Home EV charging is fine if you have your own garage. Sadly, it’s a real pain to organize for those stuck parking on the street, and this can make owning an EV highly impractical. Salvation may be at hand, however, courtesy of Rheinmetall.
The name probably sounds familiar, and for good reason. Rheinmetall is an industrial giant from Germany, famous for its role in building the Leopard 2 tank among many other projects. The company stands as one of Europe’s largest arms manufacturers, but it’s recently been extending itself into the electric vehicle space, too.
The result of that work is the aptly-named Curb Charger. It’s literally an EV charger that sits in place of a section of concrete curb on the side of the road. Why didn’t we think of that?
Thus far, street-based charging solutions have often focused on leveraging things like bollards or existing streetlamps or utility poles. Rheinmetall’s solution is altogether cleaner and lower profile, essentially matching the profile of the street’s existing concrete curb.
The charger is capable of delivering up to 22 kW of power to an electric vehicle. It’s more intended for extended charging sessions in areas where people might park their cars for a long period of time.
While the device is intended to become part of the street infrastructure itself, it’s still been designed with an eye to maintainability. A quick-release system enables the hardware to be swapped out by technicians in the event a charger fails in the field.
The device weighs 176 pounds with its weather resistant stainless steel and aluminum housing. In a nice touch for colder climates, it’s capable of heating itself to ensure the charger isn’t made inaccessible by snow or ice. Being IP68 rated, it can withstand water to a depth of 3.2 feet for 30 minutes, so outside of severe flooding, it should have no problem holding up to the weather.
Indeed, Rheinmetall has demonstrated its safety by pouring a bucket of water over the device while it’s in the middle of charging a vehicle. Built-in drains prevent moisture from building up inside, while an internal water sensor will halt the flow of power in the event the device becomes compromised.
The Curb Charger packs in a 4G modem and ethernet port in order to handle billing and monitoring. Users can interface with the device using a smartphone app, QR codes, or by scanning an RFID tag. Users need to supply their own charging cables, as a built-in cable would compromise the low-profile installation that is the unique selling point of the device.
We see a lot of interesting products pop up in press releases that promise to solve various automotive problems. However, Rheinmetall’s charger isn’t just an idea. It’s already been deployed in the City of Cologne for well over a year. Four chargers racked up more than 2,800 successful charging cycles. Rheinmetall states that the chargers averaged over two charges per day per charging point. They proved reliable, too, with availability over 99%.
Chargers like this could really open up the EV market to the street-parking masses. There are still challenges, mostly around delivering electrical infrastructure to places where it formerly wasn’t needed. Regardless, Rheinmetall’s subtle curbside charger could prove a game-changer for cities looking to offer a realistic street-charging solution that doesn’t clutter the sidewalk.
Top graphic images: Rheinmetall
Am I the only one who hates spec press releases reported as news without the obviously-needed analysis? Just rely on the comments section to do that job, I guess. Lazy.
The Autopian (like the Other Site before it) broadly publishes 3 kinda of articles:
1) well researched deep dives
2) quirky, delightful brain dumps
3) whatever they can get their hands on to meet that day’s target or quota
It’s not really a knock (gotta keep the lights on!), more just a reality
Genuinely cool idea, and a very clean design take. With that said, perhaps a combined parking meter/charge point would make more sense in cities that already use parking meters?
Put it on a post so the plug is oriented vertically (floor outlets in homes are less common now for a reason…) and mount it a little in from the curb and you’ll have yourself a winner.
this is next-level dumb. those curb-charge-amajigs will last 6 months in any *real* city environment. 99% availability? just how many needed service in that year to get that number? grit, salt, oils, garbage, sick and dirt, i.e. “road gravy” will work its way into the connectors, and that will end its useful life…. the sealing i see on its isn’t nearly good enough for a harsh environment like a curb. i don’t care how “weatherproof” they claim it is. and, seriously, pouring a bucket of water on it proves nothing… the fact that they are showing that at all just shows how naïve and ignorant they are.. i can pour a bucket of water on my $89 J1772 charger too and itll be fine…
Two points:
(1) As lots of folks have stated, I can’t see this working anywhere where there is a reasonable amount of snowfall.
