EV driver shares surprising, real-world data after installing solar panels

Are you wondering how much it would cost to charge up your EV if you added a home solar system to your roof? One EV owner did just that. After 14,000 miles of driving, he’s sharing his results online — and the real-world data might surprise you!

Last week, PeakD user KSteem took to the platform’s Solar Energy forum to share the data he’s collected powering his EV — a 2024 Chevy Blazer RS AWD that he’s put more than 14,000 miles on over the last two years — with electrons generated by his home solar system.

“I don’t drive a whole lot of miles compared to some,” writes KSteem, “but the total for the the 2 years is 14,480 miles, or about 7,000 per year. This averaged about 3.4 miles per kWh. I don’t drive softly, or attempt to conserve energy, I like to punch it and feel the acceleration way too much, so you could say these are conservative estimates, lol.”

KSteem estimates that driving similar miles in a vehicle that gets 20 mpg would cost about $2,100 (at $3/gallon), or about $1,400 at 30 mpg — which is right inline with the 22/29 mpg estimates for the ICE-powered Chevy Blazer. His costs, however, were much, much lower: $617.65 at an average price of $0.15/kWh.

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“So as you can see, generally half or one third the cost of gas for the vehicle. However, that’s not all the savings or total ROI, this is what many leave out,” he adds. “Other cost savings occur through not having to oil changes, brake pads lasting years longer due to regenerative braking, no tailpipes to rust out, no mufflers to replace, no spark plugs to foul, no points to tune, no carburetor to tune or jets to clog, no catalytic converters to be stolen or replaced, etc., etc., etc.”

The only maintenance he’s done in the last two years? A tire rotation.

Diving into the data

KSteem used Notebook LM to visualize the data he’s collected, which breaks down the cost of different charging session types on his Autel home unit as well, showing that even a maximum “top-off” charge at Peak Demand rates comes in at under $10, with most of his charging sessions costing less than $2.00.

“You will definitely want a Level 2 charger,” he writes. “I had to install a higher 50 Watt 220volt power breaker in the breaker box and run dedicated line to the Autel charger. This level 2 charger will recharge the battery for about 33 miles per hour of charge. This easily puts me at full charge in the morning, even from empty tank … I get right about 285 miles range from a full charge if driving normally. Only used a public charger once as a test on this vehicle, and only twice in my over 6 years of owning an EV.”

That’s the cost of charging as presented in kWhs and utility rates, but KSteem’s home solar system changes that equation quite a bit.

The solar data

Looking at theyear 2025 as-a-whole, KSteem’s home consumed a total of 27.4 MWh of energy and generated ~17.5 MWh of energy, shaving about $2,300 off his total energy bills and producing about $2,042 more KWh of energy than his Chevy Blazer used that year.

That’s the real benefit of pairing an EV with a home solar system — the ability to make your own fuel, and help set the price of refueling by selecting when you want to charge, when you can. And, for KSteem’s part, he absolutely gets it.

“How much do you spend on gas and oil for your legacy fossil fuel car?” he asks. “I’m loving the avg. $20-$25 per month annual average that I spend in total is less than two oil changes!”

Same, buddy. Absolutely same.

Head over to PeakD to check out more of KSteem’s data and in-depth analysis, as well as more of his work compiling and analyzing his home solar data and energy savings, then let us know if you’ve got your own, similar data to share with us in the comments.

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