In the small Tennessee city of Paris, the American EV manufacturer’s first solar-powered EV chargers have been turned on by Rivian and solar company Clearloop.
The city, which features a 70-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, and has a population of about 10,000, is the first in the United States to make use of Rivian’s solar-powered EV charging stations.
Rivian’s top-up booths, known as Waypoints, are powered by a nearby solar farm with a total capacity of 1 megawatt (MW), but the company hopes to raise more funding for a larger 6.75 MW project that will power all Waypoints chargers in the state.
The Waypoints chargers, according to Rivian, are Level 2 stations accessible to all EVs that can offer up to 11.5 kW of power and are situated “near shops, restaurants, hotels, parks, and more.”
11 Tennessee state parks now have Rivian’s Waypoints EV stalls installed:
Randor Lake
Cumberland Mountain
South Cumberland
Montgomery Bell
Cove Lake
Indian Mountain
Meeman-Shelby Forest
Natchez Trace
Warrior’s Path
Fall Creek Falls
Pickwick Landing
The Rivian Adventure Network, a stronger charging system that is only available to Rivian’s cars, is made up of stalls that can deliver direct current (DC) at rates of up to 200 kW. More than 3,500 fast charging stations, all powered by renewable energy, will be unveiled by the EV automaker throughout the US and Canada.
According to Laura Zapata, CEO of Clearloop, “what this means is that we are connecting the links between a charging station for EVs brought by Rivian, which manufactures electric SUVs and electric trucks right here in the US, and the solar project that is going up in Henry County.”
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