How do we make the arrival of the electric vehicle a reality? One of the fundamental actions to follow is the installation of the infrastructures that will allow it to be rolled out to its future drivers.
In this area, the United States is leading by example; its cities are increasingly ready to welcome electric mobility. The ChargePoint America programme has thus budgeted for $37m in order to ‘electrify’ the main American cities.
As such, the city of Detroit, Michigan, has just received its first electric charging terminal, installed by Columb Technology, which is responsible for the project. 4,600 charging stations have already seen the day across the country.
The Bay Area of San Francisco, whose Mayor has supported a policy encouraging the electric car for several years, is also undergoing huge change. With a public policy that is particularly favourable to the arrival of the electric vehicle, the city is planning to install 5,000 charging terminals at a cost of $5 millions. This global rollout will take place directly in people’s homes, in the car parks of shopping centres and offices and also near motorways.
And fans of the Big Apple don’t need to worry, as the Car Sharing Group, a company specialised in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, has just signed a partnership with Icon Parking Systems, which owns the majority of the car parks in Manhattan!
A market that is à la mode
A new and original trend is that of designers getting involved with electric charging terminals. No, you’re not dreaming! It is evident by their design that the new charging stations currently being installed are in line with the latest fashion trends.
In fact, in view of this market in full swing, from now on, design will make the difference.
General Electric has thus unveiled its WattStation, created by one of the world’s greatest designers, the Swiss Yves Behar, while the company Better Place had already engaged the Californian agency NewDealDesign and the designer Gadi Amit. And in the most recent news, the Californian company ECOtality has also unveiled its charging points, which are called Blink and created by Frog Design.
With these different models, the design combines aestheticism and the use of new technologies: a touchscreen but also the possibility of connecting the terminals to mobile phones.
So, a promising market, one to watch closely, given that the research consultancy Pike Research is forecasting that 4.7 million stations will be installed by 2015.
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