The cities.multimodal partner and UBC member, Karlskrona municipality, made a big step towards sustainable and renewable energy use in the mobility sector. On April 27th Karlskronas municipal commissioner for planning and environment, Magnus Larsson, revealed the name of the new charging station to the public in the opening ceremony: Energiraffen. The name was chosen by pupils of a local school during an idea competition during spring 2019.
“The winning name is a funny and smart name with a clear reference to both function and appearance” says Kent Lindström, Head of the logistic department in Karlskrona municipality.
The charging station is a hybrid power plant, which can charge electric vehicles with energy from wind and sun. The solution consists of a wooden structure made from renewable and recycled material, that includes 24 solar panels and a wind turbine that was installed in 12m height
Several exciting speakers within the energy sector were present at the opening ceremony: Mr Tomas Kåberger, professor in renewable energy at Chalmers University, Chairman of the Renewable Energy Institute in Tokyo as well as the former General Director of the Swedish Energy Agency talked about the importance of renewable energy for electric vehicles. Mr Sigvald Harryson, Professor in Disruptiv Innovation in San Francisco and founder of InnoVentum (the company that delivered the sun-giraffe) stressed the importance of using environmentally friendly material and smart design, when it comes to renewable energy solutions.
From now on, some of the municipalities electric vehicles will be charged with energy from wind and sun. This means that the energy can be generated day and night, summer and winter and this delivers also an important statement for the environment.
“The wind and solar energy plant will give us enough energy to charge two electric cars and that without emitting a single gram of CO2, said Magnus Larsson.
The “energiraffen” was erected in connection to Karlskrona´s mobility point, which includes shared e-bikes and electric cars and where also commuter boats leave to the bigger islands of the archipelago, thus allow an easy interchange between these means of transport to citizens and tourists.