The category exists. The combination does not.
Solar canopy tables are already sold in Britain and the United States, and seat-first smart benches are in thousands of streets[1],[2],[4]. Not one of them puts a shading canopy, reclaimed second-life modules, a material compounded from waste, free charging as stated policy and a mesh routing layer into the same object. This page holds every rival we could verify, what they publish, and the eight things we still have to prove.
4x to 12x
Our array against a 100 W seat bench
Estimated5x to 10x
Our storage against a 0.5 kWh pack
Estimated3.2 m2
Hard shade nobody else carries
SpecifiedOn the engineering envelope we are ahead by a wide margin. On commercial credibility we are behind, and that is the work.
The nearest product to ours is British: The Solar Range sells a solar canopy over a picnic table with charging, lighting and 4G, protected by UK patent GB2542927[1],[10]. The widest catalogue is American: SELS lists canopy tables, charging benches, shelters and a Stag Table at USD 3,300, marketed as Made in USA, though the collection pages publish no array watts, no battery capacity, no wind case and no warranty terms, so a buyer cannot compare energy at all[2]. The volume incumbent is European: Include's Steora Classic puts 99 W and roughly half a kilowatt-hour into a seat, with a Wi-Fi hotspot and the Solos fleet platform, across more than two thousand benches[4]. The best documented British rival is Kinley's Sorra: 100 W under toughened double glass, 36 Ah gel or 40 Ah lithium, three charging ports, FSC Iroko on steel, ISO 9001[5].
Against that field our array is four to twelve times larger, our storage five to ten times larger, and we carry shade. But Steora has thousands of units in the ground and a fleet platform, Kinley publishes certification we have not yet issued, and The Solar Range holds a patent we have not yet cleared. Better product, weaker proof. The scorecard at the foot of this page is how that gets closed.
Products that put a real photovoltaic canopy over a seating deck. This is our category, and it already has occupants on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Solar Range[1]
United KingdomSolar Canopy (canopy, table, bench run)
- Published price
- Unpublished, quotation only
- What they publish
- Photovoltaic canopy over a picnic table format, USB and wireless charging, LED lighting, 4G connectivity and Bluetooth audio. Protected by UK patent GB2542927.
- Where they are strong
- Closest single product to ours, British, and already holding a granted UK patent over a solar canopy table arrangement.
- Where they leave a gap
- Virgin materials, new modules, no circular feedstock story, no mesh layer, and charging framed as a site amenity rather than a public good.
- Our observation, 23 August 2026
- The patent is the reason our freedom-to-operate opinion has to be written before we quote a canopy table in the UK.
SELS, Smart Era Lighting Systems[2]
United StatesST1020 and ST1030 MU canopy tables, Stag Table, SB1050 to SB1070 benches
- Published price
- Stag Table listed at USD 3,300; canopy tables from roughly USD 3,300
- What they publish
- Solar charging and connectivity tables and benches with USB ports, wireless charging pads, accent LED lighting, Wi-Fi, some units with 120 V AC and ADA compliant seating. Marketed as Made in USA.
- Where they are strong
- Widest catalogue in the category, transactional Shopify checkout, ADA compliant options and a clear US public-sector sales motion.
- Where they leave a gap
- Collection pages publish no array watts, no battery capacity, no wind case and no warranty terms, so a buyer cannot compare energy at all. No reclaimed content and no material story.
- Our observation, 23 August 2026
- Checked on the date below: the product imagery across the solar charging collection is dominated by studio renders and cut-out composites on transparent or blank backgrounds rather than installed-site photography. That is our observation of the imagery, not a claim about how it was produced.
Sun Charge Systems[3]
United StatesNorthport Canopy Charging Bench
- Published price
- Unpublished, quotation only
- What they publish
- Canopy charging bench in the order of 60 W of photovoltaic with two 14 Ah batteries, USB charging and LED lighting.
- Where they are strong
- Genuine canopy format at a small, easily shipped scale.
- Where they leave a gap
- Roughly 0.34 kWh of storage. A cloudy British week empties it, so charging becomes intermittent exactly when people need it.
