Nigeria launches first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station

The Federal Government of Nigeria recently unveiled the country’s first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station. This comes after the launch of the first Nigerian assembled electric vehicle, the Hyundai Kona EV, earlier in February.

The charging station, situated at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), falls under the Elective Vehicle Pilot Project- an initiative of the National Automotive Design and Development Agency (NADDC).

The commissioning event, held at UNILAG’s faculty of engineering, saw the presence of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo; NADDC Board Chairman, Senator Osita Izunaso; NADDC Director-General, Jelani Aliyu; Vice-Chancellor, Prof Oluwatowin Ogundipe; and CEO of the Stallion Group, Anant Badjatya, among others.

The minister said the charging station is geared at promoting applicable local solutions for vehicle electrification in the country.

As evidenced by the location of the station, he revealed that the project will offer students first-hand experience with the latest innovations in mobility and renewable power technology.

“It is strategized to be an effective platform for focused research and development into even more applicable vehicle electrification solutions for Nigeria and Africa,” he stated.

The NADDC Director-General also emphasizes the agency’s efforts in driving the adoption, development, manufacturing, and usage of advanced technology in the country’s automotive sector.

In his opinion, these developments underscore the need for the world to transition from the use of fossil fuels to clean energy. As such, Nigeria is demonstrating an active commitment to the protection of the environment through zero-emissions vehicles.

“For the automotive sector, it means vehicles that are highly embedded with ICT solutions, connectivity between the vehicles themselves, their users, and the road infrastructure. It means vehicles that think for themselves and are, therefore, safer, more efficient, and better for humanity. 

And most important of all is the revolutionary paradigm shift in the type of energy that would power this new generation of vehicles.

We are now in the vehicle electrification era: cars, trucks, and buses- all powered by electricity. A strategic transition from fossil fuel (that is, petrol,/diesel) to pure electric power.” 

Giving the technical details of the charging station, Aliyu said, “This EV charging station is 100% solar powered.

The installation consists of 60 PV monocrystalline solar arrays (panels), which have a capacity of 86.4kW per hour, there are three online-offline 5kVA Hybrid inverters synchronized together to give 15kVA/48 watts, and we have 36 units of deep-cycle gel batteries with an output of 48 volts/19 and 0.”

The power bank consists of 36 units of dry cell, deep cycle batteries of up to 95kWh storage capacity. The system provides ordinary 13A and 15A sockets that can support all types of normal chargers. The station also provides a 7.4kW CCS fast charger and can support up to 11kW types”, he added.