Referral Partnerships

EV Dealership and Charger-Installer Partnerships: A Newer Solar Referral Channel

Quick answer

NREL research (Sharda et al., 2024, published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews) found that 25% of EV owners also owned a rooftop solar system, compared with just 8% of non-EV owners, a correlation drawn from an 869-household San Francisco Bay Area survey run jointly with UC Santa Barbara and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Two independent trade-press outlets, the American Public Power Association and Solar Builder magazine, each independently confirmed the same 25%/8% figures directly from the study.

The relationship runs stronger from EV ownership toward solar adoption than the reverse, and the researchers point to social proximity as part of the mechanism: knowing a friend or family member who owns either technology makes someone more likely to learn about, and eventually adopt, the other. Neither source discusses EV dealerships or charger installers as an actual referral channel, connecting that correlation to a specific partnership channel is this guide’s own reasonable inference, not a directly sourced claim.

By VA Horizon Team · August 16, 2026 · 6 min read

The Correlation Behind the Idea

NREL researcher Shivam Sharda and coauthors published a 2024 study in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews finding that 25% of EV owners also owned photovoltaic systems, against just 8% of non-EV owners. The study was a joint effort between NREL, UC Santa Barbara, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, funded by the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office, and drew on an 869-household San Francisco Bay Area survey from 2018 with a 2022 follow-up. Baseline ownership in the original 2018 survey was already notable on its own, 9.1% owned or had owned rooftop solar against 6.5% who owned an EV, before the stronger correlation between the two technologies emerged in the fuller analysis.

Untangling Which Direction the Relationship Runs

The correlation is not symmetric. Owning an EV predicts solar ownership more strongly than owning solar predicts EV ownership, per the study’s own framing: “the impact of owning solar panels also has a bearing on whether a homeowner buys an electric vehicle but not as strongly.” That asymmetry matters for a partnership pitch, it suggests an EV purchase is more often the earlier decision in a household’s adoption sequence, with solar following, rather than the reverse.

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The Social-Proximity Mechanism Behind the Correlation

Sharda, quoted directly, names social proximity as part of the explanation: “If you have a friend or a family member who owns a rooftop solar panel or an EV, you become more educated about the technology.” Two independent trade-press outlets, the American Public Power Association and Solar Builder magazine, both fetched and independently confirmed the identical 25%/8% figures from the underlying study, real corroboration even though NREL’s own press release was unreachable in this research session, both secondaries name the same primary study by title and author.

Why This Points at Dealerships and Charger Installers, Specifically

Neither of the two corroborating sources discusses EV dealerships or charger installers as an actual referral channel, that leap is this guide’s own reasonable inference, worth labeling plainly rather than dressing up as a directly sourced finding. If EV ownership correlates with solar ownership and social proximity is part of the mechanism, a dealership or a home charger installer sitting inside a household’s EV-purchase moment is a logical, if unproven, point of contact for that same household’s next likely adoption decision.

What a Partnership Conversation Could Look Like

A home charger installer, standing in a garage or a panel box during a Level 2 charger install, is in a comparable position to the roofer or electrician relationships this vertical already covers elsewhere: a warm, credible touchpoint inside a home that has just made one clean-energy purchase decision. An EV dealership is a step further removed from the home itself but reaches the buyer at the exact moment the correlation data suggests matters most, right after or during the EV purchase decision that the research shows tends to come first.

What Is Not Proven Yet

Worth stating plainly, twice, because it matters: this is a 2018 regional survey with a 2022 follow-up, not a fresh national 2026 study, and no source reached in this research discusses EV dealerships or charger installers as an actual, functioning referral channel with any performance data behind it. The correlation between EV and solar ownership is real and independently corroborated. Whether formalizing a dealership or installer partnership around it actually produces referrals at any particular rate remains genuinely untested.

What this means for you

25% of EV owners also own solar, versus 8% of non-EV owners, per NREL research (Sharda et al., 2024), independently corroborated by two separate trade-press outlets naming the same study.
The correlation runs stronger EV-to-solar than solar-to-EV, and the researchers point to social proximity, knowing an EV or solar owner personally, as part of the mechanism.
The underlying survey is 2018 San Francisco Bay Area data with a 2022 follow-up, not a fresh national 2026 study.
No source discusses EV dealerships or charger installers as an actual referral channel; connecting the correlation to that specific partnership idea is this guide’s own inference, not a directly sourced finding.

Sources

The external data in this guide draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.

FAQ

Do EV owners actually buy more solar than non-EV owners?

Yes, per NREL research: 25% of EV owners also owned a rooftop solar system, compared with 8% of non-EV owners, a correlation independently confirmed by two separate trade-press outlets citing the same underlying study.

Does owning solar make someone more likely to buy an EV, or is it the other way around?

The relationship runs stronger from EV ownership toward solar adoption than the reverse, per the study’s own framing, suggesting an EV purchase more often comes first in a household’s clean-energy adoption sequence.

Why would EV dealerships or charger installers be a solar referral channel?

It is a reasonable inference, not a proven one: since EV and solar ownership correlate and social proximity is part of the mechanism researchers point to, a dealership or charger installer already inside a household’s EV-purchase moment is a logical point of contact, though no source has directly tested this as an actual referral channel.

How current is the research behind the EV-solar correlation?

The underlying study surveyed 869 San Francisco Bay Area households in 2018, with a 2022 follow-up, not a fresh national 2026 dataset. Treat it as directionally real, independently corroborated, correlation data, not a current point-in-time market count.

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