FollowPollution, now days is the most scary word of all and in fact is more discussed than any other thing, as it is causing various environmental as well as health problems. Transportation is considered to be the largest cause of air pollution. Along with making the air dirty, fuel efficient cars increases our dependency on a non renewable energy source. Therefore people are coming up with different ideas to lessen and somehow finish up with usage of gasoline dependent vehicles. Keeping in mind the numerous requirements of consumers, different types of electronic vehicles are being manufactured by the car companies. Solar power, which is the energy of sun, is being considered to be a good option for producing electricity to feed the electronic vehicles. and for that various designs are planted to harness this energy of the sun and produce green electricity to run the EV’s. Five of such solar trees are discussed below:
1. Nissan’s electric vehicle charging station
This sunflower inspired ‘Solar tree’ consists of three round translucent solar panels to harness the energy of sun, is designed by Nissan. It also consist of a clove leaf shaped wireless charging pad at the base of the solar station which can recharge the batteries from a short distance without making use of any plugs or cords. An estimated conversion efficiency of 30% is offered by the solar station is accompanied with the EPORO robot car.
2. Envision’s vehicle-charging solar trees in PA
San Diego based firm Envision Solar International, Inc., which is a leading sustainable infrastructure product designer and developer, has designed solar trees, the sun parking structures, at Axion Power International’s facility. The stored solar power will provide electricity to the facility’s street and parking lights at night. Around six parking spots are covered by each solar tree, roughly generating 28,000 kilowatt hours of power per year in the U.S. It takes around six hours to completely charge two electric vehicles at a time.
3. Pinnifarna’s solar tree to charge electric vehicles
Italy based automotive company Pinnifarna has proudly set up a solar power tree to charge the electric vehicles especially for its pint sized Nido EV to make it completely eco-friendly. last year the company debuted with a two seater electric car. The solar tree station that the company has designed is named Antares and can charge two electric cars at a time. Thetree like structure of the charging station consist of 20 PV solar panels and is capable to generate 4.6 kilowatts energy.
4. Solarflora
This beautiful solar tree generates clean and sustainable power for charging small electric vehicles and also for supplying electricity to park lights. Planted in Long Beach, Southern California the Solarflora is designed by Darren Saravis founder of Nectar design. The designer has made use of locally produced materials to create this elegant green design as a combination of eco-friendly technology and public-space friendly artwork. A single flower installs four solar panels and can generate upto750 watt-hours per day to power evening park lights, street lamps and on-site offices. The Solarflora also serves as a charging station for electric bikes and small electric vehicles.
5. Solar forest charging station for electric vehicles
The solar forest is created by designer Neville mars to charge electric vehicles using sustainable and renewable source of energy, the sun. The solar trees implanted in the solar forest consist of photovoltaic groves that not only generate green electricity but also provide with shady parking spaces for the electric cars. The base of each pole has a power outlet that can be used to charge your eco ride. The designer says that the photovoltaic leaves rotate with the sun to give maximum efficiency.
Source: ecofriend
