» CelticSolar-Solar Powered Plug-in Car Charging Station

Solar Powered Plug-in Car Charging Station

March 28, 2009

We love plug-in cars and solar power here at CelticSolar. Above is a picture of a charging station that helps bring these two technologies together. It generates solar power and you can plug-in your electric ride. It is called the NRGSpot.

With only a small solar area on top of the charger, it is not going to be generating significant (if any) power from sunlight for charging so it is connected to the grid too. If you have the room for it, a solar covered car port is a much better option to maximize the solar collection area. However, in a spot like a downtown street where these are intended, something is better than nothing, even if the solar only covers the device's human interface operations like the solar powered parking meters in downtown Portland.

If there is a sunny spot that has a little more room, then the RubeStation (shown below) might be the answer. From RubeLab and Advanced Solar Photonics the array serves as a sunshade or rain shelter as well as a clean power source.