I recently heard about this novel approach to providing Charging Points for Electric Vehicles.
The idea is being proposed by the German Electricity Company Ubitricity (http://www.ubitricity.com/en) and has the advantage if it becomes a reality of providing vast numbers of Charging Points at very little cost.
The proposal is for charging points to be installed in things such as street lights, parking meters, and in fact anywhere where there is an electricity supply – the installation cost of the charging point being only 100 Euros and a running cost of only 2 Euros per month. Ubitricity foresee, if the idea is put into practice, a future where there are as many available public charging points for Electric Vehicles as there are Electric Vehicles, an amazing thought.
For the Electric Vehicle owner the method is – a smart meter (pictured above) is placed between the Electric Vehicle and the Charging Point, and this meter monitors how much Charge is drawn and automatically (via built in mobile phone connection) charges for the precise amount.
Ubitricity Charge Points can even be installed in dwellings (especially useful when several people have electric vehicles or when each person is paying their proportion of the bill), workplaces, public car parks and so on.
It is a very clever idea – and although the Ubitricity Charge Points are not the Fast Charge points that are available in certain places, they can complement that infrastructure, as the Fast Charging can be used when available and the Ubitricity Points used at other times – for instance when at work or parked for a longish period of time while doing the shopping and so forth.
We shall see of course if this idea becomes a reality in this country – it does seem likely it might happen in Germany – but if it does it might well go some way to solving that ubiquitous problem of Electric Vehicle ownership, of where on earth can I charge the battery!