(2) More importantly, I think the Europeans have it right where the driver of the car has to supply the cord to charge their car with Level 2 (240V) charging stations. So you just have a more common post/charger but no cord attached.
The biggest problem I find with North American Level 2 chargers is usually some idiot decided to vandalize the cord in some manner. The plugs are often destroyed. Or some yahoo cuts the cord to get the copper wiring. Both render the charger useless.
With no cord to vandalize, I suspect Level 2 chargers in Europe are less likely to be out of service.
Basically what always happened to phone booths until Ma Bell, or whatever it’s called now, decided to stop fixing them and let them die off
I feel like this is already getting behind the times. There’s the technology available right now, to charge the equivalent of my Bolt EV(250 miles of range) in 10 minutes, using the current CCS/NACS connectors, 400 amps at 800 volts, it just comes down to thermal management, 800 volt architecture, more durable chemistry, all of which is already available, it just needs to trickle down to the Leafs and Bolts of the world.
Actually there’s technology available right now to charge the equivalent of my Bolt in 5 minutes using megawatt chargers but that’s for Trucks.
My point being, in 10 years, with wider adoption of these technologies charging could be just as fast as using the gas pump, and probably will be in at least China. And then home charging will still be a great convenience, but solutions like this will seem pointless when you can just run down to the store and charge up 200 miles in 5 minutes.
And this isn’t even factoring other advances in the next 10 years in like wireless charging, if they get the efficiency up and standardize on the format you just park your car on the street, open the app on your phone and away it goes.
Charging at home will likely always remain a fraction of the cost of paying somewhere else.
True, when it’s actual home charging, this doesn’t seem like home charging, even apartment space charging is becoming more widespread, this seems like on the street and probably still a higher rate.
That plug certainly looks like a Level 2 charger. It is not a CCS1 Level 3 plug.
Level 2 charging is in my experience much cheaper than Level 3 charging. It is often free or even just at electricity cost.
There are level 2 sites that charge a rate, and usually higher than home charging, though not as high as level 3 charging.
Street parking is pretty common in Europe, and otherwise the only solution is to charge at work, or drape a charging cable across the pavement somehow.
Well, if you want your car battery to last, it is way better to charge with a Level 2 (240V) charger. The heat and stress put on the battery with Level 3 (400V/800V) chargers is significant and each Level 3 charge wears your battery out much faster.
Tesla used to (and maybe still does?) actually put a warranty limit on the number of Supercharger (Level 3) sessions you could use. So the 8 year warranty on the battery would become void if you did too many Supercharger sessions.
I will repeat that I am not sure if this is still the case with Tesla’s warranty but the Model S most certainly had this warranty limit for a while for a reason.
Level 3 charging is great when travelling and you need a quick charge, but it certainly is not what you want to use all the time if at all possible.
This is where I was saying the 800v architecture, thermal management and LFP chemistry all come into play. LFP can handle charging to 100% and draining to zero without the degradation like NMC, thermal management allows charging at higher amps for longer without degradation, and 800v allows charging more power with equivalent amps.
Like the old saying, the volts that jolt but the mill’s(i-amps) that kill, same for batteries, high amps causes more heat causes faster degradation.
The technology is available for all of this right now, just not widespread, but it’s not science fiction/cold fusion stuff, it’s actually available..
The technology might be available, but how much does it cost to install? My understanding is that level 3 charging requires tens of thousands of dollars in infrastructure upgrades in addition to the cost of the charger itself. These curbside chargers will cost a few hundred dollars and require minimal improvements to existing infrastructure.
If Level 3 charging ever becomes more affordable it would make sense to widely deploy those chargers. Until then, curbside outlets seem like a great option.
Actually not much more, it will probably be the next gen of cars, similar to how long it’s taking for the NACS connectors in North America to roll out. The LFP chemistries are cheaper in materials, it’s just a matter of scaling, GM, Porsche, Kia and Hyundai already do 800v charging and actually should also be cheaper as it doesn’t need as thick of cabling, and thermal management is just having really good AC cool the circuit while charging.
