Solar-power vehicle project under way

Pasadena Star News
By: Cynthia Kurtz

Posted 6/19/2013 

Living in sunny southern California we are reminded every day that the sun is a great source of energy. In fact National Geographic reports that “every hour the sun beams onto Earth more than enough energy to satisfy global energy needs for an entire year.”

Since California is the national poster child for air pollution, we know that burning fossil fuel is the largest contributor to dirty air and automobiles produce a huge portion of those emissions. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on-road vehicles cause one-third of the air pollution that produces smog and in urban areas that number is even higher. 

We have lots of sunlight and lots of pollution. Now the brain power of the San Gabriel Valley has a plan for using that sunlight to help reduce pollution by using solar power to charge zero emission electric cars. 

All this is taking place in the City of Industry where the state’s largest solar powered electric vehicle project is underway. Two megawatts of solar energy - enough for about 1,300 homes - are used to power an electric vehicle charging station that will someday serve as many as 600 vehicles.

The power is generated by 8,000 solar panels on top of a Metrolink parking structure. As an additional benefit some of the vehicles charged at the station are available for commuters to lease.

The all electric Nissan LEAF was chosen for the leased vehicles adding another tie to the innovation going on in the San Gabriel Valley. Nissan’s preferred vendor for Nissan LEAF chargers is none other than AeroVironment located in Monrovia. 

Eventually, the overall cost of electric vehicles is expected to be less than traditional gasoline powered vehicles but subsidies are still needed today to get these demonstration programs underway. This $12 million project was funded from a variety of sources including a grant of $2 million from the South Coast Air Quality Management District and funding from the City of Industry. 

Our energy future is at best unclear. What is clear is that 57 percent of the oil used in the U.S. is from foreign sources, making us still dangerously dependent on countries and factors we cannot control. 

Seventy percent of the oil used in the U.S. is for transportation - 65 percent of that amount is for personal vehicles - so finding alternative fuels that can be produced and controlled at home is essential. 

As with all complex problems, there is no silver bullet. That is why projects like the electric vehicles powered by the sun project in the City of Industry are so important. Each one tests a new way of using solar power and moves us closer to energy independence and cleaner air.