In what continues to feel like the ultimate tool hack, I’ve been running my electric tractor completely off-grid. I haven’t paid to charge it in months and it feels like I’m somehow cheating, always having the power of heavy machinery at my fingertips with absolutely zero fuel cost.
Here’s how I wake up to a full “tank” every day, for free.
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Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, has installed an off-grid solar tracker EV charging station for its employees.
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The British military has placed a $1 million order for San Diego-based Beam Global’s (Nasdaq: BEEM) off-grid solar EV chargers.
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BLUETTI just launched the MultiCooler, its first portable fridge freezer powered by solar panels or hot-swappable batteries.
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Meet PairTree – a solar-powered canopy that charges EVs off-grid – that’s made by US-based solar charging infrastructure manufacturer Paired Power.
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Pioneering luxury off-grid travel trailer company Living Vehicle released its newest HD24 model Tuesday. The new all-electric trailer boasts the same advanced features (like an all-solar roof) and capabilities as its flagship model, only in a smaller package.
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ZOLA Electric, a Tesla-backed company providing energy to remote African villages through solar and batteries, has announced the deployment of a new microgrid system that is powering 1,000 homes, schools, and businesses in two villages in Rwanda.
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Portable power stations are the 21st century gear that I wish I’ve had for my entire life. With the advent of lighter and smaller lithium-ion batteries combined with small-scale AC inverters, we can finally bring a wall outlet with us wherever we go. And while Electrek has tested plenty of options for North American users, what about all the Europeans out there?
Don’t fear, my fellow sensical-unit-of-measure compatriots! For today we’re checking out Yose Power’s 388 Wh portable power station, complete with both DC output and Type C “Euro-plug” AC port.
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Four Swiss universities came together to build the US Department of Energy’s 2017 Solar Decathlon overall winner. Eleven teams competed over the course of two years to build a home taking into account modern global demands of “reliability, resilience, and security.”
The Swiss schools – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, School of Engineering and Architecture Fribourg, Geneva University of Art and Design, and the University of Fribourg – scored perfect 100’s in energy, architecture and engineering categories.
Tomorrow, Tesla and SolarCity shareholders will vote on the merger of the two companies. While it’s not exactly a done deal, everything points to the merger going through after major institutional shareholders voiced their supports and CEO Elon Musk disclosed that early votes were “overwhelmingly” in favor.
Tesla’s CEO recently mentioned that the combination of energy storage and solar energy will enable developing nations to leapfrog the fossil fuel era and go directly to renewable energy.
The comment is particularly interesting if you consider that through its acquisition of SolarCity, Tesla is acquiring shares in a company that is trying to attempt exactly what Musk was describing.
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On Thursday, Off Grid Electric announced that it had raised US$25 million in a series C round led by the venture capital firm DBL Partners. Previous investors in the company SolarCity, Microsoft co-Founder Paul Allen and eBay Founder Pierre Omidyar’s fund Omidyar Network joined DBL in the financing round. Off Grid Electric, which also advertises under its M-Power brand, offers solar energy as a service in Africa, starting with Tanzania and recently in Rwanda.
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