As for infrastructure, that’s the big issue, Europe is getting fairly well covered, the US is much much larger, and getting stations with high powered chargers in every hometown is going to take a while but not as bad as having to install new gas stations. As for the infrastructure hit, they can use battery assisted chargers to help curb utility spikes. That’s why I’m saying probably like 10 years.
I still think the cost difference specifically for the cost of charger installation is going to be a barrier. Level three chargers are very expensive. I can’t even imagine how much a battery assisted charger would cost using today’s technology. You can install 50+ curbside 240 V outlets for the cost of installing one of the most basic level 3 chargers.
Also, Europe has a political climate that is conducive to public investment in EV chargers. With the current US political climate, public investment in EV charging technology will be minimal. Given that, it makes sense to go with the most cost-effective solution.
Additionally, I would also argue that the US actually needs more investment in level 2 charging than level 3 charging. It is relatively easy to find a level 3 charger along a highway (i.e. for road trips). It is far harder to find a level 2 charger in a residential neighborhood (i.e. where people park overnight). Curbside 240V outlets could solve this problem.
That’s interesting arguing against level 3 when the usual argument against EVs is they don’t charge as fast as gas.
I agree we need more level 2, not specifically these as others have said all the issues with curbside, in my town you can’t even park on the street, and up north when they plow it’s prohibited too. I also don’t think the cost is a scale of 50, especially for public chargers that are more ruggedized for public use and have additional hardware for metering/payment, probably like a factor of 10, and then adding in labor and running the electrical and it probably gets down even lower.
But yes, more charging everywhere, electricity is already everywhere so most of the infrastructure is there, a lot of it is just endpoints. Unfortunately as said the US is not as incentivized as Europe or China so again that’s my thought on the 10 years.
I also just think this curbside solution is fairly meh. Like we don’t even have the street light pole options deployed well and they’re gonna try this? Like street lights have actual power run to them already, and are literally a pole that can have the equipment mounted to, and we can’t even get that done, and with this they want to tear up sidewalks and curbing just to add a level 2 spot.
“That’s interesting arguing against level 3 when the usual argument against EVs is they don’t charge as fast as gas.”
I generally hear the charging speed criticism from people who have no experience with EVs (i.e. they don’t know anyone who has owned an EV, nor have they spent much time reading/learning about EVs). I also hear that criticism from people who just don’t want an EV for whatever reason (which is fine; I don’t have a problem with people driving an ICE vehicle out of preference). I don’t think the charging speed criticism is a substantial barrier to EV adoption, even if you hear it frequently.
Realistically, Level 2 charging is more than adequate for the vast majority of driving other than road trips. A level 2 charger will add 20-40 miles range during a 1-2 hour stop (i.e. at a store, restaurant, park, etc.). A level 2 charger will fully charge almost all EVs overnight. Given cars are parked most of the time (and that most drivers use maybe 30% of battery capacity for daily use), ubiquitous level 2 charging is far more useful than adding additional level 3 chargers.
If the difference in cost between L2 and L3 is only 10x (and I’m very skeptical the cost difference is only 10x), I would still argue in favor of spending the money on L2. Level 3 charging might counter the charging time criticism, but it doesn’t improve the experience of owning an EV. EV adoption is better served by improving the experience rather than countering soundbites.
(Just to clarify, I’m not arguing that in-curb 240 volt outlets are the only solution to EV charging. They have some limitations, as you and others have said. While I think they appear to be a convenient, affordable, and unobtrusive way to add level 2 charging capacity, I’m in favor of any solution that increases level 2 charging capacity.)
That is a very rational and pragmatic point of view and I agree with you, but the US is not a rational and pragmatic place. Level 2 was being installed by local governments and that was attacked by the current administration, Chargepoint has a lot of level 2 spots in Hotels and Malls, those are being replaced by level 3 because faster better. In Europe many of the level 3 chargers have a level 2 socket or cord still, but not the ones we get, only level 3.
I have a Ford Ranger Electric that ONLY does level 2, which I have level 2 at home so it’s fine, but I’m actually a little concerned that at some point, maybe in that 10 years, I won’t have any reliable nearby options outside of home to charge it at level 2. Actually right now the best nearby options are government supplied level 2.
