Pioneering technology will see EV charging points dispense purified drinking water at Dundee’s Clepington Road hub.
In April, 60 electric car charging sockets will go live at the site next to Dundee City Council’s Clepington Road offices.
Eighteen will be for public use, with the rest serving Dundee City Council’s fleet of vehicles.
A large canopy of solar panels will power the charging points.
And in an industry first, they will include a state of the art water filtration system providing drivers with the purest of drinking water.
So you can fill your water bottle. Or just top up your screen washers.
Justin Meyer is managing director of Swarco Smart Charging, which has its base at Dundee’s Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc.
He says by combining a range of cutting edge technologies the site is as sustainable as possibly can be.
“I think this is an incredibly innovative and important site,” he adds.
Drinking water from a charging hub? Now that’s clever
Justin explains the technology behind the water dispensers.
“On the public charging side we have a system where it catches rain that falls on the solar canopy solution.
“That rain is then sent through a filtration system and out through dispensing units on either side of that public charging hub.
“EV drivers can use that as fresh water to drink but they can also use that to top up their windscreen washers if required to.”
Justin says the rainwater harvesting system – made by a company called Bluewater – is not just a first for Swarco but “a first for the electric vehicle charging industry”.
Meanwhile, the charging hub has a few more surprises.
It will have two 360kWh battery storage units, and these also have a twist.
The lithium batteries in the storage units are old car batteries.
“These are batteries that have come to the end of their first life in an electric car,” says Justin.
“From a sustainability perspective, we’re giving those batteries a second life.”
Why Dundee is Scotland’s pioneering EV city
Justin can’t praise Dundee highly enough.
He said: “Dundee has really pioneered electric vehicle charging provision.”
EV charging firm Swarco first teamed up with Dundee City Council in 2011.
“What we noticed from the really early days is Dundee is a council that is fully committed to reducing carbon emissions through all modes of transport.
“They’ve really played their part in setting up the electric charging network in Dundee, which is incredibly impressive.”
But he says authorities across Scotland need to replicate this if motorists are to ditch petrol and diesel cars for EVs.
While Dundee is “ahead of most local authorities across the UK” other regions need to do “a lot more work”.
And Justin says sufficient and reliable charging infrastructure is “critical” in the uptake of EVs.
“There are some quite sizable EV charging infrastructure schemes being deployed across the country.
“I would say over the next 24 months we will see a substantially larger charging provision which will help those make that decision to make the transfer over to an EV.”
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