Totally agree. Hopefully there's a new battery or energy storage technology coming soon. I'm hoping to one day have a mobile off grid setup. Currently all I have is a portable little 30 watt solar panel, but it's enough to charge a phone if I needed.
I work on a tiny island, Lana'i, in Hawaii...
150 watts x 12 hours/day = 1.8kWh (at $0.14 cents) equals $0.25 per day maximum.
I agree with one of the other posts, that the investment is sensible for power outages. It also allows you to charge batteries away from an outlet.
Regarding charging from a vehicle, there is no "extra"...