Day 234

When we had the solar panels installed, we were looking to the future. 

Well the future is now.

When we had our solar panel design put together, we looked at about a year’s worth of energy bills to better understand our current usage. We also discussed what our future usage would be in order to create a system that would best fit our needs without overspending and over-installing. 

One of the biggest factors that played into the system we purchased was the fact that we wanted to replace one of our vehicles with an electric one. However, purchasing an electric vehicle (EV) was tough because it was quite unconventional. Normally, we do our research, head to the dealer, test drive some cars, do more research, and crunch some numbers before deciding on a car to buy. With the EV, there was no car to test drive. Similar to ordering food from a menu, we had to “put together” our car from a  menu of online options and make decisions, sight and feel unseen. We ordered the EV before the solar panels were even installed because we knew it would take approximately a year or so before the EV would be in our driveway. Though we got somewhat regular updates from our dealership, we were still somewhat in the dark when it came to our EV because it was being built far from home and we wouldn't see it until we picked it up. This was extremely nerve-wracking, especially considering how much of a financial investment an EV was to our already strained finances.

When we did get the call that our car was ready, we headed to pick it up and had a pretty major problem right away. Apparently, we did not order an electric charger when we ordered the car. So, while we could drive the car home, we couldn't charge it once we got it there. Though we don't prefer using Amazon if we don’t have to, we were able to do some quick homework and have one dropped off within a few days. In a weird turn of events, once the charger arrived, we didn't have an EV needing to be charged.