SolarCity and Honda Pair up to Drive more Solar Installations

The car busi­ness is famous for incen­tives.  Now Hon­da, one of the first and most inno­v­a­tive EV mak­ers , is team­ing up with SolarCi­ty (NASDAQ: SCTY) on a unique incen­tive to bring low- or no-cost solar to its customers.

Hon­da and Acu­ra deal­ers will now offer their cus­tomers home solar sys­tems at lit­tle to no up front cost.  The com­pa­ny will offer financ­ing through a $65 mil­lion fund it’s set up to get peo­ple start­ed.  Poten­tial cus­tomers get solar for their home with­out hav­ing to fund the up-front start­up costs, and are locked into a month­ly spend that would be less than their cur­rent util­i­ty bills.  SolarCi­ty ben­e­fits by gain­ing access to Hon­da’s rich cur­rent and for­mer cus­tomer data, which includes a bet­ter than fair amount of envi­ron­men­tal­ly-con­scious drivers.

It’s an idea with legs; last week’s announce­ment of the part­ner­ship drew wide acclaim by media, blog­gers and envi­ron­men­tal groups across the coun­try.  A sam­pling of the media follows.

What about you — would you be sur­prised to be offered a solar sys­tem for your home if you were car shop­ping?  Would the offer make you want to learn more?

The New York Times, Home Solar Sys­tems to Be an Option for Hon­da Customers

The Wall Street Jour­nal, Hon­da, SolarCi­ty Arrange $65 Mil­lion Fund For Home Solar-Pan­el Systems
*Also cov­ered by Fox Business

ABC News, Hon­da Gives Free Solar Installations
CBS Mon­ey­Watch, Hon­da, SolarCi­ty raise $65 mln for deal­er­ship, home solar systems

Grist, Hon­da part­ners with SolarCi­ty to sub­si­dize solar pan­els for customers
Reuters, Hon­da, SolarCi­ty raise $65 mln for deal­er­ship, home solar systems
*Also cov­ered by CNBC, CBS News Marketwatch

Bloomberg, SolarCi­ty, Hon­da Estab­lish $65 Mil­lion Project Invest­ment Fund
*Also cov­ered in Businessweek

The San Jose Mer­cury News, Hon­da and Acu­ra own­ers qual­i­fy for $400 dis­count on SolarCi­ty solar systems
*Also cov­ered in Dai­ly Democrat

The San Fran­cis­co Busi­ness Times, Hon­da, SolarCi­ty team up to offer solar to drivers

Forbes, Hon­da, SolarCi­ty Sign $65 Mil­lion Deal To Help Dri­vers Go Solar

NPR’s Car Talk, Hon­da and SolarCi­ty Offer Cut-Rate Elec­tric­i­ty From the Sun–for Car Cus­tomers Only

UPI​.com, Hon­da part­ners with SolarCi­ty, home solar for Hon­da owners

Investor’s Busi­ness Dai­ly,  An Eclipsed Solar Ener­gy Indus­try Sees Day­light Ahead

NBC​News​.com, Hon­da goes solar with $65 mil­lion investment

His​pan​icBusi​ness​.com,  Hon­da, SolarCi­ty to Offer Solar Pow­er Systems

new​jer​seynews​room​.com, Hon­da and SolarCi­ty Team Up To Endorse Solar Energy

Ener­gy Tri­bune, Home Solar Sys­tems to Be an Option for Hon­da Customers

The Dai­ly Voice  Elms­ford’s SolarCi­ty Offers Deal To Hon­da Drivers

Think Progress, Hon­da And SolarCi­ty Part­ner On Low-Cost Home Solar Pow­er Leases

Recharge, SolarCi­ty joins Hon­da for US drive

Seek­ing Alpha, SolarCi­ty Part­ner­ship With Hon­da A Game Changer

The Bal­ti­more Sun, Hon­da offers dri­ver help going solar – at home

Sil­i­con Val­ley Busi­ness Jour­nal, SolarCi­ty launch­es solar invest­ment fund with Hon­da and Acura

MIT Tech­nol­o­gy Review, Care for Home Solar Pan­els with Your Honda?

Media Post, Mar­ket­ing Makes Strange Bedfellows

Detroit Free Busi­ness, Hon­da, SolarCi­ty to offer solar pow­er sys­tems to customers

Hart­ford Busi­ness, SolarCi­ty, Hon­da pro­vide $65M for CT solar

Recharge News, SolarCi­ty joins Hon­da for US drive

Solar Indus­try Mag­a­zine, SolarCi­ty Enters Part­ner­ship With Honda

PV-Mag­a­zine, SolarCi­ty teams up with Hon­da for US customers

PV-Tech, SolarCi­ty and Hon­da part­ner to pro­vide solar power

Morn­ingstar, Hon­da, SolarCi­ty raise $65 mln for deal­er­ship, home solar systems

Hon­da Own­ers Club, Hon­da, Solarci­ty Raise $65 Mln For Deal­er­ship, Home Solar Systems

Busi­ness­Green, Hon­da and SolarCi­ty to dri­ve rooftop solar with $65m fund

Green­tech Media, Solar Finance Inno­va­tions from SolarCi­ty and Honda…