New York’s First Solar Powered Electric Vehicle Charging Station

New York City's first solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station was unveiled earlier this month in Brooklyn Bridge Park; a 34 hectare sustainable waterfront park stretching 2 kilometres along Brooklyn's East River shoreline.

New York City’s first solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station was unveiled earlier this month in Brooklyn Bridge Park; a 34 hectare sustainable waterfront park stretching 2 kilometres along Brooklyn’s East River shoreline.

Designed and constructed by renewable energy firm Beautiful Earth, it’s one of the few charging stations powered by the sun in the world – for now. As electric vehicles become more mainstream, solar energy’s role in providing clean, renewable electricity for charging will greatly increase.

Sustainability played a major role in the construction of the station – it was built using two re-purposed steel shipping containers stacked one on top of the other.

24 Sharp solar panels are attached to the roof via a Unirac solar module mounting system. The solar modules charge a Trojan deep cycle battery bank through solar inverters provided by Washington-based OutBack Power Systems; so the charging station can operate 24 hours a day. The solar power system has a capacity of 5.6 kilowatts – enough for the power requirements of an average home and to keep 5 of the park’s EV’s charged.

Using solar power to operate its EVs will provide Brooklyn Bridge park significant cost savings over the life of the project – more than $200,000 in petrol, and tens of thousands of dollars in electricity costs. Over the 25 year lifespan of the project, the emission of over 530 tons of carbon dioxide will be avoided.

An added benefit of the solar powered EV charging station is it can be deconstructed, transported and reassembled in less than a day. The charging station will become part of a larger New York Center for Sustainable Energy to be built  this year.

Beautiful Earth sees electric vehicles as an important part of long-term sustainability in transportation that will contribute to New York’s PlaNYC initiative, which aims for a 30 percent reduction in the City’s carbon emissions by 2030.

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