SunPower and Ford Partner To Offset Energy Used by Electric Vehicles

August 10, 2011 | Email this

What do Ford Motor Company and SunPower have in common? We’re teaming up with Ford to offer Focus Electric and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid owners a solar panel system that will provide electric vehicle owners with enough renewable energy production to offset the energy used for driving. This is the first partnership of its kind that allows Ford vehicle owners to charge their Ford Focus Electric and future Ford electric vehicles using clean solar energy.

With this partnership, Ford Focus Electric owners can purchase a SunPower solar energy system for less than $10,000. Local and state incentives may be available to make this even more affordable. SunPower solar systems deliver guaranteed performance with our industry leading, 25-year performance warranty.

The SunPower solar power systems available in this offer will produce an average of 3,000 kWh of electricity per year. The system was sized to accommodate an electric vehicle owner who drives about 1,000 miles per month. Our high efficiency panels generate more power per square foot than any other solar panel – allowing homeowners greater flexibility to maximize available roof space and increase the size of their system to achieve even greater savings on their electricity bill.

The SunPower-Ford partnership was launched today, August 10, 2011 at SunPower’s Richmond, Calif. facility, which was a former Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant for Model A cars in the 1930’s.

Do you have questions about using solar technology to charge your electric vehicle? At 5:00 p.m. EST/2:00 p.m. PST. today, Ford Associate Director of Global Electrification Infrastructure Mike Tinskey and SunPower’s Ken Fong, general manager of the company’s North American residential and light commercial business unit, will answer your questions on a live chat at: http://www.thefordstory.com/our-articles/cars/focussedan/join-the-live-chat-about-ford-and-solar-energy-leader-sunpower/

To celebrate our partnership, we are giving away three “Join The Solar Revolution” t-shirts. Share this blog post on Facebook and Twitter with a link back to this post to enter. We’ll choose our winners on August 19th.

For additional information on Solar and Electric Vehicles, join the conversation on SunPower’s Facebook page.

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sunpower , ford , ford focus electric , electric vehicle , C-Max Energi , plug-in hybrid , sunpower offer , clean energy

Dartmouth's Big Green Bus to Stop at SunPower's San Jose Offices

August 11, 2011 | Email this

UPDATE: The Big Green Bus will be stopping in front of the SunPower San Jose offices on Thursday August 18, 2011, from 11:00am to 2:00pm.

SunPower, through our Foundation, product donations and volunteerism , gets to work with a number of great nonprofit partners in California, around the USA and world. Our goal is to Make an Impact together with these partners and empower, inspire and motivate a new generation of solar energy leaders in communities around the world. The Dartmouth College's Big Green Bus is a prime example of such a project. The bus has been on tour since June, and is visiting us next week! Help us welcome the Big Green Bus in San Jose!

This project consists of an eco-friendly bus run by thirteen Dartmouth students who strive to educate others on sustainable innovation. The bus is powered by four SunPower solar panels, which provide energy to all the electric appliances, computers, air conditioning and veggie pumps. The bus runs on waste vegetable oil that they get from restaurants from areas that they pass through. The solar panels power the veggie pumps that purify the used vegetable oil in order to turn it into usable fuel for the bus – it’s a very clever way of using renewable energy to generate sustainable fuel, no?

The project has been running since 2005 and this year it is led by 13 students from different majors and years who hail from Hawaii to Maine and who have an interest in sustainability. The bus is a classroom on wheels, enabling students to promote a broad range of sustainability topics from clean energy, transportation, and food to building materials. The Big Green Bus has been successful program educating people from all walks of life in sustainability. They call the bus a vehicle for change.

This year the bus has planned stops in 24 different states, and has already been to 19 states. Although they are two and a half months into their trip, they have many more stops and eight more states to go. See if they are stopping by a city near you.

On Monday August 15, 2011, from 12:30 to 2:30pm, the Big Green Bus will stop by in front of the SunPower Corporate Headquarters in San Jose, CA. If you are in the area we encourage you to stop by. The bus has a little something for everyone from kids to adults. This is the perfect opportunity for you to make the most out of your child’s last days of summer.