The Impact of Renewable Energy on Electric Vehicle Charging
As electric vehicles (EVs) become more mainstream, it’s imperative that their charging stations be powered by renewable energy sources to minimize pollution levels emitted. Electric cars can emit two to five times more particulate matter and chemicals than gas-powered cars, necessitating sustainable power for their charging stations.
Now there are EV charging stations powered by renewable solar energy that don’t need to connect to the grid and incur expensive power connection fees.
What is Renewable Energy?
Renewable energy refers to power derived from renewable resources that replenish themselves naturally, such as sunlight, wind and geothermal heat. Unlike fossil fuels, which leave harmful byproducts behind when creating electricity from them, renewable energies do not release harmful byproducts when being utilized to create electricity.
Solar, wind, and hydropower are three of the more widely-used renewable energy sources; however, bioenergy (organic matter burned as fuel), tidal energy and geothermal power may also provide viable sources for renewable power production.
Renewable energy sources offer an efficient and sustainable transportation solution, both for consumers and businesses alike. When used together to power electric vehicle charging stations, renewable energy providers can contribute towards faster adoption and an overall cleaner world for everyone.
Renewable energy can be harnessed for use with electric vehicles either when harvested directly, or stored for later use in batteries – on and off-grid options are available depending on individual sites’ requirements.
How Can Renewable Energy Be Used to Charge Electric Vehicles?
As we move towards a more eco-friendly future, one key way of helping is switching over to electric cars. Just like traditional gas-powered vehicles, however, EVs need charging via renewable energy sources like solar or wind energy.
Renewable energies are clean, climate-friendly sources of power that can be utilized to charge electric vehicles (EVs). Charging stations powered by solar photovoltaic canopies may use renewables while Nuro, an autonomous delivery service provider located in the US uses 100% renewables for its fleets of EVs.
Additionally, electric vehicle (EV) owners can utilize storage batteries to capture and store energy from the sun for use by their EVs. With bidirectional charging technology in place, EVs can now also send power back into the grid when not being used (Vehicle-to-Grid), or use this energy directly power homes and businesses through Vehicle-to-Home charging technology.
What Are the Benefits of Using Renewable Energy to Charge Electric Vehicles?
Electric vehicles (EVs) powered by renewable energy sources can dramatically lower greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution levels, as well as provide energy independence by lessening dependence on traditional electrical grids, helping stabilize prices, and acting as portable energy storage units during outages or emergencies. Bidirectional charging capabilities even make them ideal as portable energy storage solutions during outages or emergencies.
As the EV industry expands, more consumers are opting for vehicles powered by renewable energy to minimize their carbon footprint. Since EVs require much more electricity than traditional gas-powered cars, the source of electricity used can have a profound effect on environmental footprint.
Charge EVs with renewable energy to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and further the clean energy transition of our global economy. In fact, many charging stations rely solely on clean energy; the largest public EV charging network, EVgo is 100% powered by clean energy sources.
How Can Renewable Energy Be Used to Produce Renewable Energy Cars?
Even though electric vehicles (EVs) are generally cleaner than gasoline cars, they still rely on electricity grids to charge. Joshua Graff Zivin, an associate professor of economics at University of California San Diego stated: “Even though electric cars don’t create tailpipe emissions themselves, their charging contributes to emissions from coal and other fossil fuel sources that increase air pollution.”
Smart energy management systems offer a solution. EV owners, communities or utilities can utilize these systems to control charging time according to renewable energy production and reduce dependence on non-renewable sources; improve air quality; diversify sources; enhance energy independence. Furthermore, electric vehicles (EVs) may even serve as storage devices by connecting solar power or batteries directly at their point of generation or through vehicle-to-grid technology – or both!
