What’s even greener than driving a 100 percent electric car?

How about recharging it with electricity generated by a solar canopy that also shades the vehicle?

By year’s end, Karl Chevrolet in Ankeny plans to install the specially designed photovoltaic canopy at its dealership to recharge its all-electric sedan, the Volt. Bob Brown Chevrolet will also install a canopy at its new dealership now under construction in Urbandale. The canopies are part of the Chevy Green Zone Initiative, a partnership between General Motors Ventures LLC and Sunlogics PLC, a Michigan-based solar energy company.

“The canopy is designed to collect renewable solar energy and protect the Volt from overexposure to the sun, which in turn helps prolong the life of the battery system,” said Scot Johnson, marketing director for Karl Chevrolet, which plans to install a six-bay canopy. The system will generate enough electricity to provide 12 full vehicle charges per day, he said.

Matt Brown, general manager of Bob Brown Chevrolet, said his dealership will install an eight-bay canopy, and expects to have that many Volts to park under it when the new facility opens this spring.

When the canopies aren’t being used to recharge Volts, they’ll provide supplemental power for the dealerships. GM claims each canopy could supply 25 percent of a dealership’s energy needs. Since the systems don’t store electricity, they won’t power the car lots’ lights at night, however.

Though just seven Green Zones have been installed so far nationwide, more than 150 have been ordered, a GM spokeswoman said. However, Volt owners won’t be able to buy their own canopies quite yet, she said.