So as an EV driver I totally agree that level 2 is great, in fact back in February I charged my Bolt EV at a level 3 charger(it was free and I was just trying it out) and because of the weather and age of my Bolt it only charged at 10kW, so I’m like, could’ve just charged it at home.
But in America, bigger is better, and if you’re trying to sell people on level 2 chargers when they could put level 3 in the same spot, they’re gonna go big.
“But in America, bigger is better, and if you’re trying to sell people on level 2 chargers when they could put level 3 in the same spot, they’re gonna go big.”
Valid point. I think this comes down to perception vs practicality. The practical option is to have a rational mix of L2 and L3 (i.e. level 2 in residential areas and at shopping centers/points of interest) and level 3 focused on highways. I agree most Americans will perceive this mix as inferior to L3 everywhere, though, even if it isn’t.
I am still in favor of the L2/L3 mixed charging solution, though. As EV adoption increases and more people have real world experience with EVs, less people will hold on to the idea that EVs are inferior if they can’t be charged in less than 10 minutes in all situations.
Although, if technology progresses to the point where all vehicles could be charged 10-100% in 10 minutes, that would be great.
Yeah as technology progress, like 5 years ago there was a mix at charge stations, most chargers did 50kW, some did 150kW, as long as you were the only 1 plugged in, and people with faster charging cars would get upset if they saw a slower charging car at the faster charger.
Now at newer stations all the chargers can do 350kW or higher so that’s not even a concern. I’m thinking another 10 years with newer cars it will be even less of a thought.
Fast charging is great when you’re driving for a long stretch and need to fill up to get where you’re going. L2 charging is cheaper to implement and is great for when you’re doing some shopping or visiting a museum or whatever else. Being cheaper to implement, you can put in quite a few. Having more slow chargers means you don’t have to worry too much about making sure people move on so the next person can park. And a solution like this, where the cable is provided by the customer, also reduces copper theft and wear from a cable stretching to ports in different positions.
The best solution is to have a variety of options that all work together to cover most use cases.
Agreed! but I feel like the format and use case of this, curbside charging vs home/apartment/mall charging isn’t very good. The weather issues as everyone’s noted, having to bend over to connect not the best investment.
And again I feel like for level 2 wireless may really become a thing. Heck the cars will probably drop you off at the mall entrance and then go find a wireless charging spot out in the boonies of the parking lot, then come pick you up when you’re done shopping all charged up.
L2 charging going wireless would really be the best case. It would reduce copper theft, be less intrusive to sidewalks and such, and be convenient.
You’re right that this particular implementation isn’t ideal, but I think it could really be nice for people who want to install it in their own curb to street park and don’t mind the downsides, and I can see why cities that are going for a certain aesthetic might install some of these, though the accessibility issue is a problem.
I don’t see this as a solution in the US. Dirtbags will kick the owner’s charging cord as it sits there proud of the curb, ruining the charging cord. An hour of level 2 charging will add, what, a mile? The cities where this could possibly be useful, don’t want people parking at the curb for hours. In an effort to increase turnover, they are raising the parking rates (conveniently making central kiosks available to use your phone’s tap and pay) because small change won’t get you more than 5 min time.
On a Model 3, an hour of 22 kWh charging is good for 70-80 miles or more. If you’re using this to stay on top of daily use and not support a cannonball run, it’s very viable. The car charges whilst you go about your business.
I think this unit has other problems in actual environments with real snowfall, but curbside Level 2 chargers make a lot of sense for those who don’t have a home garage.
What % of the population curb parks? I thought we were all parking lots, parking ramps, or driveways?
Around here, there are a lot of people who curb park, both at home and in lieu of parking structures when shopping downtown. That said, the fighting for curb parking can already get pretty bad and there are people who do not like the idea of EVs, so I don’t know if this would just make parking worse.
Cool that you have functioning downtown shopping, Ours has dried up.
That’s too bad. Ours isn’t great, but it’s still there. And we recently reopened the movie theater in the core of downtown, even, so I’m hopeful other things will come back.
