The Plug-In 2008 conference is going on in San Jose right now. This evening I went down there for their "Public Night" where they allowed the regular folk to attend an open session. I tried to attend the full conference but a) it was $600 to attend, and b) they said something about it primarily being for professionals ... and c) I've got a lot going on at work...
Anyway this was a bit of big news ...
Coulomb Unveils Electric Car Charging Stations
Smartlets - low cost electric plugs for charging EV's
I got to talk to someone in their booth and take a good look at it. The idea is a power outlet specifically geared to EV's. This means turning it into a business where they charge money to let you charge your vehicle. The charging stations look to be rather low cost to install .. but they're more involved than just a power outlet. While an EV bicycle or scooter won't take much power to recharge, an EV car certainly will take many kilowatt-hours.
On their web site they show a couple forms .. one is a box that attaches to a light pole, while the other is a standalone kiosk.
There are two power connections.. one is a new standard 220v cord the automotive industry is in the process of defining, the other is a regular 120v outlet. (This is U.S. standard outlets .. I know most of the rest of the world uses 220v as a matter of course, and the plugs are different everywhere)
They described it as requiring you to buy a prepaid membership card .. and when you plug in you wave your RFID embedded card in front of the kiosk and it recognizes you and allows you to connect up. Sigh.. not coin operated, not swipe a credit card.