Seat-first products with a panel laid into the seat or backrest. Far more units in the ground than the canopy tables, and the reference point every buyer already knows.
Include, Steora[4]
Croatia, sold across the UK and EUSteora Classic smart bench, plus Standard CR refurbished line
- Published price
- Unpublished, quotation only; UK resale typically five figures per installed cluster
- What they publish
- 99 W power output, lithium-ion pack, 2 x Qi wireless charging, 4 x USB fast charge with Apple, Qualcomm and Samsung fast-charge support, Wi-Fi hotspot, under-seat ambient LED, managed through the Solos platform. Alu-zinc, aluminium and hot-dip galvanised steel to EN 10346 and ISO 2081.
- Where they are strong
- The volume incumbent, with over 2,000 benches across 550 cities, a real fleet management platform, and a certified refurbished line built from retired bench parts.
- Where they leave a gap
- No shade, no shelter, roughly half a kilowatt-hour of storage, and virgin metals throughout. Refurbishment covers benches, not photovoltaic modules.
Kinley[5]
United KingdomSorra solar bench, and Sorra Half solar strip
- Published price
- Unpublished, quotation only
- What they publish
- 2790 x 780 x 450 mm, 180 to 193 kg. 100 W panel under toughened double-layer glass, 36 Ah gel or 40 Ah LiFePO4 battery, 4.8 W LED, 2 x USB-A 3.0 and 1 x USB-C 3.0 quick charge. Carbon or stainless steel with FSC certified Iroko slats. Rated -20 C to +60 C. ISO 9001:2015 and BS EN 9001. Optional Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth audio, wireless charging.
- Where they are strong
- Best documented rival in Britain: published dimensions, battery, temperature range and certification, with genuinely handsome detailing.
- Where they leave a gap
- A 100 W strip on a seat, so about a tenth of our array, and FSC tropical hardwood rather than a reclaimed or bio-based deck. Half-strip variant trades generation away for looks.
EnGoPlanet[6]
United States and SerbiaSolar smart bench and street light range
- Published price
- Unpublished, quotation only
- What they publish
- Solar smart benches with USB and wireless charging, lighting and optional environmental sensing, sold alongside solar street lighting.
- Where they are strong
- Broad smart-city framing with sensing and lighting sold as one package.
- Where they leave a gap
- Seat-mounted generation and no circular material claim.
Established British furniture manufacturers adding a solar option to an existing range. Weakest energy, strongest specification frameworks and buyer relationships.
Environmental Street Furniture[7]
Northern IrelandWoody Scorpio solar USB bench
- Published price
- Unpublished, quotation only
- What they publish
- Timber-clad bench with a small solar module driving USB charging and integral lighting.
- Where they are strong
- Established UK local-authority supply routes and a recycled-plastic furniture line.
- Where they leave a gap
- Charging is a light amenity, not an energy system. No canopy and no storage at usable scale.
Furnitubes International[8]
United KingdomVeeva Sol and comparable solar seat options
- Published price
- Unpublished, quotation only
- What they publish
- Solar option added to a standard steel and timber seating range, powering USB and lighting.
- Where they are strong
- Deep specification presence with landscape architects and highways teams, and full BS compliance packs.
- Where they leave a gap
- Solar is an accessory to a catalogue seat rather than a designed energy platform.
LC Green[9]
ItalyPorthos solar bench
- Published price
- Unpublished, quotation only
- What they publish
- Solar bench with USB and wireless charging and optional connectivity module.
- Where they are strong
- Italian design language and European public-realm references.
- Where they leave a gap
- Small array, no shade and no reclaimed content.
Every figure a competitor publishes, beside every figure we specify.
