Calif. Company to Unveil 'Plug-n-Play' Solar-Powered EV Charging Station
By John O'Dell July 21, 2010
Think big device, small carbon footprint.
That's what SunPods Inc. is doing with what it says is the world's first factory-built, solar-powered electric-vehicle charging station.
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SunPods showed its solar charging station at a green expo in South Korea earlier this year.
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San Jose-based SunPods' SP-300 Plug-N-Go, which weighs about 3,000 pounds and is 10-feet by 20-feet (or about the size of four Smart ForTwos parked side by side), uses up to 12 solar panels for each 2.4 kilowatt module .
The company began a public test last August with a 24-panel, dual-module mobile charging station and will show the retail model Thursday at the Cleantech Open event in San Jose, Calif.
It can charge two vehicles at once and do double duty by storing excess energy that can be sold back to utility companies.
SunPods says it is the first complete solar charging system to hit the market and will eliminate the need for customers to round up the various components from separate suppliers.
With this year's debuts of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid and Nissan Leaf all-electric vehicles expected to boost the number of people looking for EV-charging sources when they are away from their home-based chargers, companies like SunPods are looking to boost business by selling devices to retailers and city and county governments while taking green transportation one step further by making the power source renewable.
Coulomb Technologies, also based in the San Francisco Bay area, has deployed about a half-dozen solar-powered EV chargers and a couple of wind-powered stations.
SunPods, which said it has the capacity to build about 5,000 SP-300s a year, will market the product to municipal fleet operators as well as parking-lot and shopping-center owners,
according to company co-founder Michael Gumm.
The device, which will provide both 120-volt and 240-volt EV charging, will cost about $14,000 plus about $3,000 for the charger - the solar station is compatible with other manufacturers' chargers.
Danny King, Contributor
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