Chicago Gets First Solar Powered EV Charging Station
San Francisco and Portland might be engaged in some electric vehicle pissing contest, but I think both cities just got seriously spanked by Chicago!
Yes…Chicago!
The Windy City just unveiled the first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station during the IOC tour. The Solar Plug-In Stations will be used daily by the City of Chicago Department of Fleet Management to power the city’s electric cars.
“Carbon Day and the City of Chicago are demonstrating true innovation, ingenuity and initiative,” said Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies. “Solar energy and electric vehicles are an inevitable partnership that is one more step to reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”
>> Interested in solar power? See if group discounts are available in your city
>> Don’t forget to: Sign up for our electric car interest list.
Carbon Day Automotive’s Solar Plug-In Station(TM), built by Carbon Day Construction, was designed by the world renowned firm of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.
“Without these stations it would be like driving around in traditional cars without the availability of gas stations,” said Scott Emalfarb, CEO at Carbon Day. “The day of true plug-in electric vehicles will be here sooner than most people realize and the world needs to be ready to accommodate them. Carbon Day will build them and they will come.”
Wanxiang America Corporation manufactured the solar panels that form a tree-like canopy built by Residential Steel. Pure Energy, LLC, Northbrook installed the sculpted piece and interfaced it with the concealed underground battery pack enhanced to store solar energy, specially designed and developed by ALL CELL Technologies.
“Chicago is that most American of American cities,” Obama said. Well, I hope other American cities follow suit.
So does Carbon Day Automotive as they hope to have thousands of these stations nationwide by 2011. I hope so too!
More Recent News on EV Charging Infrastructure:
- Connecticut and Massachusetts Could Get EV Charging Network
- It’s On! Portland and San Francisco Battle For Electric Car Domination
- Raleigh, N.C. to Install Plug-in Hybrid Charging Stations
- San Francisco Plugs In To the Future with Electric Vehicle Recharging Stations (by Gavin Newsom)
Source [PR Newswire]
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April 9th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Yes!! It’s coming!!!!!
April 9th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Glad to see something like this pop up, but Chicago has bigger problems that establishing a green fleet of vehicles. Mayor Daley and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger need to seriously get a clue or get out. Why not take the money spent on this and fix the horrible condition of the city streets?
That’s right, corrupt politics. I forgot.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
There are more places to plug in cars then there are to put gas in them. Last time I checked just about every building around here has electricity, with the exception of a shed here and there.
Hey Scott Emalfarb You should consider a new career. Maybe one of those guys who walk along the highway and pick up trash? That would probably be more in line with you’re mental abilities.
Electric cars were more popular than gas powered cars when all this car stuff started out. Do you know why? Electricity was more prominent than gasoline. The same thing is true now.
April 9th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
[...] Chicago Gets First Solar Powered EV Charging Station [...]
April 9th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]
April 9th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Onesojourner, you’re an IDIOT.
Electricity is primarily produced by fossil fuels. Since when is it a bad thing to get as much energy as possible from renewable resources?
Let’s say you go to a movie in your brand spanking new Chevy Volt but you had to drive 10 miles to get there. What if you want to top off your battery? Do you have a 2000 foot long extension cord? Right now you can only charge at HOME. In order for Electric Vehicles to be successful, we need to build the infrastructure for them.
April 9th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
popurls.com // popular today…
story has entered the popular today section on popurls.com…
April 9th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Stroger does not fill potholes Thats the city not the county
April 9th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
If its the “Windy” city why not put up a few wind powered stations. All it takes is a small turbine connected to a standard $50-$100 Vehicle Alternator and a >800W inverter.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I can’t believe Chicago is the fist city to come up with something like this. I can’t wait until this becomes the norm instead of it being “news”.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Thumbs up for them, i wonder when will the other state start get theirs. I would like to see one in florida.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Hi,
any experience with different accession schemes?
- free
- key a) with b) w/o charging for the energy
- electronic key a,b
- code a,b
thanks
Efried
April 9th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Why is the “windy” city using solar power? That seems like a blatantly unwise and inefficient misuse of green technologies. Here’s a thought…use wind mills.