Where a rival publishes nothing, the cell reads unpublished. We do not fill their gaps with our guesses. Our own row is written from the variant list and the specification register, so it cannot drift from the product pages[11].
| Product | Array | Storage | Shade | Ports | Connectivity | Materials | Reclaimed content | Published price | Made in | Stated certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canopei Classic 6 (flagship) | 810 W (range 405 to 1,215 W) | 2.4 kWh, 5.1 kWh option | 2,000 x 1,700 mm canopy at 10 degrees, 3.2 m2 | 6 x USB-C PD, 2 x Qi, 1 x 230 V on request | Two SIMs with separate jobs: one carries the public hotspot only, up to 10 devices; one carries the Enigma Mesh control plane only. Plus a LoRa rnode. Both lines multi-network switching and hardware-rooted. | Recycled polymer and cellulose composite deck, steel frame | Second-life modules plus recycled plastic and biomass cellulose | GBP 3,650 list | Manchester, United Kingdom | BS EN 581, IEC 62109, IP65 target, wind case to BS EN 1991-1-4 |
| The Solar Range, Solar Canopy | Unpublished | Unpublished | Full canopy over table | USB and wireless charging | 4G and Bluetooth audio | Steel and timber, virgin | None stated | Unpublished | United Kingdom | Patent GB2542927 stated |
| SELS ST1030 MU canopy table | Unpublished | Unpublished | Canopy over picnic table | USB, wireless pads, 120 V AC on some units | Wi-Fi | Steel and WPC, virgin | None stated | From about USD 3,300 (Stag Table listed) | United States | ADA compliant options stated |
| Sun Charge Northport canopy bench | About 60 W | About 0.34 kWh (2 x 14 Ah) | Small canopy | USB | None stated | Steel, virgin | None stated | Unpublished | United States | None published |
| Include Steora Classic | 99 W output | Lithium-ion pack, about 0.5 kWh class | None | 4 x USB fast charge, 2 x Qi | Wi-Fi hotspot, Solos fleet platform | Alu-zinc, aluminium, galvanised steel, virgin | Standard CR refurbished bench line | Unpublished | Croatia | EN 10346, ISO 2081, CE |
| Kinley Sorra | 100 W | 36 Ah gel or 40 Ah LiFePO4, about 0.45 to 0.5 kWh | None | 2 x USB-A, 1 x USB-C | Optional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth | Carbon or stainless steel, FSC Iroko | None stated | Unpublished | United Kingdom | ISO 9001:2015, BS EN 9001 |
| ESF Woody Scorpio | Small module, unpublished | Unpublished | None | USB | None stated | Timber and recycled plastic options | Recycled plastic furniture line | Unpublished | Northern Ireland | BS compliance pack on request |
Swipe sideways for storage, materials, price and certification
A bigger array only matters because there is a canopy to carry it.
A seat can hold about 100 W before it stops being a seat. A canopy holds 405 to 1,215 W and gives shade and rain cover while it does. That is the whole argument: the multiple below is not clever electronics, it is roof area on land already in use. Storage is the second half. Half a kilowatt-hour is a top-up in sunshine; 2.4 kWh is a service that survives a British week of cloud, which is what free charging has to do if it is going to be dependable rather than decorative.
4x to 12x
Array against a 100 W seat bench
Estimated5x to 10x
Storage against a 0.5 kWh pack
Estimated810 W
Flagship Classic 6 array
Specified3.2 m2
Hard shade per canopy pair
SpecifiedWe sit inside the price band the category has already set.
Only one rival publishes a number at all: SELS lists the Stag Table at USD 3,300[2]. Our flagship lands at GBP 3,650 with eight times the array and five times the storage. Everyone else quotes privately, and we show that as unpublished rather than inventing a figure.
- Price
- GBP 2,450
- Basis
- Our list price, 405 W
- Price
- GBP 3,200
- Basis
- Our list price, 700 W
- Price
- USD 3,300
- Basis
- Listed on selsled.com
- Price
- GBP 3,650
- Basis
- Our list price, 810 W, flagship
- Price
- GBP 4,200
- Basis
- Our list price, linked canopies
- Price
- GBP 4,600
- Basis
- Our list price, 1,215 W
- Price
- Unpublished
- Basis
- Quotation only
- Price
- Unpublished
- Basis
- Quotation only
- Price
- Unpublished
- Basis
- Quotation only
Seven of the eight are now closed. The eighth needs a bench in the ground.
This started as eight places a rival was ahead of us. Everything that could be closed with published work has been published: compliance, warranty, fleet software, freedom to operate, procurement, accessible access and honest imagery. What remains is an install base, and no amount of writing produces one.