I’d like to see how they hold up to a plow blade
Came here to say this. As a PW professional, I constantly replace curb sections that have been cracked, broken, or frost-pumped. And they’re already expensive, now you want to make them more expensive?
Horrible idea. I don’t think it will work any place where it really snows as I can’t see the built in heater keeping up with the kind of snow many places see. The BYOC thing is the norm in some parts of europe and it make some sense in this application, However I also see all sorts of dirt and sand making their way into the port quickly damaging it and/or your cord. Plus it is just a pain to BYOC because now you have to store that dirty and wet cord someplace in your car.
It obviously doesn’t snow much, there.
Came to post something similar. The average annual snow fall where is live is 50 inches and max recorded is 170 inches. So a post not a curb would be better.
I also wonder how it would fare when a snowplow scrapes along the length of it.
It’s all fun and games until methheads/blues-sharks/crackheads/choose-your-junkie decide to cut the power cord and recycle it at the local scrap yard for pennies on the dollar. Maybe even while charging. They love cutting grounds off of power poles, and going out into rural areas to steal line neutrals spanning for miles, sometimes ending up crispy critters.
Otherwise a perfectly workable and sound idea in most places for most of the year.
Came here for this. Maybe in Germany, where people politely line up for a bus, this may work. In 90% of US cities, these would be dug out of the curb by some tweaker looking for a next score.
“The tweakers shall inherit the Earth.” Meth-thew 5:5
Great, another thing for low budget period movies/TV shows to forget to cover up when filming, as if they don’t have enough trouble with mini split air conditioners and WiFi antennas
AI will do that for them 🙂
I assume it will replace wifi antennas with dongs, since it’s been trained on The Internet.
Looking at the curbs around here in Central Ohio and the condition the municipalities let them get to before fixing them, this wouldn’t work here. It’s a great idea for civilized countries though!
Side note: what is with the giant orange phone ad that blocks the whole screen as I try to read an article? I thought members had no pop up ads and this one is horrible.
I get that giant pop up too. I’m glad you said something… I thought it was just some weird setting on my computer.
This is a step in the right direction, but it only gets us about 80% there. It’s still too much of a hassle to deal with dragging out a cord and plugging it in. Not to mention opportunity for grab-and-go theft of the charging cord (because some people just seem to be opposed to letting other people have nice things).
The final design for these will function more like what some transit systems use today for refilling their busses. The bus drives in, a camera reads a bar code printed on the side and then a robotic arm positions the filler hose, inserts it and tops off the tank while the driver fills out their end of shift paperwork.
All this is highly specialized equipment now, but eventually we’ll probably see a robotic arm pop out of the ground, automatically connect and start charging, then put itself away when either the battery is full or you do something that triggers it to think you want to move your car.
The whole transaction would be managed by an app on your cell phone, like some municipalities already use for paying electronic or virtual parking meters.
That’s my guess anyway.
Don’t have a cable? Just take someone else’s!
Neat idea, but being only OCPP 1.6 and an LTE modem means it is already technologically obsolete, in that it limits future deployments and federal funding in the US (should NEVI ever come back from the dead). Accessibility is another issue, for those who can’t bend over to plug it in, not to mention I could only see these working in climates closer to the equator – when I lived in the upper Midwest, I wouldn’t see the sidewalk in front of my house from November to April due to all the snow.
“Rheinmetall has demonstrated its safety by pouring a bucket of water over the device while it’s in the middle of charging a vehicle.” I’m glad they’ve thought of the rain element …. but…. what if it is already raining when you need to start charging?
New skate spot unlocked
Oh, shoot, there would totally be a Tony Hawk level with some “Charge it up!” achievement for grinding all of these in one combo.
Yeah, but what’s to stop some 11 yr old bored kid from sticking gum in it? Or, because it’s the US of A, illegal fireworks? (I mean, I get 360 degree views of illegal street fireworks all June and July pretty much…)
Or stops those kids from stealing these late at night?
The only thing that stops anyone from doing anything is the belief that they shouldn’t do it.