April 10th, 2009 at 1:54 am
What I think is funny: If they get the electric from coal burning plants… >_>
Personally, I think this is stupid.
You waste a lot of energy to try and build “new” electric cars in the first place.
We need to quit worrying about CO2 and focus on fixing power plants and providing free energy, and everything else will come along.
So, search up NIF and fusion; support them.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Ben nice job on resorting to name calling…
I will agree with you that it would be handy to be able to recharge when you are out and about in your volt. Lets talk about other pure EVs though. Now you have a 100 mile range. That seems to be the minimum most companies are shooting for. Now the need to recharge when you are out is even less. How often do most Americans drive more than more than 75 miles a day? Cell phones have all day batteries. People use them all day then plug them in when they get home. The same will be true for the cars they are driving.
If you are worried about using purely green energy lets concentrate on doing it at the power plant level. One large solar grid will be much easier and cost effective to maintain than hundreds of little solar charging stations. If you want to plug in while your out (and I don’t see it being very useful for most people) then companies could stick an outlet on the light pole in the parking lot.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
For those suggesting windmills, that’s probably not why they call it the Windy City. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_name_%22Windy_City%22)
April 19th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
U.S. energy is made up of 30% fossil fuels. The U.S. should require each state to have an X number of EV charging stations or have a vote on a per county or city/town basis to find out if the people would like EV charging stations. (Although the U.S. should demand at least an X number of stations per county to better promote EV technology) Wind Technology in chicago??? LMAO NO
It would be possible to set up wind mill farms in the suburbs and once they are established the energy harnessed can be credited to energy consumers in that participating state. Although the credit should not be given until the amount of energy harnessed pays for the equipment. Which can take a while!
Do the pro’s beat the con’s?
April 20th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
[...] Chicago Gets First Solar Powered EV Charging Station [...]
May 8th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
A few years back there were a number of stores offering this. I believe in the California bay area there are still some Frys electronic stores that let you plug in while shopping.
The problem with these stations is that it takes a while to charge a battery. Many times longer than to fill a gas tank. So having them near stores is far more practical, gives you something to do while you “fill Up”
July 21st, 2009 at 1:23 pm
[...] after a long day on the road, you will no longer need to worry about charging your battery. Today, Carbon Day Automotive announced a partnership with Element Hotels to install a ChargePoint Charging Station at the [...]
September 21st, 2009 at 7:11 am
Technocapalyps approaches, Beware, Area 51, center of “Super-Humans” bred in China/ Asia, while Bush was sleeping! We have been taken over, and by means beyond our crass comprehension, not by war at all! The intelligentsia of Asia and the world, rule, and breed only among themselves, and sparingly, and with great scientific control! Only they have enough intelligence to communicate with the Aliens,each other, and the computing power now in control! Humanity to be slowly starved out, like the “Legacy Workers” in the U.S.A., U.S.S.R.! All misfits of the “New Order” will have asses too big to fit battery cars, IQ’s too small to appreciate them, and be deemed unworthy of food, jobs, and will be disenfranchised! As Detroit City, and its demise into “Third World” conditions, is my witness, a racial purification along intelligence lines, not by color, and an “Ethnic Cleansing” of lower IQ folks, is afoot at the moment, and these Solar powered, therefore sustainable and perpetual in nature, EV charging stations, are for the service of the “Super Humans” evolving and planted from Asian/Worldwide supplies, in America, as we speak! Gone are the days of gluttony, sloth and slovenly living! Gone are the days of lustful, wanton and deprived sexuality, Gone are the days of gas guzzling V – 8 chariots of sin, and in their place, conveniences for the slender bodied Hi-IQ, who toil under the Super-Computer’s” direction. The McMansion will become a down-town survival pod, physically big enough for only a slight intellectual frame, the ‘burbs will turn into factory dorms and bunkhouses, the interstate highway system, will crumble in disuse as bullet trains, no longer restricted by 18th century British engineering practices, replace passenger airplanes, and freight movement. This “computer smarts” driven revolution has occurred, it remains only for humanity to morph into a more sustainable and compatible form with it. Next: Bullet-trains, freight and passenger, with computer controls, and the demise of meat as human food! EV charging Stations: a sign of the times!