We've all witnessed first-hand how in just two decades the internet has digitised industry after industry to deliver an increasingly zero marginal cost society (Marginal cost is the cost of producing an additional unit of a good or service after fixed costs have been absorbed.)
While I don't subscribe to the entire zero marginal cost society thesis, it is a good explanation for the effects that have transformed information industries like media, music & software. The same now applies increasingly to energy. While the fixed costs of the harvesting technologies to generate green electricity are decreasing exponentially, the marginal cost of producing renewable energy is near zero. The sun and the wind are free and only need to be captured and stored.
At a recent shareholder meeting, Elon Musk said Tesla's new solar shingles will cost less than a "normal roof" and the energy would essentially be free. Does this mark the dawn of mass market zero marginal cost mobility? Popular Mechanics recently ran the experiment, powering three electric vehicles with a conventional rooftop PV system. They concluded that buying a rooftop PV system to power your electric vehicle is comparable to prepaying three years worth of gasoline, based on $4/gallon, and never having to pay for it again.
We think the payback time for a retrofitted rooftop PV system can be even shorter! Based on average annual motoring, 15,000 km/year in Australia, a small 1.5 kW PV array (PM used 7.5 kw) could power a typical EV like a Nissan Leaf (114 Wh/km quoted energy consumption) on it's daily commute for 25+ years at an average cost of < $0.004/km.
Eliminating the $240/month a typical household spends on vehicle fuel, a modest rooftop PV system would pay for itself in just 6 months. Ticking the box to have Tesla tiles fitted to your new house eliminates the payback stage altogether. It is effectively a rooftop perpetual fuel pump where the per kilometre cost is zero from day 1.
Combine Tesla's solar shingles and EV powertrain which, irrespective of their "infinite Mile" 8 year warranty, is expected to last well in-excess of a million miles, (true for all EVs) with the ever growing installed base of rooftop PV systems (25% of households in some Australian states) and we could soon see zero marginal cost mobility becoming reality at internet speed, hammering another couple dozen nails in the coffin of ICE cars.
While Fiat Chrysler Automobiles refuses to say how many electric Fiat 500e cars it's sold over the past several years, there are likely more than many people think. We know the number is at least 7,000 from recall notices, for instance. And FCA is continuing with aggressive efforts to sell the little electric three-door hatchback. DON'T MISS... 
Autumn is here, the leaves are changing and as the riding season winds down we continue our annual tradition of discussing what’s new for the Zero Motorcycles lineup of electric motorcycles. This year Zero has a few surprises in store to broaden their bikes' appeal to new riders. There are now 14 configurations of Zero Motorcycles ranging in... 
Which 2017 car set a new record for energy efficiency among passenger vehicles on sale this year? What is Tesla doing on a tiny island way out in the Pacific Ocean? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, November 25, 2016. First, our apologies for not reviewing our... 
It's been over a year since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disclosed Volkswagen's use of illegal "defeat device" software in diesel cars to cheat on emissions tests. But VW had another dirty little secret waiting to come to light. That is its recall rate: cars from its Volkswagen and Audi brands have had the highest rate of recalls... 
In the six years since modern electric cars first went on sale in large numbers, the field has matured significantly. There are now several models that offer at least 100 miles of range, and many are widely available to consumers. That includes the Tesla Model S and Model X, starting at about $70,000, as well as several models that are more... 
The combination of Tesla and SolarCity is already promoting its potential synergies, albeit in a location far away from the mainland United States. The island of Ta'u in American Samoa is located more than 4,000 miles from the U.S. West Coast, and typically relies on imported diesel fuel to generate electricity. With no local sources of fossil... 
Today, we compare the 2017 Chevrolet Volt and 2017 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrids, Mercedes-Benz contemplates the future of diesel cars in the U.S., and nuTonomy plans to test its autonomous Renault Zoe electric car on the streets of Boston. All this and more on Green Car Reports. See how the 2017 Chevrolet Volt and 2017 Toyota Prius Prime... 
The 2017 Ford Focus Electric has been one of last electric cars remaining in the current model year for which we haven't had information. Now Ford has released a few specifications, and a photo of a 2017 Focus Electric window sticker sent by a reader fills in more of the gaps. The good news: after several years with a bottom-of-the-list range of... 
It wasn't even close. When we asked our Twitter followers which electric car they thought would be judged by history as most important thus far, it was a slam-dunk. Fully four out of five survey participants voted for the same vehicle out of the four choices we offered. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model S: Green Car Reports' 2013 Best Car To Buy That car... 
The ongoing Volkswagen diesel scandal continues to affect the U.S. market for diesel cars in a negative way. Diesels have never been as popular in the U.S. as they are in Europe, and models on offer have typically been limited to VW Group brands and a smattering of other German makers. No VW Group brand is currently selling diesels in the U.S... 
The Renault Zoe electric car isn't sold in the U.S., but it will make an appearance on the streets of one U.S. city very soon. The battery-electric subcompact hatchback will serve as an autonomous-driving test bed for nuTonomy, a startup founded by researchers from MIT. The company recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of... 
Efforts by the U.S. Congress to cap the amount of ethanol blended with the U.S. fuel supply appear to be gaining momentum. The current Renewable Fuel Standard, passed as part of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, has proven increasingly unpopular among certain legislators. But ardent support from the renewable-fuels industry and the... 
They're two high-volume plug-in hybrids, but they take different approaches to energy efficiency. The Toyota Prius Prime, new for 2017, is the plug-in version of the world's best-known, and best-selling, hybrid car. The 2017 Chevy Volt was new last year, a greatly improved version of the pioneering range-extended electric car. They're now going... 
Today, we've got Volkswagen stories with and without diesels, some innovative Ioniq Electric marketing in California, and an electric vehicle that truly stinks. All this and more on Green Car Reports. It's rare for carmakers to remove features from new models, but that's exactly what Tesla did last month for the Model S and Model X. We look at... 
When it launched its Phaeton luxury sedan back in 2002, Volkswagen decided that its most opulent car ever should have an equally opulent assembly plant. So it built the "Transparent Factory," a glass-walled plant in Dresden, Germany, that was intended solely to handle Phaeton production. The Phaeton was a vanity project of VW Group's... 
Here's an electric vehicle that really, truly stinks. While automakers are moving in the direction of more electric cars, several companies are also making efforts to electrify commercial vehicles. The humble garbage truck will be the next to be electrified—which, if nothing else, will eliminate the unpleasant noise from huge diesel trucks... 
The 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric will soon go on sale as part of a trio of Ioniq variants that also includes hybrid and plug-in hybrid models. When it arrives in dealerships, Hyundai will face the same challenge other automakers have come to know well: marketing electric cars to an uneducated and sometimes skeptical public. Instead of relying... 
The ongoing diesel scandal means all Volkswagen and Audi TDI models are still absent from U.S. showrooms—and likely will be for some years to come. Even a new TDI diesel model that will be built only in the U.S. won't be sold here. That would be the Volkswagen Atlas TDI, a diesel version of the Atlas 7-seat crossover utility vehicle unveiled... 
Automakers rarely "de-content" their cars, much less take away some of the very features that provide sizzle and PR value. But Tesla's new and more advanced "Hardware 2" electronic driver-assist features on latest cars appear to be a temporary step backwards. Announced last month, Hardware 2 is a new package of sensors for the Autopilot...