“I spent 10% battery finding the perfect parking space and the damn charger doesn’t even work! I HATE THIS CITY!”
Nice to see you too, dad!
Nope, not for a significant amount of the country. The first time a plow comes by, these would be buried for months. It could work for places with weather that permits it, but that sure isn’t where I live. Also, it fails every reasonable accessibility standard.
Raising the outlet a couple of feet isn’t the expensive part, and there is no reason to forgo doing so.
I think that the reason it’s recessed isn’t to save money, but to avoid taking up space on the sidewalk when not in use…but any time it’s in use, it is probably taking up just as much space as it would require to have it upright.
I do like the idea of people packing their own cords, though. We should do that here to reduce copper theft and some of the maintenance/cable reach issues with charging stations.
You think thieves aren’t going to steal individually owned cords?
The opportunity cost shifts. Go cut the thick cable off of a charger when no one is around and people are unlikely to show up and no one is actively charging? Easy money. Go cut (they lock, so it’s not just a grab and dash) the thinner cable that likely has active current and could have a driver show back up at any time? Probably going to do better finding a construction site or something.
My first thought was about the plows, too. How long will it take to heat it’s way out of 12 inches of solid ice that melted and refroze on top of itself?
Cannot underscore that enough.
Plows piling up snow is one thing, but what about the inattentive plow driver that runs their blade into the curb? How would this react to that?
10 y/o me with freinds is wondering how many of these can we fuck up….
I would not mind if EV chargers were booby-trapped to electrocute people who tamper with them.
FAFO.
I saw this the other day. It’s a good solution, particularly if you’re putting in new sidewalk anyway. I still think a standing solution has a couple of advantages, such as snow not piling on them and people who struggle to lean down, but this is so unobtrusive.
I do really like the idea of people carrying their own charging cords and plugging in. That solves some of the wear and tear issues, and it can help avoid the copper theft issue. I’d love to install one of these in front of my house, if the price of the unit and running power out to it isn’t prohibitively expensive. It’d be nice to be able to charge out front whenever I have to pile stuff in the garage temporarily.
So cool, but here in North America it would only be a level 1 120V outlet since 22kW L2 doesn’t exist here and noone carries their own J1772 to J1772 cable.
Or it could be a NEMA outlet and we could start encouraging people to carry a L2 cable. There are ways to adapt this for North American use. But I wouldn’t mind it being L1, even. Get a bit of charge while you’re parked there.
What standard and popular NEMA outlet would handle the water intrusion requirements and stuff like that? There’s a reason why most consumer electrical outlets in North America have a big ugly cover over them…
That’s valid. And the communications aspect of J1772-J1772 would be helpful. We might just need to start pushing for people to carry cables like they do there. But this is a solvable problem and we could implement something like this here.
L2 chargers do exist in the US, the fact that it has more capability than most onboard chargers doesn’t matter, since the car controls how much it will draw.
Yes i’m aware there’s L2 in North America, there just isn’t 22kW L2… that’s a 3-phase euro thing.
And your point is? 3-phase exists in the US and there is no reason they couldn’t make a single phase 240v version if they do intend to offer it for sale in the US.
So they’re all over Staten Island? Or did you mean the actual city of Cologne in Germany? 🙂
This is a fantastic idea, I could see certain small city blocks being dedicated to EV parking only, but you’re always going to run into the issue of enforcement — people staying too long, non-EVs parking there, etc. I suppose on a larger scale, it would need to be run in tandem with (or at least similar to) parking meters with similar enforcement. Like a parking fee plus a charging fee; and non-EVs have to pay more for parking to discourage it; or EVs get free parking for X number of hours with the purchase of a charge.
Lots of options to make it work.
It seems feasible that they could be adequately integrated with parking meters, it mentions that these chargers have data modems and ethernet ports, and most modern parking meters are connected for tap-to-pay options. I would bet that would be relatively simple to tack on a parking charge in the payment for the charger that reflects on the meter. Especially if a large infrastructure push has to be made to redo the entire curb to integrate these, presumably the parking meters would have to at minimum be removed and reinstalled, so a retrofit shouldn’t be a stretch. I do agree these are an incredible idea, and really add to the incentive to own an EV in a more urban area.
