EV Charging Facility In Norway Powered By Solar Panels

Norway leads most of the world in making electricity from renewable sources. It has abundant hydroelectric power, so much of it in fact that it sells the excess to other countries, including the UK. In all, Norway gets more than 90% of its electricity from renewables. It also promotes the use of electric cars by offering its citizens generous financial incentives and other perquisites. Recently, Norway has initiated a move to power much of its coastal shipping with electricity.

With Norway’s focus on renewable energy, it should come as no surprise that a new EV charging station at the Asko East industrial park outside the city of Vestby will be powered by solar power. Vestby is situated about 50 miles south of Oslo. The new facility will have ten charging stations under a covered roof. 75 south facing solar panels, each rated at 270 watts per hour, will be mounted on the roof. Together, they are expected to generate up to 16,000 kWh of electricity a year — enough to power a Tesla Model S for more than 47,000 miles.

The solar system is being built by Fusen, Inc. Its CEO, Thor Christian Tuv, tells Pursuits Green, “We have previously been involved in a carport demonstration plant, but this is the first major installation of such a solution in Norway.”  The panels themselves are sensitive to light both from above and below, so that light reflected back from the ground will also help make electricity. Tuv says this is the first time these type of solar cells have been installed in Scandanavia.

Lars Erik Olsen, technical manager for the Asko East industrial complex ,says that solar installations offer more benefits than just economics. He says there are intangible benefits to consider as well, including letting workers and visitors to the site know that the company is investing in clean renewable energy for everyone’s benefit. The solar array is situated so that it is visible to all who enter the facility.

The surrounding buildings themselves are powered by a roof mounted solar system that provides 280,000 kWh of electricity annually. The solar EV chargers are scheduled to be completed and fully operational in January, 2016.

Leif Hansen, who lives in Norway, contributed to this story.

Tesla Model S Becomes Norway’s Best-Selling Car

Hard to go for a day without a story regarding Tesla...

There is something about Scandinavian that makes it especially conducive to electric cars, and Elon Musk knows it. The Tesla Model S has topped the sales charts in Norway, outselling even the beloved Volkswagen Golf to become the best-selling car in this very cold country.

The Tesla Model S only began European sales in August, opening a distribution center in Holland, and in September the electric sedan commanded 5.1% of the Norwegian car market. Granted, the country of 5 million people only bought 138,000 new cars in 2012, as buying a car is notoriously expensive due to heavy taxes on emissions and fuel consumption.

So even with a starting price of $110,000 to $117,000 in Norway, the Tesla Model S actually represents a performance bargain. Similarly powerful vehicles can cost upwards of $200,000 in Norway or more; a 556 horsepower BMW M5 costs almost $160,000 just in taxes, with the total price near $300,000.

That doesn’t take into account the free tolls and ferries electric car owners are granted, as well as their ability to drive in bus lanes. This is why the Nissan Leaf shot up the sales charts when it went on sale in Norway, and why well-heeled Norwegians are paying up to $20,000 over MSRP to avoid the five-month wait time for a Tesla Model S. With an extensive Supercharger network installed across Norway, and proof the Model S has no problem with the cold Scandinavian winters, there are plenty of incentives to buy a Model S. It is estimated that there are already more than 500 Tesla Model S sedans on the road in Norway.

While sales will eventually taper off, and there may come a day free tolls and ferries are no longer offered, right now electric cars are a hot commodity. The Nissan Leaf has garnered plenty of sales too, commanding 3.8% of Norway’s car market in August of this year, meaning two of Norway’s three best-selling cars are EVs; what can the U.S. learn from them?

Basically, if you want people to really choose electric cars like, right now, you have to bribe/extort them. Otherwise you just have to wait for the virtues of EVs to naturally (slowly) convert the population.

Source: Reuters