Techno-Economic and Environmental Assessment of a Solar-Powered Electric Vehicle Charging Station in Türkiye

Solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging stations reduce reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate the negative impacts of the transportation sector on climate change. This study evaluates the techno-economic and environmental performance of a solar-powered EV charging station on a parking lot roof in Kocaeli, T & uuml;rkiye. Various photovoltaic (PV) module technologies and construction types were evaluated to optimize the PV power plant. The integration of storage systems and EV charging stations was then analyzed, with CO2 emission reductions calculated for both the energy produced by the PV power plant and the EVs charged at the station. PV power plant production analyses were performed using the PVsyst and PVsol software. Investment evaluations of system designs were conducted by considering the time value of money. According to the analyses conducted, the PV power plant system with the shortest payback period was designed with a manual single-axis tracking system construction and a bifacial half-cut mono perc PV module. Among the charging station types, DC stations have the highest investment costs but generate the highest revenue, particularly when paired with continuous 5-h charging sales. The design with the quickest payback (1.762 years) combined a 175-kWp PV power plant with a 120-kW DC charging station, achieving a CO2 reduction of 169.880 tons/year. When EV charging stations are integrated into the designed PV power plants, the investment payback periods decrease by 20%-80%. Depending on the fuel type, the avoided emissions from charging EVs ranged from 0.0978 to 0.1754 GgCO2 per year.