Toyota plans solar powered charging stations for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles

Toyota joined the club of companies developing solar powered services with its plans to build solar charging stations for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Toyota Industries Corp has designed the station to have a solar panel with an output of 1.9kW and a storage battery with a capacity of 8.4kW. The converter has a maximum output of 3.2kW in grid-connected operation and 1.5kVA in self-sustained operation. The charging station compromises of a solar photovoltaic system and storage system to store the energy reaped from the sun. When the energy from the storage runs out, the electricity derived from the grid is used as a backup. This enables vehicles to be charged undisturbed at any time. When energy is in excess, the power station is capable enough to transfer the extra power to utility companies. Twenty one such charging stations will be built at eleven places by the municipal government of Toyota City in Japan which will be operational in April 2010. Toyota’s plans will certainly help increase the use of cleaner vehicles and reduce the pollution created due to emission of greenhouse gases in future.
[Techon]