See if your roof is a good solar candidate
— and what it'd shave off your charging bill.
Enter your address. We'll pull real satellite imagery, grade your rooftop, and show how much solar would cut the electric bill you're already paying to charge at home.
Powered by Google Solar API + state utility incentive data
6 things every EV owner should know before going solar
You already made the biggest switch. Here's how solar actually stacks on top — and when it doesn't.
Your EV already makes solar more valuable
The average U.S. home bought about 899 kWh a month in 2022 (EIA). At our default 12,000 miles a year, the median EV on sale adds about 350 kWh a month, so more of what your panels make is used at home, offsetting your retail rate. (Adding a Level 2 charger? Check if your panel can handle it — solar+EV+charger together can push older 100A panels past their limit.)
Net metering is your free EV battery
You don't need a home battery (about $10,740 for 10 kWh at EnergySage's H2 2025 average price) to charge overnight. With net metering, your daytime solar pushes to the grid and you pull cheap power back when you plug in at night. The grid acts as your free battery — except in California's NEM 3.0, where the math changes.
Financing matters more than ever in 2026
The 30% residential solar credit (Section 25D) expired Dec 31, 2025. Cash and loan buyers get no federal credit in 2026+. But third-party owners (PPA and lease) can still claim the commercial 48E credit on systems placed in service by Dec 31, 2027, so get a PPA quote and compare it with cash in the calculator.
Check if your utility has an EV TOU plan
Many utilities offer EV time-of-use rates that price overnight charging below their standard rate; how far below varies by utility, so check your own tariff. Pair TOU with solar and you're producing at peak rate, charging at off-peak rate, and arbitraging the spread. Toggle the TOU option in the calculator to model it.
How much solar an EV needs
At our default 12,000 miles a year (about 33 a day), the median EV on sale needs about 12 kWh of charging a day. How many panels that takes depends on your roof's sun, which the calculator reads from satellite data and sizes to your home plus EV load.
Owned solar can add to your home's value
A Berkeley Lab study of 22,822 home sales in eight states (2002–2013, published 2015) found buyers paid about $4 per watt for host-owned solar: about $15,000 for the average 3.6 kW system then. The data predate today's prices and system sizes, and leased or PPA systems were not what it measured. Some states also exempt solar's added value from property tax; check your state's rules.
Best states for EV + solar in 2026
Where the incentive stack, electricity rates, and sunshine hours line up best.
California
Among the highest gas prices in the country, so every mile moved to sunshine counts. NEM 3.0 credits exported solar at avoided-cost rates, not retail: pair panels with TOU rates and a battery to use more of your own power.
Texas
Strong sun, but no statewide net metering: what your retail provider pays for exported solar decides the payback, so compare buyback plans before you install.
Arizona
The sunniest state on this list in NREL's PVWatts data. Ask APS or SRP about an EV time-of-use rate to pair with rooftop solar.
Florida
Hurricane-prone, so solar with a battery adds backup power. There is no state solar tax credit, but FPL still offers net metering.
New York
New York's solar equipment tax credit covers 25% of the cost, up to $5,000, and the Drive Clean Rebate takes up to $2,000 off an EV. The 30% federal solar credit is gone for systems placed in service after 2025.
Massachusetts
High electricity rates make every kWh of self-generation valuable. SMART 3.0 adds a production incentive on top: $0.03/kWh for most home systems in 2026, $0.06 for low-income households.
New Jersey
With Charge Up NJ reopened for FY27 (up to $4,000 income-qualified), the EV side is funded again — and SREC-IIs under the state's ADI program add cash flow on the solar side ($77/MWh for home systems registered from July 27, 2026).
Colorado
Colorado's EV credit phased down to $750 for 2026 ($2,500 more under a $35k MSRP). Xcel's 2026 Solar*Rewards residential offering is limited to income-qualified households and Disproportionately Impacted Communities, so most homes lean on net metering.
*Full-sun hours a year on a south-facing 20° roof in each state's largest city, from NREL's PVWatts v8 (NSRDB typical-year weather), read September 2026. Electricity rates and gas prices come from EIA (gas is a regional average where EIA publishes no state figure). Your own roof can differ a lot; the calculator above measures it.
Frequently asked questions
Is my house a good candidate for solar?
I already drive an EV. How much would solar save me on charging?
How long does solar take to pay back for an EV owner?
Do I need a home battery to pair with my EV and solar?
Is the federal solar tax credit still available in 2026?
How does this calculator grade my rooftop?
How we calculate every number on this page
Rooftop solar potential: Google Solar API (Building Insights) when high-quality imagery is available, else NREL PVWatts v8 with NSRDB weather data. Installed cost is $2.49/W: EnergySage's marketplace price for H2 2025, from its Home Electrification Marketplace Report #22 (February 2026).
Electricity & gas prices: Live national averages from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). You can override with your local rate using the sliders.
