Parking spots with roofs are heavily sought-out by electric vehicle charging station providers not just for a shade, but more. They provide an avenue to install solar panels over the roof potentially making the charger independent of the grid. This also balances peak hour energy demand by EVs and decentralizes solar powered EV charging. Here are some examples where parking spaces are being used in the best interests and profits of vehicle owners and charging station providers.
Aviva, with support from the Scottish Government, has launched one of the UK’s largest combined solar carports and energy storage facilities at its Perth office.
- It covers 342 car park spaces and provides 50 electric vehicle charging stations.
- Aviva’s facility will be powered by Tesla Powerpack technology and is expected to contribute to a combined annual carbon emission saving of nearly 400 tonnes, equivalent to powering over 500 homes’ electricity for one year or the equivalent of a small town.
Indian Oil will set up solar-power based electric vehicle (EV) charging stations following its successful study on a “proof of concept “ on “zero emission electric mobility”, a concept that allows the EV to charge using solar power.
- The EV charging system has been designed by Hygge Energy, a start-up incubated by Tech Mahindra, and has three main features — EVs charged with solar power, no upgrades required in grid infrastructure, and improved grid resilience, especially in remote areas. The technology enables intelligent EV charging using hybrid microgrids, created by integrating existing grid infrastructure with solar PV batteries.
Beam Global – EV Arc™ 2020 – A standalone solar powered charging infrastructure.
- The patented EV ARC™ 2020 (Electric Vehicle Autonomous Renewable Charger) is the world’s only transportable but permanent EV charging infrastructure solution. This enables the structure to be installed within minutes and any charger of any manufacturer can be integrated immediately.
- The solar tracking system EnvisonTrakTM technology integrated to this infrastructure increases the generated solar power by 25%.
Aquarion Water Company plans to expand its parking lot at 200 Monroe Turnpike with 12 new spaces, in a project featuring a solar panel roof for its two-story-building and solar panels on a carport.
- The Inland Wetlands Commission unanimously approved the expansion of the parking lot, landscaping and lighting Wednesday night, and the water company received an agent approval for construction of the solar carport, which will cover 23 existing parking spaces.
Cobe – An architectural firm from Denmark manufactures modular canopies made entirely from sustainable materials which would contain EV chargers to provide an aesthetically and environmentally clean place for EV charging.
- The chargers installed would be fast chargers and the canopies being modular can be made into any required size/are.
- The wooden parking stations’ roof can be lined with solar panels to enable solar powered charging.
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See also: Climate Startup Intelligence from CLIMAFIX
