Solar Carport with EV Charging – Solving for Sun, Shade, Power and Mobility

Electric Vehicles are not a solution to pollution. They shift the pollution problem from the tail pipe to the chimney stack… unless they are powered by clean energy. While the grid is becoming cleaner with more and more renewable energy coming online and old coal based power plants shutting down. But there is a direct way to put all the pieces of the ‘green mobility puzzle’ together and go green all the way - Solar carport with integrated EV charging.

Solar Carport in layman terms is a structure that offers vehicle protection from the sun while providing space for solar panels to be mounted on and generating electricity. Think of it as ground mounted solar panels raised high enough for a vehicle to be parked underneath. The reason why it cannot be called a rooftop solar installation is because the roof itself is formed by the panels. Unlike a ground mount plant, the solar panel carport does not require separate, dedicated land, but rather makes use of an existing area and enhances its value.

The amount of power typically generated by Solar carport is not sufficiently high to run a house by itself. Hence these are typically grid tied. Effectively the solar power generated reduces the total amount of power drawn from the grid, while the gird acts like a infinite storage system for the power generated but not consumed at the solar carport.

This solar carport technology is only just beginning to grow in India, and it has a lot of potential that needs to be tapped into. Given the need for basic shading for parking areas and the high irradiance for the latitudes India is located on, this is like solving two challenges in one go. But bake this to the idea of integrated EV charging and the equation changes even further. If we get charging mechanisms integrated with these carports, these can become part, if not fully self-sufficient units that produce its own power for charging your electric vehicles – be it an electric 2 wheeler or a car.

While it is a known fact that, Electric Vehicles are the future, little known is the fact that close to 60% of all EV charging happens either at the owner’s residence or their place of employment called as destination charging. While route charging or highway charging is what people notice, it lends itself well to solar carports as well. While technically the solution suits, but there are commercial challenges to the solar carport with integrated EV charging solution. The utilization factors for EV charging are low and adding the solar component increases the upfront capex costs. Hence, the key locations for solar carports can be company/ corporate parking.

Typically, corporate parking facility includelarge, dedicated area for vehicle parking. Here solar carport may be a good way to enhance the value of that space. As an increasing portion of corporate customers as well as employee base will turn to EV, these solar carports with integrated EV charging can be a good choice as they will provide cost benefits to the companies and also help create their reputation as a conscious and clean organization, which an increasing number of people have started looking for in recent years. Also this can add towards meeting compliance requirements for green building certifications.

The high upfront costs can be offset if the government were to allow for such installations under CSR benefits. This would make the business case for this stronger. Globally, having EV charging facilities at corporate parking has been seen as a strong driver of EV adoption. Effectively there could be multi-level benefits for the corporates starting from clean branding, reduced power bills and an infrastructure which keeps the employee/ company vehicles safe under the sun.

While the cost models are currently not positive unless offset by indirect benefits, but as the cost of technology (both solar and EV) keep falling it is just a matter of time this idea catches on. Like the modularity in solar panels, it is expected that the solar carport structures would also become modular in parts if not completely.

There are already several such installations happening around India and Magenta is proud to be a major player in enabling electric mobility while making the electricity clean.

- Maxson Lewis, Managing Director of Magenta Group