While driving an electric car is reducing our carbon footprint, we are also reducing our greenhouse emissions by using solar power to charge our new Chevy Volt.

We'd like to take a moment to introduce the newest member of the AMECO Solar team…our Chevy Volt!

The bright and bold design — done by Iconography Studios over in Los Alamitos — highlights the fact that our brand new electric car is powered by solar energy.

Each evening, we plug in the electric car so that it can refuel with clean, renewable energy that has been produced from our solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. After a full night of charging, the Chevy Volt has sufficient energy to go anywhere from 40 to 100 miles on solar power alone. That's more than enough for a short commute to the office and a few visits to our installation sites.

Similar to solar rebates and incentives, you receive money back from the state and federal government when you purchase an electric car. The California state government offers a $1,500 rebate for plug-in electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt, and the federal government offers a tax credit of up to $7,500. Added together, these rebates reduced the price tag of our electric car by $9,000.

But that's not all! We're saving even more money each month by fueling with solar power instead of gas or electricity from the utility company.

Let's say, on average we drive about 1,000 miles a month.

If we were driving a car that gets 25 MPG with gas currently at a record high of $4.32 a gallon (ouch), then we would spend $172.80 a month to refuel with gas.

If we were driving our Chevy Volt that gets 2.7 kilowatts per hour with electricity currently at an average of about $0.20 per kilowatt, then we would spend $74.07 a month to refuel with electricity from the utility company.

But, by driving our Chevy volt with energy generated from our AMECO Solar-installed solar panels, we will spend $0 to refuel with solar power. Saving us up to $2,000 a year!

While driving an electric car is already reducing our carbon footprint, we are reducing our greenhouse emissions even more by using solar power to charge our new Chevy Volt. And that's saying a lot for a car owner driving around Los Angeles and Orange County.

If you are interested in adding solar panels to offset the energy usage of your electric vehicle, contact us by calling (888)595-9570 or going to the AMECO Solar's - website www.solarexpert.com