(Last modified on March 3rd, 2025.)
Have you thought about driving on sunshine? The City of Santa Barbara has rolled out an Electric Vehicle charger installation rebate that makes residential EV charging more accessible than ever!
Adding an Electric Vehicle charger to your solar home should be done by a licensed electrician and requires a little planning. One of the first things Sun Pacific Solar Electric needs to evaluate is the state of your electrical service and whether it can accommodate the additional load for the charger. If your electric service cannot accommodate the extra load, we would need to do a service upgrade. (If this upgrade is done in conjunction with the addition of solar panels (to cover your EV milage for example), it qualifies for the 30% federal tax credit.)
Secondly, we need to establish how much solar you would need to add to cover your car’s charging needs. This mainly depends on your driving habits, so we would set a meeting to establish how much you drive your car on average, if you commute, how far, and how many days per week. Generally, 2kW of solar will get you about 35 – 40 miles per day. The average electric car charger uses 30 amps at 240 volts or about the same as an electric clothes dryer, though they can use up to 90 amps at 240 volts depending on the vehicle and recommended charger.
Then, depending on the vehicle and the type of charger, we run a conduit to the service panel and install the EV charger at the most convenient and accessible location for you.
Get in touch with us if you want to discuss an EV installation for your home!
For a map of Electric Vehicle charging stations in the Santa Barbara area and beyond, PlugShare is a great resource.
