The University Of Central Florida in Orlando has taken a giant step toward becoming a more environmentally friendly campus by providing electric vehicle users a way to charge their vehicles.   

Located in the D1 parking lot on the east side of Memory Mall, the carport uses solar panels to produce electricity which can then be used to charge electric vehicles.  Construction began last November, and the station opened in January.  The total cost of the project was about $380,000, which includes the cost of structural construction, solar panels and electronic hardware.  The cost was covered by a research grant from the Florida Energy Systems Corporation.  

Unless a vehicle uses more than 10 kilowatt-hours of power, there is no charge for using the carport.  

The carport has four parking spots.  Each space has a standard 120-volt, 20-amp outlet and two of the spaces will also include 240-volt 20-amp outlets to support larger vehicles.  The pedestals are also reconfigurable to provide for future vehicle charging configurations as they are developed and come into use. 

The facility will first serve as a test bed for research and provide UCF with a way to charge its fleet of plug-in electric vehicles.  It will be made available to students as the demand for this service grows. 

To learn more, visit http://www.centralfloridafuture.com/solar-charging-station-planned-for-student-use-1.2162596.