ERG4ALL said:
Yanquetino's as yet undetermined driving habits may negate the precision with which the wall-to-wheel accuracy was used.
Well... to clarify, my intent was to install sufficient solar to power our home as well as an EV someday. Whether or not my 'guess'timates prove accurate remains to be seen.
There were many unknown variables at the time. We had just built this new home, and had thus never yet been able to determine our average kWh per day. We had averaged about 31 kWh per day in our other home for the last 6 years, but it is in a colder climate, so I assumed we'd run more air conditioning in this slightly larger home in the desert. On the other hand, the other home was not as well built and insulated, with many more windows, so perhaps the difference would be a wash...?
And happily, I have learned so far that, in fact, we have, indeed, been averaging 31 kWh per day. That average will likely continue to drop as we finish off the year, since we now are past the air conditioning season. Of course, we'll also be burning more lights at night, with fewer hours of sunlight. As for the solar production, our average so far is about 39 kWh per day.
If those averages hold steady, that's about 8 kWh surplus x 365 days = 2,920 extra kWh per year beyond what we need for the home. That might allow me to drive...
At 4.7 miles/kWh = 13,724 miles per year.
At 3.9 miles/kWh = 11,388 miles per year.
At 2.9 miles/kWh = 8,468 miles per year.
I seriously doubt we will be driving our Leaf that many miles per year, as we now work at home and only drive for errands, shopping, etc. We'll keep our "workhorse" Subaru for any long distance trips and towing our small sailboat.
So... it just might be that I projected correctly by installing in an 8,280 watt solar array. Hope so!