Truly 'green' EV charging comes to Barcelona
15 August 2012
GE is claiming a world first for a wind powered EV charging station installed just outside Barcelona in Spain. The Sanya Skypump can recharge A Chevrolet Volt in four hours.
GE has linked its fast DuraStation EV chargers, deployed in London during the Olympics to power a fleet of zero-emission cars, to a vertical wind turbine developed by New York’s Urban Green Energy (UGE). The result is believed to be the world’s first wind-powered EV charger. The system, called Sanya Skypump, can charge a Chevrolet Volt in four hours.
The Skypump rises just 15 feet and can stand virtually anywhere, including dense cityscapes. The 4kW wind turbine features a vertical axis blade configuration contained inside a five-foot radius, and can be set up in a matter of hours, says GE. Similar UGE turbines already power homes and streetlamps around the world.
GE and UGE installed the first Sanya Skypump outside Barcelona, Spain, but the partners intend to roll out more chargers later this year in the US and Australia, at shopping malls, universities, and other busy locations.
GE Energy’s Charles Elazar said that the system is part of GE’s goal to offer drivers as well as commercial customers “a range of easy-to-use, flexible systems to help make electric vehicles a practical, everyday reality.”