Just in time for Earth Day, a solar-powered charging station for electric and hybrid vehicles has been installed on the Embarcadero at Green Street—handily and not coincidentally, right across from the Exploratorium, that bastion of fascinating science fun that also happens to have a solar-paneled roof.

While the museum had nothing to do with it, the people in charge did choose the spot intentionally, "We’re trying to find places that are diverse, that are highly visible, where people either walk by or drive by,”said Maureen Blanc, director of Charge Across Town, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting electric transportation in the Bay Area. It landed grants to buy the stations from San Diego-based Envision Solar and worked with the city to place them.

So if you see a large canopy over a parking spot that has a heavy steel gauge plate on it, that's what it is. The canopy will turn in the direction of the sun, so you'll see it arching toward the East Bay in the mornings and back toward the city as afternoon settles in. A 22.5-kilowatt lithium ion battery stores the energy and delivers a charge that lasts for about 150 miles. It's free to plug in, though it's limited to two hours and you still have to pay to park. The official trademarked name is the Electric Vehicle Autonomous Renewable Charger (EV ARC).

Unveiled at a press conference at 10am last Friday, this is one of three solar charging stations in the "Driving on Sunshine" pilot program. The others are located at the Stonestown Galleria Mall, parking lot D, and at 17th and Shotwell streets in the Mission at a City CarShare Pod near the 16th Street BART station (this one is exclusively used by a City CarShare vehicle for its members).

Ribbon cutting at EV ARC on the Embarcadero. Left to right: Maureen Blanc, Executive Director of Charge Across Town; Roger Kim, Senior Advisor, Mayor's office; Desmond Wheatley, CEO, Envision Solar; Rick Hutchinson, CEO, City CarShare; Monique Moyer, Executive Director, Port of San Francisco (Photo: Charge Across Town)

"The goal of the campaign is to get more and more people to drive by and go, 'Wow, what’s that?'" Blanc said. "We’re trying to educate consumers that they can drive on sunshine, off the grid." The group is monitoring each site to discover how much energy is being produced and used, and will move the three stations to new locations every three months for the rest of the year. After that, it'll donate the charging stations to the city to place at the three sites that had the most impact.

Charge Across Town received a $200,000 grant for the three stations from the 11th Hour Project, a program from the Schmidt Family Foundation, and worked with with the San Francisco Department of the Environment on putting them in. Each station cost roughly $40,000, though some models can cost up to $60,000. The rest of the grant is being applied toward educational signage, service and maintenance, consultants and insurance, Blanc said.

Bob Hayden, manager of clean transportation programs at the San Francisco Department of the Environment, said there are already about 300 electric charging stations throughout the city and the airport; of these, the city owns about 100. Those are at more than 20 city-owned garages, and the other public ones are distributed around commercial parking lots, hotels and shopping centers, he said. This program will allow the city to see if it's feasible to place solar charging stations in places like surface lots that aren't wired for electricity, he said.

Even if you're juicing up at a conventional charger, don't feel bad: Hayden said because city property receives electricity from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and its electricity is hydroelectric, "If you charge your car in a city-owned garage, you’re driving on renewable energy." He also suggested that people consider installing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on their roof in order to indirectly harness renewable energy for their electric and hybrid cars.

If you're concerned about giving up conventional parking spaces so electric vehicles (EVs) can charge up, don't be: Hayden said based on government rebates his department tracks, there are at least 40,000 plug-in vehicles in the nine-county Bay Area. "It makes it the hottest market for EVs anywhere in the country," he said. "It works out to almost 40 percent of all of the plug-in vehicles in the state of California, even though we have 17 percent of population. California is more than a third of the national market."

So the issue going forward will not be having too many spot for EVs, but not enough. (Anyone in the FiDi who sees a virtual parade of Teslas daily can attest to that.)

EV ARC on the Embarcadero. Photo: Charge Across Town

The push to add more charging stations is part of Gov. Jerry Brown's executive order to place 1.5 million zero emission vehicles on the road in California by 2025, said Renee Dunn Martin, public relations manager for the Port of San Francisco. The charging station on the Embarcadero is on Port property, and the Port is making more efforts to "go green," Dunn Martin said. It plans to convert its fleet of vehicles to electric or alternative fuels, and has 10 bicycles for Port staff to use to commute to meetings at other sites. 

"What a perfect time to install this pilot as we celebrate Earth Day this week," Dunn Martin said. "We are excited it’s here along the waterfront. We’re delighted that we were chosen to be part of the pilot program and look forward to expansion in the future."