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Could street lights charge electric cars ?

By T.K. Randall
June 22, 2015 · Comment icon 8 comments

In the future it may be possible to charge your car up from a lamp post. Image Credit: sxc.hu
In the future it may be possible to charge up an electric car by parking it beneath a street light.
Electric cars might be environmentally friendly but finding a place to charge them up can often represent something of a challenge - especially in areas with very few recharging stations.

Now in a renewed attempt to offer a solution to this problem BMW MINI has revealed a new system that it has called "Light & Charge" which enables drivers to charge up their vehicles through a special outlet located at the base of lamp posts in urban areas.
"Light & Charge is a simple and innovative solution which aims to integrate a charging station network into the urban landscape and this is essential if we want to see more electric vehicles on the road in our cities in the future," said Frank Bachmann, managing director of MINI Plant Oxford.

The system certainly has its advantages, especially given that it could be rolled out far more easily than conventional charging points and in a greater variety of locations.

Whether it will be enough to keeping everyone's vehicles topped up however remains to be seen.

Source: Discovery News | Comments (8)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by paperdyer 9 years ago
OK - A new tax can be introduced. A streetlight charging tax paid by all people that own an electric vehicle so equipped. Of course the tax will be levied whether you use the light pole or not. Why not find some way to turn the roofs into solar energy collectors and run the cars that way. Of course you'd need an option to plug the car in as well in case there are too many cloudy days.
Comment icon #2 Posted by Norbert the Incredible 9 years ago
This could be the follow-up to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, "Do Street Lamps Charge Electric Cars?" Or a slightly pretentious 1980s concept album.
Comment icon #3 Posted by Athena1979 9 years ago
I was just wondering about the price. It wouldn't just be free charging .
Comment icon #4 Posted by lightly 9 years ago
i think they are saying that... the chargers would be equipped with a card swiper (like a gas pump) .. the money would go to whatever power company owned that line/light. sounds like a great idea .... charging times will soon be down to minutes (instead of hours)
Comment icon #5 Posted by DieChecker 9 years ago
Bah, it should be free. If the lights are going to be on anyway, there's no grounds to charge people for it. They're actually reusing energy that is being otherwise wasted. Really it doesn't seem very smart (unless it is free), because I doubt the car will charge very fast. Using a plug in would likely be a lot faster. What percentage of the electricity the is used at the light is collected by the car? 5% Less? Losses at the light filament (in a standard bulb) are horrible, and the car would only be collecting a small percentage of the light being put out. An LED light wouldn't be that much be... [More]
Comment icon #6 Posted by Silver Surfer 9 years ago
I forsee this comment used a lot. "Dammit who unplugged my car!"
Comment icon #7 Posted by lightly 9 years ago
The pay chargers would draw a lot more juice than the light on top of the pole... but it could still be relatively cheap? The trick will accessibility and to get charging times down to a matter of minutes. Then you could go cross country. Making the chargers PayChargers would make them pop up everywhere very quickly. The Gas stations could have chargers. here's a little info on charging times for a Tesla Roadster... http://my.teslamotors.com/roadster/charging/high-power-wall-connector basically, 4 to 6 hours right now. But i read somewhere that a 20 minute supercharge will restore the battery ... [More]
Comment icon #8 Posted by lightly 9 years ago
Silver Surfer said: I forsee this comment used a lot. "Dammit who unplugged my car!" lol .. or Dude!* i forgot to plug in my car!* *


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