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BMW debuts solar carport in SA

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 24 May 2016
BMW will expand the installation of the solar carport in major city centres for public vehicle charging.
BMW will expand the installation of the solar carport in major city centres for public vehicle charging.

BMW South Africa has unveiled its first solar carport that will be rolled out locally from July. The solar carport is used to recharge electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Despite the advantages of driving electric vehicles in SA, there are questions about the country's struggles with sufficient power supply.

According to a new study by Juniper Research, titled "Hybrid and Electric Vehicles: Consumer and Commercial Markets", around 17 million hybrid and electric vehicles will be on the roads globally by 2020, a significant increase from the 12 million forecast last year.

The BMW "i solar carport" supplies an average of 3.6kW of solar power at peak times on a clear sunny day. It feeds straight to the BMW "i Wallbox", which is used to show a live readout of how much power is being generated by the sun and charge electric and plug-in hybrid BMW models.

The concept was first shown at the BMW i8 international media launch in Los Angeles in April 2014 as well as the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2015.

"With the rollout of the BMW i solar carport, the BMW Group is demonstrating its commitment to shaping the future of individual mobility - not only with ground-breaking products and services, but also with the global as well as local involvement in the expansion of home and publicly accessible charging infrastructure for electrically-powered vehicles," says Tim Abbott, CEO of BMW Group SA and Sub-Sahara.

"With innovative services like the solar carport, BMW is the first vehicle manufacturer to offer such a broad-based electric vehicle smart charging product to reduce costs for customers," he notes.

The car manufacturer says in the coming months, it will expand the installation of the solar carport in major city centres such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban for public charging. It adds customers and fleet companies will be able to order the solar carport for home and office charging.

Produced by Sunworx - designer and installer of photovoltaic solar systems - the BMW solar carport is made of bamboo and a stainless steel housing for the glass solar modules. The solar carport is in line with the BMW i design and production philosophy, which prioritises a zero carbon footprint, the company says.

According to BMW, bamboo is considered a particularly sustainable and high strength-to-weight ratio natural composite material useful for structures.

"We have always emphasised that for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to be successful, we need to firstly increase consumer confidence in the viability of electric vehicles and secondly make public charging easily accessible for customers who purchase these cars. The rollout of the solar carport is also an emphasis on this philosophy," Abbott adds.

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