FG Commissions First Solar Powered Electric Vehicle Charging Station (PICS)

The First Solar Powered Electric Vehicle Charging Station in Nigeria has been commissioned by the Federal Government through the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) today, 8th April 2021.

The Solar Powered EV Charging Station was set up by NADDC under the Electric Vehicle Pilot Project in Collaboration with Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto.

With the commissioning of the charging station, Nigeria will join the rest of the world in embracing the recent innovation in energy mobility towards renewable and sustainable energy sources.

No doubt, this is an indication that Nigeria is upgrading to the standard of the European automobile company. Recall that Europe, Asia and other foreign countries are shifting from producing vehicles that use petrol to that Solar.

Why is the NADDC collaborating with academia?

This strategy is important because it is not just a charging station but a platform and a springboard for advanced research and development: to study, monitor and evaluate the entire system: the solar cells, storage units and electric vehicles in various climatic and usage conditions and hopefully develop even more effective solutions for Nigerian and African applications.

The monitoring and evaluation team shall consist of experts from NADDC, Usmanu Danfodio University, Hyundai and relevant Stakeholders.

The installed solar arrays (panels), have a capacity of 86.4 kilowatts per hour, they are coupled to three online-offline Hybrid Inverters, each one is 5KVA, they are synchronized to give a combined output of 15 KVA/48 WATTS. The systems’ energy storage is made up of 36 units of deep-cycle gel batteries with an output of 48 volts/1980 amperes.

“I urge the students to see this as an unparalleled opportunity to fully understand Vehicle Electrification and all related renewable energy technologies so as to develop better and better solutions for the betterment of Nigeria,” he said.

In this regard, the electric vehicles will be charged accordingly based on the charging system adopted. There are two types of charging systems as far as this configuration/system is concerned.

1. The high-level charging system is referred to as the fast charging system which charges a vehicle within 22 hours period and also which gives a total coverage after a full charging of 482 Kilometers.
2. The second level of the charging system takes 9 hours to fully charged.

A protective device is also installed on the system to give total protection to both the equipment and the cars to be charged. There is a provision of highly flexible software that gives room for locking and unlocking the charging system with the advantage of having charging schedules for each vehicle.

The installation of the solar arrays (panels), that have a capacity of 86.4 kilowatts per hour, the online-offline 3 numbers 5KVA Hybrid inverters that are synchronized together to give 15 KVA/48 WATTS and 36 units of the deep circle, gel batteries with an output of 48 volts/1980 amperes.