The Solar Tax Credit Is Gone. Here’s What Comes Next
July 11, 2025The Benefits of Combining EV Charging with Solar and Storage
Despite recent setbacks, the renewable energy industry continues to grow. Technological innovations are making clean energy more accessible and widespread, and now major companies like Tesla, Enphase, and SolarEdge are creating their own energy ecosystems that seamlessly integrate solar, storage, and EV charging. Combining these three components is the logical next step in the world of clean energy, offering financial, practical, and environmental benefits for homeowners, businesses, utility companies, and the planet.
Financial Benefits
There are many reasons why adopting clean energy is the way of the future, but the one question that always seems to come up is: will this save me money? Yes, what we do to preserve and protect the environment and stave off climate change is of utmost importance, but on an individual basis, homeowners just want to do what makes sense for their pocketbooks. Thankfully, when switching to clean energy, you won’t have to choose between the two. On their own, solar, battery storage, and EVs each provide financial savings. When combined into a single ecosystem, they make your home even more energy efficient, thereby saving you even more money.
Solar panels generate electricity for your home as long as the sun is shining, helping to slash your monthly utility bills. When paired with a battery, you can utilize that power more efficiently by storing and saving it for later use, thus maximizing your energy and your savings. Charging an electric vehicle is cheaper than filling up a tank of gas, though it can still be costly if you are relying entirely on the grid and public charging stations. But when combined with solar and battery storage, you once again increase your energy efficiency and stretch your dollar even further. As you can see, combining these three components – solar, battery, and EV charging – results in an efficient and cost-effective energy ecosystem. This is especially true as utility costs continue to rise.
Additionally, with government incentive programs and rebates, you can save significant money on your installation. While the future of many of these incentives is uncertain, and with the Federal Solar Tax Incentive Credit expiring at the end of this year, there’s still time to claim many of these incentives if you act fast.
Grid Independence
In addition to financial benefits, homeowners like the independence that going solar gives them. When you are dependent on the grid, you are at the mercy of their pricing. If costs go up, there’s nothing you can do about it. When you go solar, you become free of these cost increases, especially when your system includes a battery. This grid independence also means that you can avoid power outages – when the grid goes down, your battery can provide your home with backup power to keep the lights on and power any other appliances you need. If you have an EV, a blackout can keep you stranded at home, unable to charge your car. But with an ecosystem of solar panels, batteries, and EV charging, you’ll be able to keep your car charged even when the grid goes down. Additionally, being grid-independent actually helps utilities by lowering demand and stress on the grid.
Environmental Benefits
While it’s admittedly the least exciting benefit and the one that may not affect you directly, the most important reason for combining solar, storage and EV charging together is its positive impact on the environment. You won’t notice it in the same way you’ll notice the increases in your bank account, or how your house keeps humming during a power outage. But in the long run, protecting the planet and doing your part to reduce your carbon footprint is what matters most. Driving an electric vehicle reduces your carbon footprint, as does using solar panels and a battery to power your home, as you’ll be cutting down your emissions from both home and transportation use. Combining them all together into an extremely efficient power ecosystem goes a long way toward reducing the amount of carbon emissions released on your behalf.
Top Brands Offering Solar, Battery, and EV Ecosystems
Many top brands are already starting to develop their own self-sustaining solar, battery, and EV charging ecosystems. Three of the main players include Tesla, Enphase, and SolarEdge. Additionally, World4Solar has taken a slightly different approach with a unique solar carport.
Tesla
Tesla continues to be one of the biggest names in the industry. While the company is widely known for its EVs, they’ve branched out into other areas of renewable energy, developing a full home ecosystem that includes its electric vehicles at the center.
The Tesla Powerwall remains a top home battery, and they offer two options for going solar with their standard solar panels and their Solar Roof shingles. The Tesla Wall Connector provides easy EV charging, and tying the entire system together is the Tesla app, which allows for easy system monitoring.
Enphase
While Enphase does not manufacture their own solar panels, their technology can still be found everywhere in a home energy system. Their Enphase IQ8 Microinverters act as the main junction points between your solar panels and your home’s electrical panel, working seamlessly with energy storage systems and allowing homeowners to more easily install and use batteries together with their solar panels. The Enphase IQ Battery offers modularity and scalability as part of a larger energy ecosystem, their EV IQ Chargers provide universal compatibility, and the Enphase App ties everything together by offering easy access to monitoring for the full system.
SolarEdge
SolarEdge is known for its inverter and power optimizer technology, and also offers a complete home energy ecosystem. Their branded solar panels, Smart Modules, easily integrate with their Power Optimizers for optimal production. They also offer the SolarEdge Home Battery, as well as the SolarEdge Smart EV Charger that integrates with their inverter system to easily allow for solar-powered EV charging. Their entire ecosystem is managed their the mySolarEdge app to give homeowners easy access to monitor their energy usage.
World4Solar
While some companies have developed comprehensive ecosystems that tie multiple components together, World4Solar has taken a slightly different approach by creating the HelioWing, a solar carport with integrated EV charging. The HelioWing is a standalone energy system that functions as an all-in-one solar panel system, energy storage system, and car charging station. It combines flexibly, durability, and efficiency into a single, sleekly designed solar carport. Solar Discovery proudly completed an installation of a HelioWing 5, the first ever solar carport with integrated EV charging in Southern California.
The Future of EV: Bidirectional EV Charging
EVs have long been a major part of the clean energy revolution. Now that they’ve been combined with solar and storage as part of a larger, more comprehensive clean energy strategy, a new form of EV charging is taking shape: bidirectional charging. This new technology allows EVs to send power back to homes, devices, or even the electrical grid, much in the same way battery storage systems already do.
EV charging has traditionally been one-way, with electricity flowing from the grid to your EV, generally via a charger in your garage. Bidirectional charging allows electricity to flow both ways, adding a layer of flexibility and efficiency to your home by essentially turning your EV into an additional backup battery. EV bidirectional charging is growing in popularity and appears to have great potential to be a major part of the future of sustainable energy.
Go Solar with Solar Discovery
Whether you’re looking for a full energy ecosystem or are just curious about the benefits of going solar, Solar Discovery is here to help. With the Solar Tax Credit due to expire at the end of the year, it’s now more important than ever to seriously consider making the switch to solar. Contact us today to learn more and to get started on your clean energy journey.
