To follow up on this story, these carports created by the New York Institute of Technology were in the news again. Last month, the school’s experiment was given an award by the Solar Industry Awards. They were granted a 6KC award for designing and installing these prototype solar carports.

Although other solar carports have been installed on Long Island since then, these by NYIT stand out for their practicality for the future. As we’ve seen in many instances regarding solar carports, the energy generated by them displaces that of the electric grid used by a nearby building. Although, in the short term, this lessens the dependence on the electric grid and other forms of energy (nuclear and coal, for example), it doesn’t address the issue of electric cars, particularly as domestic and overseas car manufacturers have been developing hybrid and fully electric vehicles.

With the solar carports by NYIT, vehicles can be charged underneath through solar energy. The car will then be able to go a certain distance, before needing another change. In the case of the students involved in this experiment, they would charge the cars at school and at home.