Electric vehicles continue to gain market share, but outside metro Atlanta, the infrastructure for charging electric vehicles is lacking. I-85 is a major travel corridor that runs from Alabama to Virginia, connecting major metro areas throughout the Southeast, offering a prime opportunity to reduce carbon emissions by providing accessible solar-powered charging stations.
Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, the Georgia Department of Transportation (Georgia DOT), the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Hannah Solar, LLC partnered to install the state’s first solar-powered PV4EV charging station at the Georgia Visitor Information Center (VIC) in West Point.
In 2020, The Ray, Donovan Energy, and ABB then partnered to upgrade the solar-powered electric vehicle charging station located at the VIC. The new station was commissioned on June 3, 2020, and is three times more powerful than the original 50 kW station installed in 2015 with 175 kW Terra HP and a modular, high-powered charging system designed to minimize charging time.
The Ray is a living laboratory, a place to test new technologies. As other alternative fuel vehicles become more popular, we look forward to hosting “fueling” stations for all alternative-fuel vehicles including hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.