EV consumption & maintenance: 2.9 mi/kWh (35 kWh/100 mi), the median rated efficiency of the EVs on sale in our database. By default 85% of charging happens at home: that is our assumption, and you can change it (the Department of Energy says most drivers charge at home but publishes no share). The rest is priced as public charging at $0.54/kWh, the U.S. average DC fast-charging price ($0.40–0.65/kWh in most states; Paren and DCFC Tracker). The gas car it compares against gets 28 mpg, the figure AAA's 2026 medium-sedan fuel costs imply, and the default 12,000 miles a year is an assumption, not a statistic. Maintenance, repairs and tires: 12.2¢/mi for a gas car vs 10.7¢/mi for an EV, from AAA Your Driving Costs 2026's medium-sedan averages.
Net metering: Traditional retail net metering assumed by default. California addresses use NEM 3.0 logic: surplus is credited at the CPUC's avoided-cost values, which vary by utility, month and hour, not at retail. We assume an average export credit of $0.06/kWh and that 35% of output is used as it's made (90% with a battery). Those three are our assumptions, not published averages. A 10 kWh battery (an assumed size) is priced at EnergySage's H2 2025 marketplace average of $1,074/kWh: $10,740.
Lifetime projection: 25-year panel lifetime. 0.5% annual degradation, the low end of the 0.5–0.6%/yr median NREL found for silicon panels (Jordan et al., Progress in Photovoltaics, 2016). 2.4% annual electricity inflation: the growth of EIA's U.S. average residential price from 1995 to 2025 (over 1975–2025 it was 3.25%). The 30% residential solar tax credit (Section 25D) expired Dec 31, 2025 and is not applied to cash/loan purchases in 2026+. PPA pricing uses the rate you enter (your utility rate until you do) and an assumed 2%/yr escalator.
This tool produces estimates only — actual savings depend on installer pricing, roof condition, shading, your state's net metering policy, and weather variability. Always get multiple quotes before buying.
Last updated: September 2026. Assumptions re-verified quarterly — cost-per-watt from EnergySage's marketplace report, electricity and gas prices from EIA live averages, tax credit status reflects the One Big Beautiful Bill (Section 25D residential credit expired Dec 31, 2025; unused 2025 Section 25D amounts may still be carried forward). A third-party owner (PPA or lease) can still claim the commercial Section 48E credit on a system whose construction began by July 4, 2026, or, for one begun after that, only if it is placed in service by December 31, 2027 (One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as described in IRS Notice 2025-42).
Solar for EV owners — why the math is better than you think
If you already drive electric, you made the single biggest fuel-cost cut a household can make. Solar is the natural next step: it takes the electric bill you're already paying to charge and offsets part or all of it. And because an EV adds load, more of what your panels produce is used at home, where it offsets your retail rate: at our default 12,000 miles a year, the median EV on sale adds about 4,200 kWh a year.
Is your house a good solar candidate?
Four factors drive the answer: usable roof area, sun hours, imagery quality (shading and tilt), and your state's incentive stack. Instead of making you guess, the calculator above pulls real satellite imagery of your specific roof and grades all four — then gives you a single verdict (Excellent, Good, Fair, or Marginal) before showing any dollar math. That's the honest question most EV owners are trying to answer.
How much will solar actually save on your charging bill?
Charging the median EV on sale for 12,000 miles a year takes about 4,200 kWh, about $769 at the U.S. average residential rate (18.3¢/kWh, EIA). How much of that, and of the rest of your bill, solar offsets depends on your roof and your state's net metering rules. In California (NEM 3.0), surplus exports earn avoided-cost credits rather than retail, so pairing with a home battery matters more. In states with full retail net metering, you can skip the battery and use the grid as your free overnight storage for the EV.
What happened to the 30% federal solar tax credit?
The 30% residential solar credit (IRS Section 25D) expired on December 31, 2025 under the One Big Beautiful Bill. Cash and loan purchases of residential solar installed in 2026+ receive no direct federal credit. Systems placed in service before Dec 31, 2025 can still claim the credit on their 2025 tax return.
The credit is still available indirectly. A third-party owner (PPA or lease) can still claim the commercial Section 48E credit on a system whose construction began by July 4, 2026, or, for one begun after that, only if it is placed in service by December 31, 2027 (One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as described in IRS Notice 2025-42). How much of that value reaches you through the PPA rate is up to the provider, so model both a PPA quote and cash in the calculator above.
State and utility incentives stack on top
Beyond the expired federal credit, some states still add their own. New York's solar equipment tax credit covers 25% of what you spend, up to $5,000. Massachusetts pays a per-kWh production incentive through its SMART program. Illinois Shines buys 15 years of a home system's renewable energy credits, but it pays the program's Approved Vendor on your project, which decides how much to pass on to you, and it pays early rather than over those 15 years: in full at hookup, or half at hookup and the rest over six years for projects approved since June 1, 2026.
In Colorado, the state EV tax credit is $750 for 2026 (it was $5,000 in 2024), with $2,500 more for a car whose MSRP is under $35,000, and Xcel's 2026 Solar*Rewards residential offering is open only to income-qualified households and Disproportionately Impacted Communities. Amounts and eligibility change, so confirm with each program before you sign — the state spotlight above compares the leading states.
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