I think there’s a definite case to be made for making parking meters that are also chargers. If you’re charging, you pay one rate for the charge and the parking. If you’re not, you pay the parking rate (and you could, in theory, make that rate the same or even higher in order to discourage people from taking charging spaces if they don’t need them–depends on implementation). And the enforcement mechanism for people overstaying any charging limit is already built-in.
I don’t think this particular solution is what I would integrate with a meter, though. Just build meters with chargers already integrated. They already take up space and would allow the port to be at a reasonable height.
That’s exactly it. I think the idea of this is an all-new installation where there are no meters; but where meters exist, just replace them with a similar concept that adds charging. The payment infrastructure is already in place, it seems like a lot of the hard work is already done. You might even be able to keep the existing posts and run conduit up inside them.
And now all those parking companies are kicking themselves for removing meters and replacing them with apps and numbers for each spot 🙂
It would be interesting to know if the cost per KWH vs the hourly parking rate would be the same? Or Concurrent? Or something else. DC to DC fast chargers would not really be economical or even likely possible in most instances due to infrastructure, but certain a bunch of level 2’s might be easy enough to place. But those still take multiple hours to bring a vehicle to charge. Not an issue if it is an overnighter, but certainly an issue if you are looking to just charge your car as opposed to parking for a shopping spree or dinner date or something.
I think the ideal is that you have some L3 charging available for people passing through and just looking for a fast charge, some L2 for people who want to get some charge while they do other things or who will be parking longer, and some parking without chargers for the people who don’t need either.
The L3 can be placed conveniently for travelers passing through and the L2 can be placed at locations where people may be parking longer (I’ve long said that theme parks, museums, and other destinations are great spots for people to plug into a L2 charger and let their car charge while they enjoy) or just want to grab a bit of charge while running local errands.
As to the cost, that’s probably going to vary based on electric rates and goals. A city that wants to encourage EVs might charge only the cost of power, while others may charge for power and parking. To minimize confusion and encourage non-EV users to park in spaces without chargers, it could be the same rate for parking as it is for parking and chargers, but if they install chargers at all of them, it’s probably best to charge a parking only rate and a charging rate.
Oops, I said the same thing later – should have read the comments first.
Seems like a better thing than the standing units our city government decided to try to place in neighborhoods. Strangely a disproportionate number of them were in somewhat sketchy neighborhoods, and inside of a month most had been stripped for copper.
this setup at least buries most of that, though I do kind of worry about water and bad drivers destroying or damaging those when they rash up their rims.
I do realize they understood the water concern, but I still would be…well concerned.
Yeah, I feel like this is not ideal in places with flash flooding concerns or significant snowfall, but there’s definitely places it would work well.
I understand validity of their testing it under 3 feet of water for half an hour, but I’d be more concerned with how it handles sitting under an inch or two of water resulting from storm drains not working well, or ice and snow melt, after five years of repeated inundation. Long-term survivability in neglected North American conditions is potentially a whole different ball game.
Also, what happens when some ignoramus finds one under a couple of inches of water, and decides to flip the cover open and shove a plug into it anyway? Not just when it’s new, but after it’s been in service for half a decade and its sensors are clogged with caked mud, gravel bits, ant colonies, and the like.
This is one of the weaknesses of IP testing. It only tells you so much, but there aren’t any competing standards I know of that really dive into longevity like would be useful. IP68 is just about the best possible. It’s the top dust protection and protected from immersion, but not high pressure or steam jets. Unfortunately, the rating doesn’t have a system for rating immersion for any longer or repeated immersion/abuse.
It’s one of the reasons it’s great to have youtubers who will do things like dump sand into a foldable phone and open and close it repeatedly. Sure, your phone is somewhat protected against the intrusion of that sand, but what if the mechanism keeps moving and letting it in?
I’d love to see someone do some significant stress testing with one of these. Maybe drop it from a significant height a few times to simulate years of impacts and wear, freeze or immerse it for a bit, then leave it wet, but not immersed, for a few days, then plug it in and see how you do.