Resilience Design and Build launched its prototype for an off-grid charging station with its own awning at the eMobility Live expo at the Sydney International and Convention Centre in October.
The station is called the EVgle — a play on the word eagle — as its foldable awning when fully splayed looks like the outstretched wings of an eagle.
“It’s easily deployed because it arrives folded and within two hours it’s fully operational. There’s no need for infrastructure. It goes straight on a carpark,” said Siobhan Pearson, founder and CEO of Resilience.
She said fleets from government authorities and businesses swapping out traditional vehicles for electric vehicles were among interested potential customers. She said shopping centres can add the canopied charging stations for shoppers to plug in and trickle charge while they are shopping.
It’s ideal for locations not connected to mains power as it has its own solar panels. The solar blades move to extract maximum energy from the sun. They have retractable wings, lithium-ion batteries and come with an inverter and LED battery power indicator.
They are ideal for commercial fleets wanting to introduce electric vehicles — including delivery service fleets, taxi companies, and ride-sharing platforms.
They are perfect for events in temporary locations, or venues hosting conferences and exhibitions to accommodate attendees with electric vehicles.
“We’ve got zero emissions, they’re silent, you can either have them as permanent fixtures, or transportable,” said Pearson, noting the EVgle can also be deployed to provide electricity in emergency situations.
“In an emergency situation where we’ve had, let’s say, a category five cyclone (because these are cat five suited from an engineering perspective). So let’s say that all the infrastructure is down, they can’t get electricity, the power lines are down and the emergency services haven’t got any any form of electricity they can bring in a number of these, plug it in and let the solar do the work.”
It’s a lower-emissions operation than the alternative diesel powered generator traditionally used.
The EVgles can be retrofitted to existing carparks as the charging station’s trunk can support TV monitors, parking pay station or travel card readers.
Among business benefits of the EVgle listed by Reliance on its website are:
- units can be purchased outright or leased
- regular maintenance and tech upgrades
- surplus energy can be used as a source for micro grids saving on energy costs
- carbon credits generated for renewable energy use
- leasing costs offset by tax rates
- end-of-life repurposing of superseded solar panels and technology.
