Let's say with a combo of solar and wind with a home battery bank, a typical home with a 4kW generating capacity could on average generate 2 kWh or operate at 50% capacity for 20 hours out of 24.
The average home powering a small EV would use around 10,000 kWh/year, less if heated by a heat pump and with an efficient water heater. So, you would only need to produce around 2 kWh for 20 hours a day with a small solar/wind turbine combo to be completely energy independent with a good home battery bank. There are a lot of single-family homes in America that could do this and reduce grid demand significantly while having free energy for 90% of their transportation and all of their home use. The balance between wind and solar would depend on location and climate, but between the two most homes could squeeze a consistent 2kW out of a combo of wind and solar. With cheap home battery banks and EVs, more than oil and gas companies will feel consumer competition, utilities will too. Home generation will only become cheaper and more feasible with cheap solar panels and batteries, the addition of EV charging from home will add an incentive for many.
The most popular electric vehicles can use about as much electricity as some home appliances. Here’s how appliances and EVs compare.
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The two most electricity-demanding appliances in the average American household are water heaters and electric furnaces, according to the
U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey. The average home uses a little more than 3,000 kWh of electricity each year on heating the air, and another 3,000 kWh on heating water, meaning an electric car would require at least a little more electricity than it takes to run each of these appliances in the average U.S. home.
But one reason why this claim needs context is because not all appliances are created equal. There are some appliances that use more electricity than many electric vehicles.