Solar Powered, Off-grid EV Charging in Montana

The electric heater in my office is humming while outside it is 20 degrees F and our 2017 Chevy Volt is charging up from the solar electric panels on our site. In the 30 years we have operated Sage Mountain Center – our off-grid home and retreat center – we have always known there was a missing link in our sustainable lifestyle: clean transportation. We have organic and permaculture gardens, straw bale and cordwood buildings, solar heated hot water, recycled and re-purposed everything, and have even nurtured two Toyota Priuses (Prii) to more than 300,000 miles each. However, we have been unable to move our transportation to be fully powered by renewables. Like everyone, we’ve always had to go to the gas station because there was no other practical alternative to our remote transportation needs. Until recently, solar was too expensive, electric car technology was primitive and the mileage range of plug-in hybrids was too short for the big state of Montana. Things have changed.

by Christopher Borton, Co-founder and Director of the Sage Mountain Center