If driving an electric vehicle (EV) is a conscious decision you’ve made as a good steward of the environment, shouldn’t you expect the same from your vehicle’s charging station? Sure, plugging in your EV is a fine way to cut down on your gasoline consumption, but that charging station is still sucking energy from a coal- or natural gas-powered grid.
Driver’s who want to take a closer step toward a more off-the-grid existence will be happy to learn that on Monday Urban Green Energy (UGE) and GE unveiled the Sanya Skypump, an electric vehicle charging station that combines the technology of GE’s WattStation and UGE’s Sanya hybrid wind-solar streetlamp.
“Building upon the success of the GE WattStation, GE continuously is seeking evolutionary EV solutions,†said Michael Mahan in a company press release. Mahan is product general manager at GE Energy Industrial Solutions. “By marrying the elegant design of UGE’s Sanya Streetlamp with the GE WattStation, we have enabled the further adoption of electric vehicles by making access to renewable power easier.â€
Poul Heilmann, head of business development at UGE said, “Consumers’ concerns for a more environmentally friendly form of transportation include the source of power for the electric car. The Skypump uses a UGE-4K wind turbine along with solar panels to offset a significant amount of the usage of a commercial charging site.”
UGE will start testing the first units of the Sanya Skypump this fall in New York, Beijing and Bacelona, and expect that the charger will be available for purchase in 2012.
source : http://news.discovery.com/autos/electric-vehicle-charger-powered-by-wind-solar-110728.html