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AUTORAC™ USES
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Use to recharge electric vehicles (EVs) for both residential and commerical locations. |
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Use as a ground mount solar racking system to mount solar PV modules when a building roof mount installation is not feasible. The power produced from AUTORAC™ system will be used to offset the home/building's electricity expense. Customer will also get the added benefit that AUTORAC™ can also be used as a traditional carport to protect the customer's electric or non-electric vehicle. |
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Use to provide shading for park recreational areas such as miniature golf courses and will also help reduce the property's electricity expense. |
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BACKGROUND
The electric powered plug-in vehicles (EVs) is in its infancy with the advent of the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan Leaf, the Toyota Prius plug-in, and the Ford Focus Electric. A major roadblock to widespread adoption of this new and important innovation is the lack of clean energy recharging facilities.
The current practice that the EV manufactures suggest for recharging their EVs is to plug them into standard electrical receptacles connected to the grid. The problem with this practice is that power from the grid is not produced from 100% clean energy; it’s essentially trading the vehicle exhaust pipe for a power company smoke stack. In contrast, Solar Powered Carports ensures that drivers of EVs are actually recharging their vehicles with 100% clean power.
Case in point, the following Table shows the annual CO2 emissions from a typical gasoline power vehicle and an EV recharged via a centrally located coal burning power plant and an EV recharged via clean solar power.
Vehicle Power Source |
Annual LBS of CO2 Produced |
Typical US-market gasoline powered vehicle
Coal fired power plant to power typical EV annually
Solar photovoltaic system to power typical EV annually
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10,500
8,929
ZERO
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Sunny Day Power located in Aston Pennsylvania manufactures solar racking equipment to promote the clean charging of EVs. More specifically, Sunny Day Power provides solar carport racking systems used to mount photovoltaic (PV) solar module arrays which in-turn will generate clean solar power to recharge EVs. The solar carport racking system offered by Sunny Day Power is called AUTORAC™ and is sold directly to owner's of plug-in EVs and to solar installations contractors. AUTORAC™ can be deployed to residential locations or in commercial environments like hotel, office building, and college campus parking lots to mount large scale solar arrays. Commercial parking lots are idea for solar carports since there is typically an abundance of un-shaded wide open space.
The AUTORAC™ carports can be deployed in a net metering configuration which will permit owners of the carports to back feed the electric utility grid which effectively acts as a storage facility for the generated solar power. Next, the customer can use the power it sent to the grid any time they like to recharge their EV. Thus, the AUTORAC™ owner will have the ability to recharge their EV day or night with clean power. This service is known as net-metering and is free and available to electric utility customers in most markets. Customers who purchase an AUTORAC™ solar carport will be entitled to State and Federal rebates and taxes credits, as well as have the ability to earn income from the sale of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (sRECs). What a great benefit of recharging your EV with solar power! A typical EV owner will be driving for FREE in about five years.
Moreover, once an AUTORAC™ carport is installed at a customer site in a net metering configuration, the customer is not restricted to parking their EV under the carport to recharge; instead they can plug into any outlet in the house or buidling and still gain the benefit of recharging with clean power. AUTORAC™ carports supports both Level 1 (120V) and Level 2 (240V) recharging. With Level 2 charging the customer will be required to purchase a 240-volt charging station from the EV dealer which is typically the size of a shoe box that would get mounted to the garage wall or to an exterior wall along a driveway, or to one of the AUTORAC™ carport posts.
WHY CHOOSE AUTORAC™
AUTORAC™ solar carports can be installed to allow for a fixed 10 degree carport roof pitch in either the length direction or the width direction; which provides more flexibility to position the solar array towards the sun for optimal power generation for each unique job site. Below is a list of advantages of why a customer may choose an AUTORAC™ solution to mount their solar PV modules instead of a traditional roof mount racking system:
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Customer may not be able to install PV modules of their building roof for a number of reasons such as:
- Don’t want to make roof penetrations to install a roof racking system
- Existing roof may need to be replaced and customer can not afford to replace the roof
- Existing roof may be slate or clay tile
- Building roof orientation not optimal for solar power PV production
- Building roof may be shaded by trees or man made objects
- Customer may be renting the property and is not allowed to install equipment on building roof
- Local codes or association guidelines may not allow solar equipment to be installed on building roofs.
- The AUTORAC™ carport can easily be moved. So if the customer anticipates a future move they can easily take their solar PV system with them. Much like moving a children’s wooden playset or swing set; which is not the case when PV modules are mounted on a building roof.
- Customer may enjoy having a carport and will park their vehicle(s) underneath.
- The AUTORAC™ can easily be installed beyond the end of an existing driveway in a grassy area and later stone or gravel base can be added; thus providing additional parking.
- Much easier to clean and maintain the solar modules when located on top of a carport than on top of a building roof.
- Annual Power output of PV modules will be 5-10% higher when mounted in an open-air carport configuration than when mounted just a few inches off a typical hot asphalt roof.
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