Buying an electric vehicle (EV) and installing solar panels are two great ways to reduce your carbon emissions and make your home more sustainable. And, as this analysis explains, they make an even bigger impact together when solar power is used to charge EVs. To find out more about saving emissions and money with solar panels, check out Panasonic's complete solar and storage resources.
As a social media content creator, I spend a lot of time online. In several forums, most of which are frequented by internal combustion engine (ICE) enthusiasts, the electric vehicle (EV) is seen as a threat to car culture. Group participants are inundated by a constant stream of anti-electric vehicle memes eliciting stirring responses from EV opponents.
There are often hundreds of comments, most of which argue that EVs are not environmentally friendly and go as far as claiming that EVs are worse for the environment than ICE vehicles.
A frequent claim is that EVs run on coal. This is a particularly damning claim as coal is universally recognized as one of the most environmentally irresponsible forms of energy. Allegations EVs are powered by coal also serve to refute EV zero-emissions claims and seek to portray EV proponents as uninformed, or worse.
Curious about the validity of these claims, I sought to identify states with the highest percentage of EV ownership per capita and reveal the sources of energy used to charge EVs.
As of March 2023, about 4% of Americans own an EV. Of those EV owners, about one-third have homes fitted with photovoltaic (PV) solar systems and charge their EVs at home.
In California (the number one EV ownership state), nearly 40% of EV owners have home PV systems. PV solar system owners are also three times more likely to also own an electric vehicle. The remaining two-thirds of EV owners, or approximately .026% of the American population, charge their EVs from the public electrical grid.
The top 10 states for EV ownership are California, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Nevada, Arizona, and New Jersey. The following table outlines the sources of energy for the above-referenced states:
Primary energy sources of top 10 EV ownership states
The results demonstrate the clear relationship between electric vehicles and solar power with over 38% of EVs being charged by a combination of home and public photovoltaic charging systems. Natural gas is used to charge 21.96% of EVs, hydropower is 11.88%, and nuclear is 6.07%.
The claim EVs run on coal is partially true, but it’s a colossal exaggeration. In the top 10 EV ownership states outlined here, coal only accounts for 5.20% of the energy used by electric vehicles.
States with the greatest percentage of EV ownership are also among the states with the cleanest sources of energy and the highest use of renewables.
While we’re early in the transition to an EV-dominant future, it appears the adoption of home PV systems might possibly keep pace with EV ownership. Necessary upgrades to our electrical grid may not need to be as expansive as opponents suggest. The duo of EVs in combination with PV systems may do more than eliminate tailpipe emissions; they may reduce demand on our power plants.
States with the greatest number of electric vehicles per 1,000 people (per capita) and their respective top 5 sources of energy:
California (27.55% EV ownership per capita)
Natural gas: 49% of total energy
Solar: 17.4% of total energy
Nuclear: 8.4% of total energy
Wind: 7.9% of total energy
Hydro: 7.2% of total energy
Hawaii (15.43% EV ownership per capita)
Petroleum: 65.4% of total energy
Coal: 11.8% of total energy
Wind: 7.3% of total energy
Biomass and other: 6.8% of total energy
Solar: 5.7% of total energy
Washington (14.5% EV ownership per capita)
Hydro: 64.6% of total energy
Natural gas: 14.5% of total energy
Wind: 8.7% of total energy
Nuclear: 7.8% of total energy
Coal: 2.9% of total energy.
Oregon (13.88% EV ownership per capita)
Hydro: 46.4% of total energy
Natural gas: 33.3% of total energy
Wind: 15.7% of total energy
Solar: 2.5% of total energy
Biomass and other: 1.7% of total energy
Vermont (12.55% EV ownership per capita)
Hydro: 50% of total energy
Biomass: 25.2% of total energy
Wind: 15.7% of total energy
Solar: 8.8% of total energy
Petroleum: 0.2% of total energy
Colorado (11.84% EV ownership per capita)
Coal: 41.6% of total energy
Wind: 26.5% of total energy
Natural gas: 25.5% of total energy
Solar: 3.1% of total energy
Hydro: 2.8% of total energy
District of Columbia (11.57% EV ownership per capita)
Natural gas: 62.5% of total energy
Biomass: 26.5% of total energy
Solar: 11.9% of total energy
Nevada (10.38% EV ownership per capita)
Natural gas: 52.5% of total energy
Solar: 15.9% of total energy
Geothermal: 9.4% of total energy
Coal: 6.6% of total energy
Hydro: 4.7% of total energy
Arizona (9.86% EV ownership per capita)
Natural gas: 44.4% of total energy
Nuclear: 29.1% of total energy
Coal: 13.2% of total energy
Solar: 6.2% of total energy
Hydro: 5.4% of total energy
New Jersey (9.80 percent EV ownership per capita)
Natural gas: 47.8% of total energy
Nuclear: 45.8% of total energy
Solar: 2.5% of total energy
Biomass: 2.3% of total energy
Coal: 1.7% of total energy
Pie chart: John Berg, Tables: John Berg
Energy data was obtained from the websites of the following: Gallup (March 1-23, 2023 poll), Department of Energy, EPA, Inside EVs, NEI.org, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Cleantechnici.com.
This article was written by John Berg from The Weekly Driver and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive Content Marketplace. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.