7
Closed and published on this platform
Published1
Open, needs a built and sited unit
Open0
Rivals publishing their programme before holding the certificate
Verified- Status
- Open
- Where we stand now
- Steora publishes over 2,000 benches in 550 cities. We have none in the ground.
- What still remains
- An install base cannot be published into existence. This row stays open by definition until the first unit is built and sited.
- Owner
- Commercial and delivery
- Status
- Closed: Compliance matrix
- Where we stand now
- Kinley states ISO 9001 and BS EN; Steora states CE and EN 10346. Our standards, clauses, test houses, sample counts and costs are now published in full.
- What still remains
- Six certificate numbers, which require physical samples at a test house.
- Owner
- Engineering
- Status
- Closed: Imagery rule and demonstrator
- Where we stand now
- Every render on the platform is now labelled at the image. The scale demonstrator programme and the photography brief are published.
- What still remains
- Photographs of a full-size unit in a real street, occupied.
- Owner
- Brand
- Status
- Closed: Canopei Fleet
- Where we stand now
- Steora sells Solos. Canopei Fleet is now named, specified and demonstrable, with a tiered host, operator and public uptime view.
- What still remains
- Real telemetry from a real bench in place of the simulated feed.
- Owner
- Software and EN/ABEL
- Status
- Closed: Warranty and lifecycle
- Where we stand now
- Competitors publish battery life and warranty years. We now publish a per-subsystem warranty schedule, a spares price list and a take-back commitment, which is more than any rival in the field.
- What still remains
- Field failure data to revise assumed rates into measured ones.
- Owner
- Commercial
- Status
- Closed: Freedom to operate
- Where we stand now
- The Solar Range holds UK patent GB2542927. Our claim-by-claim read-across and design-around position is now published rather than pending.
- What still remains
- The signed attorney opinion on file, which is a procurement, not a research, task.
- Owner
- Legal
- Status
- Closed: Buyer pack
- Where we stand now
- The street furniture majors sit on frameworks we are not on. A tender-ready specification, social value evidence and the commercial pack are now published.
- What still remains
- A framework award, which needs one installed reference.
- Owner
- Commercial
- Status
- Closed: Accessible variant
- Where we stand now
- SELS markets ADA compliant seating. Our accessible variant is now published with dimensions, reach heights and an approach envelope, cited against BS 8300.
- What still remains
- A review on a built unit with a disabled users' panel.
- Owner
- Engineering and brand
Turn the scorecard into work
Each row is broken into dated actions, owners and evidence on the differentiation roadmap, which separates what we could close before a unit exists from what genuinely needs a built and installed bench.
Twelve rows nobody else in the category can fill.
Parity was the floor. These are capabilities that come from the model rather than the product, which is why a rival cannot answer them by adding a feature. Where a competitor does part of a row, they are credited in it.
| Capability | Canopei | The field | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two SIMs with separate jobs | One line for the public hotspot only, one for the mesh control plane only, so public traffic can never slow or confuse bench operation. | No rival publishes a second line at all. Connectivity is a single hotspot or a single 4G module. | Connectivity stack |
| Multi-network switching per line | Each SIM scans every licensed UK network and moves to the strongest signal, so coverage is the union of all networks. | Single-operator SIMs. A weak operator on that street is a connectivity fault. | Connectivity stack |
| Hardware-rooted SIM security | Line cryptographically bound to the device: SIM swap and port-out fail, with IMSI catcher and SS7 defence. | Not mentioned by any competitor on any product page. | Connectivity stack |
| Mesh radio independent of any operator | LoRa rnode on the Enigma Mesh, working with no cellular network present at all. | Absent. Every rival needs an operator to be reachable. | Mesh density |
| Published per-subsystem warranty and spares pricing | Warranty by subsystem, part-level spares price list, plank-level repair instructions. | Warranty years stated in some cases. No published spares pricing anywhere in the field. | Warranty |
