Tesla announces game-changing new feature for EV owners: ‘[It] maximizes the value of your home’s solar system’

Tesla is the leading manufacturer of electric vehicles, and among many new improvements to its cars, you can now charge your EV with the Charge on Solar feature using excess energy produced by the Tesla solar panels on your house.

These panels can look like a regular roof, but they actually capture and store the sun’s energy, creating a more sustainable energy source while saving people money on energy bills.

Tesla’s solar panels, along with other renewable energy sources, sometimes produce too much energy for a home to use — which is where the Charge on Solar feature comes into play.

Using the feature, EVs are charged with a combination of grid power and excess solar energy, and users control when the car switches from being charged by both to being charged solely with excess energy, Electrek reported. Charging using both is faster if you’re in a pinch, but if not, you can set it to use up as much excess energy as you’d like.

So far, the feature is available to anyone in the U.S. or Canada, but it can only be used with Tesla’s Powerwalls and specific EVs. Over time, this will hopefully expand to include other EVs and renewable power sources.