyth yields about 200 kWh/year at 20% efficiency (200 / 0.34 = 588 miles). So 6,000 miles a year in a Nissan Leaf would require about 10m2 of solar panels.
The SAP calculator gives a 2.4kWp system for 2,000 kWh/year. At Solarbuzz prices of €3.09 per watt this is about €7.4k for modules, say €14.8k installed. This is about £12.5k at today's exchange rate. With a FIT of 41p/kWh this is an approx 15 year payback. Solarbuzz also shows cheapest module price in Germany of €1.56. Again doubling for installation, this would give about a 7.5 year payback.
Say 12 k to install? So if life was 10 yrs, roughly £1200 per year, or 20p a mile? Or have I got it badly wrong?
ReplyDeleteYes, 20p per mile if no FIT. But with FIT at 41p/kWh, each mile earns 41p * 0.34 kWh/mile, ie 13.9p. You still have to pay retail, say 15p/kWh (mine is 11p) so each mile costs 5.1p gross or MINUS 8.8p net!
ReplyDeleteAnother way to look at is that for the FIT payback period of 12.5 years, the capital cost per mile is zero. And the marginal cost is 5.1p per mile. After that, the surplus kicks in. We are ignoring the cost of the car at £29k - £5k subsidy. I can feel a spreadsheet coming on...
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