Solar Charging Station for Electric Car Running in Red Hook

Courtesy Inhabitat

The city's first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station has opened in Red Hook, Inhabitat reports. It's the work of Beautiful Earth Group, a sustainable energy company, and located on an industrial lot by their offices. This baby's completely off the grid, built out of recycled steel shipping containers, and powered solely by 235 watt photovoltaic panels. The Beautiful Earth Group's currently using it to charge their 100% electric BMW MINI E, which is now one of the few cars in the world to run exclusively on solar power.

"It never ceases to amaze me, when I get behind the wheel of this 95 mph sports car, that it doesn’t use a single drop of gasoline, and that all of its power comes from the solar energy we collect right here on the Brooklyn waterfront," CEO Lex Heslin tells Inhabitat. (The vehicle has a range of just over 100 miles and takes about 3 hours to charge.) Major car companies like GM are starting to roll out electric or plug-in hybrid cars next year, so hopefully there will be some more of these charging stations popping up as demand increases.

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By John Del Signore in News on December 20, 2009 3:25 PM

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ahidayat08

This is very inspiring and gives a lot of hope. It's already viable, but with newer technologies, installing PV and using electric cars will be cheaper, more efficient and more lasting.

People buy an electric vehicle to save money on gas and minimize their carbon footprint.