If you’re looking at electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles with the environment being as big a factor in the choice as saving at the pump, then Ford’s recent announcement that the Electric Focus will come with a solar charging option will be of definite interest to you.

The home solar charging kit comes courtesy Ford’s partnership with SunPower which will supply the 2.5 kilowatt solar panel system that gets mounted on your rooftop. With weather permitting the system will generate 3,000 kWh of electricity per year which amounts to enough juice to power your Focus across 12,000 miles.

Ford is referring to the option as “Drive Green for Life” as it obviously offsets the potentially environmentally unfriendly methods of power generation that your local power plant may rely on. If your power is coming from coal, as many households in the U.S. do, then this makes you one hell of green driver.

Cost of the Focus solar power package will run you $10,000. So guilt free driving still costs a little more than many would like. Tell us what you think though, is this a viable option for electric cars of the future or an overpriced, dead-end solution?

Fiat has inked a deal with SolarPrint that will see them provided with solar panel systems for upcoming Fiat cars. While these solar panel roofs won’t provide nearly enough juice to power the cars, they will take the burden off of it for the operation of various accessories like the stereo, ventilation, power windows and any other electronic devices.

The Fiat solar panel roofs will cut the burden that the car’s alternator has to deal with and consequently will reduce parasitic losses.

The solar panels will be able to be printed onto all kinds of surfaces including metals and glass. The SolarPrint panels also boast a better than normal silicon ability to absorb and use low light and light from various angles for a net improvement of 20%.