| Published certification programme before certification | Every standard, clause, test house, sample count, cost and target date published now. | Certificates published where held. Nobody publishes the programme. | Compliance matrix |
| Named fleet platform with a public uptime page | Canopei Fleet, tiered host, operator and open public uptime view. | Steora sells Solos, which is a genuine platform. No rival publishes an open uptime page. | Canopei Fleet |
| Accessible variant published with dimensions | Table clearance, knee depth, approach envelope and socket reach heights as numbers. | SELS states ADA compliant options. No dimensions published. | Accessible variant |
| Freedom to operate position published | Claim-by-claim read-across of GB2542927 with a design-around note. | Not published by anyone, including the patent holder. | Freedom to operate |
| Circular feedstock as the default input | Roof-removed modules, tree timber and hemp residue, with suppliers gaining a saved disposal cost rather than an invoice. | ESF runs a recycled plastic furniture line. Nobody uses reclaimed photovoltaic modules. | Circular materials |
| One donated bench per four sold | Funded from the profit pledge, sited in the grower regions that supply the material, delivering charging and mesh where there is neither power nor signal. | No give-back programme published by any competitor in the category. | One in four |
| The full loop, end to end | Twelve steps from waste in to profit returned, each with a page that evidences it. | Between two and four of the twelve steps, depending on the company. | The 360 model |
Scroll to compare
The reason none of it is copyable
A competitor can add a canopy or a bigger battery in a product cycle. They cannot retrofit a material supply chain that pays suppliers by saving them a disposal cost, a sovereign connectivity layer with two separate lanes, or a give-back programme that routes one bench in four to the regions that grew the deck. See the 360 model for the whole loop, and one in four for the global programme.
Every competitor claim, with its source.
Each entry was read on 23 August 2026. Where a company later publishes a figure they currently withhold, this table changes rather than our narrative.
Sources
Checked 23 August 2026
- [1]
Solar Canopy: solar picnic table and bench with charging · The Solar Range
The closest UK canopy table product, its charging and connectivity feature set, and UK patent GB2542927.
Verified
- [2]
Solar charging stations and outdoor furniture collection · Smart Era Lighting Systems (SELS)
The SELS catalogue: ST1020 and ST1030 MU canopy tables, SB1050 to SB1070 benches, Stag Table listed at USD 3,300, Made in USA claim, USB, wireless, 120 V AC and ADA compliant options, and the absence of published array or battery figures.
Verified
- [3]
Northport Canopy Charging Bench · Sun Charge Systems
Canopy charging bench at roughly 60 W with two 14 Ah batteries.
Verified
- [4]
Steora Classic smart bench · Include Ltd
99 W output, lithium-ion pack, 2 x Qi and 4 x USB fast charging, Wi-Fi module, under-seat LED, Solos platform, alu-zinc and galvanised steel to EN 10346 and ISO 2081, and the installed base across cities.
Verified
- [5]
Sorra solar bench and Sorra Half solar strip · Kinley
2790 x 780 x 450 mm, 100 W panel under toughened double glass, 36 Ah gel or 40 Ah LiFePO4, 4.8 W LED, 2 x USB-A and 1 x USB-C, FSC Iroko, ISO 9001:2015, -20 C to +60 C.
Verified
- [6]
Solar smart benches and street lighting · EnGoPlanet
Solar smart bench range with charging, lighting and sensing options.
Verified
- [7]
Woody Scorpio solar bench · Environmental Street Furniture
Timber-clad solar USB bench and the recycled plastic furniture line.
Verified
- [8]
Veeva seating range and solar options · Furnitubes International
Solar option added to a standard specification seating range.
Verified
- [9]
- [10]
Patent GB2542927: solar canopy table arrangement · Intellectual Property Office (UK)
The granted UK patent cited by The Solar Range, and the freedom-to-operate action it creates for us.
Verified
- [11]
Canopei specification register and variant list prices · Canopei
Our own row in the matrix: 405 to 1,215 W arrays, 2.4 kWh storage with a 5.1 kWh option, 3.2 m2 canopy, and GBP 2,450 to 4,600 list prices.
Verified
- [12]
Array and storage multiples against seat-first benches · Canopei
Our four to twelve times array multiple and five to ten times storage multiple, computed from the published competitor figures in this table against our own specified figures.
Estimated