By Dean Thomas

There is no doubt that the world is turning to the electric vehicle (EV) as one of the viable ways to wean ourselves off the world oil monopoly. And for many countries, it’s not just an economic or environmental issue; it’s a national security issue. General Motors will debut the Chevy Volt, an extended range electric vehicle, in 2010. The Volt is designed to move 75% of America’s daily commuters without a single drop of gas. That means for someone who drives less than 40 miles per day, they will use no gasoline and produce zero emissions. If they drive farther than that, an auxiliary gasoline engine will kick in, generating power to the batteries so more range can be gained.

The Chinese automaker, BYD, who got their start making rechargeable batteries for cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices has come out with their own version, backed in part by a $230 million investment from none other than Warren Buffet. This car, dubbed the F3DM, is already available in the Chinese market and optimism is growing that it will arrive in the US marketplace also in 2010. Both Toyota and Nissan are coming out with electric vehicles; Toyota’s in late 2009 and Nissan is considering an electric vehicle for the Chinese market as early as 2012. Nissan believes the electric car market could account for as much as 30% of all automobile sales in China by 2020.

The Chinese government intends to support the electric vehicle with research and development subsidies for auto makers and tax incentives for consumers. Additionally the government intends to help build battery charging stations and other public infrastructure to make owning and driving an electric car convenient and hassle free.  There is no doubt that the US government will do much the same.

“Imagine your customers pulling into a parking lot and seeing wind turbines and solar panels, and being able to charge their cars while they shop.” Those were the words of Wal-Mart CEO, H. Lee Scott, speaking to store managers, envisioning Wal-Mart selling and servicing the fist generation of electric vehicles to US consumers. Scott then went on to say the monolithic megastore has already been in talks with major manufacturers to bring the plug-in EV to stores nationwide.  Experts are beginning to believe that the world’s largest retailer might just have the best minds in the world forecasting trends for them.

Could Wal-Mart take care of the servicing end of this sort of thing, much like car dealers service the cars that they sell? Absolutely. The electric motor has one moving part, the rotor, while their gasoline counterparts have hundreds of moving parts. In addition the EV has no radiator, fuel pump, motor oil or catalytic converter. And as a side note, one needs to consider the pollution that comes from those additional parts; it’s estimated that 180 million gallons of motor oil are sent to our landfills and poured down our drains every year—the equivalent to 16 Exxon Valdez spills.

The electric vehicle is not just a blip on the radar screen—it’s coming upon us to stay. So when that day is upon us and most urban commuters are using the EV for their daily transportation needs, can we all feel warm and fuzzy that we are not polluting? Not really when one considers the big picture. Much of our “clean electricity” comes from coal powered generating plants that throw more CO2 into the atmosphere than we as commuters ever thought we were guilty of. One trip to northern Arizona, near Page, where a coal fired power plant on the Navajo Indian Reservation is spewing massive amounts of black smoke into the air and the nearby Grand Canyon will quickly disavow you of that notion.

Granted, while the electric vehicle is a huge start, thinking that it alone will fix the problem is like throwing the bath water out with the baby. We must have clean sources of energy to power our EVs before we have solved the problem.

Why not combine the parking lot solar arrays with EV charging stations?  A 2 megawatt solar powered parking lot could provide 1000 cars with 2 kilowatts of power which is roughly the same amount you draw from a circuit in your house. A parking lot that charged electric cars will be an important part of providing a future infrastructure where we will need charging stations in public places. America will need to integrate thousands of new charging stations into the electric grid. China is already doing it. A solar parking lot provides an off the grid solution, a centralized hub that is already there and being used by the public.

The transformation of our parking lots can happen without very much delay and regulatory red tape. If adequate covered parking already existed on a commercial development, a solar parking system would need only an electrical permit. If new parking structures or a retro-fit of existing structures were required, those would need a structural permit as well. The solar panels would not cause any more rainfall displacement than the asphalt parking lot does.  At the development stage, the parking lot has already had hydrological studies and calculations done on it to substantiate that the water retention basins provided are sufficient to mitigate the water runoff caused by the asphalt. The water retention features would not be affected by a solar parking system.

Solar parking systems represent a wide range of benefits to businesses already discussed in other articles on our website.  But along with those direct economic benefits the potential to assist urban commuters with the ability to utilize EVs is just as important. Solar parking lots are an important part of the equation that will lead us to energy independence and put an end to the transfer of our wealth to countries that do not have our best interests at heart.