Honda's new EV charger can draw some of its power directly from the sun

While your new EV or plug-in hybrid is surely green, plugging it into the coal-fired grid may not feel so much like winning. Solar energy is a much better story, though, and Honda has just announced a new exterior, wall-mounted plug-in charger that can work directly with such systems. The charger will switch between standard AC and solar according to the amount of power produced by the sun, and even work during a power outage. It'll also allow smart-card metering for commercial installations, tamper-proof locking and smartphone monitoring via WiFi. There's no timeline or pricing for it yet, but for the chance to stick it to big energy? We can't wait.