It's nicer to add plugs to lamp posts. If you can retrofit existing posts, there's less electrical/digging work involved. If not, you are adding lighting at the same time.
E.g. https://ubitricity.com/en/charging-solutions/ac-lamppost/
Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
81–90 of 173 posts
Re: Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
#82I think this is cool, but as the owner of a (non-Tesla) EV, I'd just be glad for chargers that usually work . People ask me sometimes if I have "range anxiety" - I don't really have range anxiety so much as charger anxiety. When I'm not at home my options are pretty much Chargepoint chargers, and there is an Electrify America DC fast charging station about 20 mins away. I'd say about 50% of the time the Chargepoint s…
I live in a high EV density region and it’s already a complete non issue. We have a good number of providers around here, and they are all mostly extremely reliable. Most of the time when I go to charge it will be a bank of 6+ chargers. Occasionally one isn’t working, but that’s not much different from a gas pump being out of service. Worst case I can always drive down the street to another bank. Like a lot of stuff…
When I lived in Seattle I survived on my 30 mile range plug in hybrid without using gas almost ever because I could charge at work and at stores. This was commuting from the suburbs to downtown. And it’s only going to get better.
Even in the Midwest I could do it but it would be slightly more of a hassle. Many grocery stores here already have free level 2 chargers. The distances are longer so I would definitely go full EV here if given the choice since at home garage charging is a given
Re: Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aren't food trucks licensed? Surely the municipality could've placed a power connection point when they gave out the license for a food truck location?
I think in DC the food truck locations are first come first serve, they're just using street parking to do their thing. There's other practical challenges of deploying high power charging here. The power connection is only part of the system. How we do metering, how we get get power to the area, how we convert it are all complicated challenges. Doing it at scale would be non trivial.
Are we really thinking food trucks need more than the 3.3-6.6kw that a typical outlet can deliver? Just make them EV chargers as those companies already exist and have the stuff figured out. No reason to run an ICE.
Re: Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
#84On the one hand, I think that ICE cars should be banned from cities, the air would be much better, and these curbside chargers look like it could help with that. On the other hand, a city filled with parked EV cars is not very different from a city filled with ICE cars. Curbside parking should be abolished or at least significantly reduced. People should just park in underground garages and walk the remaining 200m, t…
Rather than abolish curbside parking...reserve more of it for specific uses. Every block should have at least one space dedicated to delivery, one for services like maintenance/repair workers, another for drop-off, another for municipal/emergency. Allow standing and active loading/unloading in all but the emergency spaces.
Also, we should not subsidize parking for private individuals (ie none of the uses above) in any way, shape, or form.
Re: Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
#85On the one hand, I think that ICE cars should be banned from cities, the air would be much better, and these curbside chargers look like it could help with that. On the other hand, a city filled with parked EV cars is not very different from a city filled with ICE cars. Curbside parking should be abolished or at least significantly reduced. People should just park in underground garages and walk the remaining 200m, t…
Cologne is a city with roots that reach back to the Roman empire. It has grown and developed over hundreds of years. Where would all these underground parking lots come from? Why not go a step further and demand that all roads should be put underground, too, so that pedestrians can enjoy an idle stroll on green meadors above ground without all the annoyances that come from car traffic?
> Why not go a step further and demand that all roads should be put underground, too, so that pedestrians can enjoy an idle stroll on green meadors above ground without all the annoyances that come from car traffic?
Don’t threaten me with a good time
Re: Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
#86On the one hand, I think that ICE cars should be banned from cities, the air would be much better, and these curbside chargers look like it could help with that. On the other hand, a city filled with parked EV cars is not very different from a city filled with ICE cars. Curbside parking should be abolished or at least significantly reduced. People should just park in underground garages and walk the remaining 200m, t…
You might as well ban cars entirely at that point. The biggest criticism of EVs is that they are still cars. They are still the most resource and footprint intensive form of transportation out there.
Re: Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I foresee some UX challenges with ice and snow during winter.
In Cologne, like many German towns, ice and snow is an issue about two weeks a year (in a cold year). And even then, that's what the city's road clearing services are for.
Yea Climate Change already solved that one.
I certainly remember proper Winters, but I understand they are a thing of the past.
Re: Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
#88We don't need difficult to fix, hard to clean chargers in every curb. We need maintainable chargers which are gauranteed to work in some convenient location. Ideally 11kW to 22kW chargers at work and shopping places and proper fast chargers at every highway stop. This will cover most drivers needs, as daily charging is not needed. What is important is to have every location always have free charging spots, since arri…
I slow charge at home, which covers my need for ~340 days per year. The remaining couple days, instead of dealing with broken chargers, I pick hotels with chargers and/or pick a reliable charging network to fast charge along the way (such as Tesla or Ionity).
My experience so far is: - some hotels require you to unplug once you are done -- which can be annoying if you arrive in the evening and your car will be done charging at 4am. - some apps under report the number of charging spots. I noticed this on a recent, it showed 4 chargers when there were 4 physical chargers with 2 plugs each (effectively allowing 8 cars to charge at the same time). - winter vs summer makes a huge difference in EV range. I wish car makers published data for each season. - I wish car makers published the car charge graph for different types of chargers. My car consistently mis-predicts how long its going to take to charge (usually over-estimates the time, sometimes by a couple hours).
Re: Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
#89On the one hand, I think that ICE cars should be banned from cities, the air would be much better, and these curbside chargers look like it could help with that. On the other hand, a city filled with parked EV cars is not very different from a city filled with ICE cars. Curbside parking should be abolished or at least significantly reduced. People should just park in underground garages and walk the remaining 200m, t…
Cologne is a city with roots that reach back to the Roman empire. It has grown and developed over hundreds of years. Where would all these underground parking lots come from? Why not go a step further and demand that all roads should be put underground, too, so that pedestrians can enjoy an idle stroll on green meadors above ground without all the annoyances that come from car traffic?
Tunnels are much more dangerous to transit and vulnerable to being blocked than open-air streets.
Re: Rheinmetall pilot project for curb stone chargers for EVs
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that in the next iteraton, such curb stone chargers should be such that no interaction like manually plugging in a cable would be required.
Isn't that awfully inefficient and wasteful power transfer?
Wireless charging for some devices such as phones is 60-80% efficient. For cars, it seems to be in demand per "Several Companies Developing Wireless EV Charging": https://www.notateslaapp.com/news/1235/tesla-is-developing-i...
If we can dream of self driving cars, we can dream of self-connecting cars. Something a bit like a toy slot car?