American photovoltaic manufacturer Evergreen Solar recently unveiled a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station in a major commercial district of Frankfurt, Germany, an event that may seem banal given Germany’s solar pedigree yet marks a small milestone in the slow convergence of solar panels and electric vehicles. The fueling station, which is free of charge, provides electric power to small-scale electric vehicles such as scooters, Segways and electric bikes via six charging ports, all of which are completely powered by an array of roof-mounted solar panels. The Marlboro, Massachusetts-based solar photovoltaic manufacturer spent €65,000 (US $85,229) on the installation, which is expected to produce approximately 21 kilowatt-hours of electricity “on a summer day” and “enough annually to power 115,000 kilometers of travel for the average e-scooter.”

We can only assume that Evergreen is receiving some sort of hefty subsidy from the German government in order to recoup the installation costs, though in environmentally-conscious U.S. cities such as San Francisco and Portland such a venture is certainly worthy of consideration, if only for municipal vehicles right now. After all, both of the aforementioned cities, in their battle for title of greenest city in America, have already installed electric-vehicle plug-in stations around town—with San Francisco’s in front of City Hall (how’s that for a statement?)—though, surprisingly enough, Chicago beat both of them to install America’s first solar-powered electric automobile charging station. As of right now, Chicago’s Solar Plug-In Station serves only the City of Chicago Department of Fleet Management, but with enough consumers driving electric vehicles, who knows what an enterprising manufacturer might do? While a boom in American moped use seems unlikely (even the cute Vespa couldn’t convert us), if the popularity of Hybrids is any indicator, electric cars do have a market, and as they become increasingly price-competitive, that market can only grow.