SAN JOSE, Calif. — Electric-car makers and solar manufacturers have long known they share the same potential customers — highly educated and affluent people who are fascinated by technology and care about the environment and energy independence.

SunPower Corp., Silicon Valley’s largest solar manufacturer, and Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday announced a partnership that is a first for the auto and solar industries. Buyers of a Ford Focus Electric, which will hit the California market later this year, will be offered a deeply discounted rooftop solar system from SunPower.

The “Drive Green for Life” program is designed to provide the cars’ owners the opportunity to fuel their vehicles with clean energy and have a carbon-free driving experience.

SunPower will offer a 2.5-kilowatt rooftop system, which should provide enough electricity to fuel an electric car that travels about 1,000 miles per month, for less than $10,000, after the federal tax credit. Typically, SunPower charges at least $18,000 for a system of that size.

“This is a great opportunity to take solar mainstream,” said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. “We’re thrilled to provide electric car owners with a clean source of fuel.”

The 2.5 kilowatt system, which should produce about 3,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually, is enough to power the car, and SunPower hopes customers will add additional solar panels to cover their household energy use.

“This is a win-win for the electric grid,” said Mike Tinskey, Ford director of global vehicle electrification and infrastructure, at a news conference at SunPower’s Richmond, Calif., facility, which once housed the largest Ford plant west of the Mississippi.”

The solar panels are unlikely to power the cars directly; most electric-vehicle owners are expected to charge their cars overnight. So in most cases, the solar power will be fed into the electrical grid to offset the cost of the electricity used to charge the car.

Tinskey said that Ford’s market research and focus groups showed keen interest in renewable energy from potential buyers of its electric car.

“A lot of people said, ‘I really like your vehicle. Is there any option to power it with renewable energy?’” he said.