New Electrify America retrofit canopies

[Logal727]

Someone on the Ioniq5 subreddit posted pics from the VW campus of the new canopies that EA is going to retrofit on stations, look nice!

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[hybrid2bev]

Chattanooga Plant
8001 Volkswagen Dr, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37416

More photos:

https://www.plugshare.com/location/489467

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

There's a canopy over the EA station in Needles, CA.

But the canopy doesn't provide shade to the transformers, so in the very hot summers when the station is full, the transformers overheat.

Also, I don't understand why EA went with double-sided PV panels. Seems like a lot of extra cost for minimal increase in generation.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

At least the Needles canopies cover the entire parking area, unlike those rather silly looking ones at VW headquarters...

 

[bshaw]

Also, I don't understand why EA went with double-sided PV panels. Seems like a lot of extra cost for minimal increase in generation.

That amount of solar could only power station lights and maybe the display screen of the DCFC, but the goodwill they earn by making the panels visible from below is a genius way to appeal to those that don’t understand the physics involved in solar generation.

Personally, I want all stations to have a canopy just like gas stations. If it’s solar too, then great.

 

[SWO]

Someone on the Ioniq5 subreddit posted pics from the VW campus of the new canopies that EA is going to retrofit on stations, look nice!

Those canopies look useless.

 

[Mach-Lee]

How much you wanna bet the solar panels aren’t going to be hooked up to anything…

 

[MellowJohnny]

How much you wanna bet the solar panels aren’t going to be hooked up to anything…

There is a FLO station with L2 chargers at my daughter's university with a solar panel canopy as well. Also not sure what they are connected to...but given the chargers put out a whopping 3kWh, maybe they actually power the chargers...

 

[MarkP213]

There's a canopy over the EA station in Needles, CA.

But the canopy doesn't provide shade to the transformers, so in the very hot summers when the station is full, the transformers overheat.

Also, I don't understand why EA went with double-sided PV panels. Seems like a lot of extra cost for minimal increase in generation.

I believe large transformers like those can reach upwards of 300F+ when fully loaded, so they “should“ be ok, even in the desert on a hot day. But don’t quote me on that!

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I believe large transformers like those can reach upwards of 300F+ when fully loaded, so they “should“ be ok, even in the desert on a hot day. But don’t quote me on that!

Should be.

But when you're in one of the hottest places on Earth, it's on the edge of "should." On any given northern hemisphere summer day, Needles will be one of the hottest cities in the world. In June, July, and August, the average daily high is ~110 F (43 C), the 30-year mean monthly high for those months is 116-118 (47-48 C).

The unshaded ground temperature can reach 20-30 C higher than the air temperature. That's also a good estimate for the surface temperature of an unshaded hunk of dark-ish metal in the desert sun in June, July, or August. The surface metal of the enclosures of the transformers can reach 60-80 C.

The ABB chargers are specced to operate in an environment up to 55 C ambient temperature. Being shaded will protect those.

The spec sheets of a few 1000 kVA transformers I dug up specify a maximum 50 C ambient temperature. These kinds of transformers are designed to raise their internal temperatures by between 50 C and 100 C above ambient (depends on the specific transformer) for more efficient operation. They can operate more efficiently at higher temperatures...to a point. They still need to shed waste heat or they have to reduce the power they deliver. So when they're facing external temperatures 10-30 C higher than their specifications, they have to drop their output capacity.

And if the charger's software isn't intelligent enough to deal with that, we can get slowdowns or shutdowns.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

That amount of solar could only power station lights and maybe the display screen of the DCFC, but the goodwill they earn by making the panels visible from below is a genius way to appeal to those that don’t understand the physics involved in solar generation.

Personally, I want all stations to have a canopy just like gas stations. If it’s solar too, then great.

Yeah, I guess I didn't think through the cynicism of doing something like that. I know the PV of that size wouldn't actually power the chargers, but having a flat surface in the desert, especially in a space related to electricity, is always good to feed back into the grid, even if it's not replacing the energy being taken out.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

How much you wanna bet the solar panels aren’t going to be hooked up to anything…

At the Needles station, the panels feed back into the grid. Well...all the inverter and rapid shutdown hardware required to do so is there and the wires from the panels feeds into conduit that runs to that hardware. I suppose it's possible they might have carried the ruse that far.

But who knows with the new canopies.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

There is a FLO station with L2 chargers at my daughter's university with a solar panel canopy as well. Also not sure what they are connected to...but given the chargers put out a whopping 3kWh, maybe they actually power the chargers...

U of H, Hilo has a charging station like that, and that is exactly what the solar panels are for.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

Yah not sure about how much power an array that size will produce. Hopefully, they provide some shade and/or rain shelter as well. Of course that will make the spots all that more attractive to icing ?.

3M seriously needs to issue Post Its with "This spot is for F@#$! electric cars you asshat!" already printed on them. If they do, I'll get everyone in the forum a stack for Christmas.

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