City charging is one of the main problems to solve for electric vehicle infrastructure – especially charging for people who have to park on the street.
An architecture firm presented a new concept to solve the issue: a “charging tower”.
Ennead Architects, a renowned architecture firm based in New York, presented the new concept through its ‘Ennead Lab’ which attempts to “ask and answer complex questions” with innovative designs.
The concept was developed for an undisclosed client in Shanghai. They describe the concept:
“In order to accommodate both a small, urban, pedestrian-friendly site and to maximize the number of cars simultaneously utilizing a standard charging system, we combined existing charger technologies with existing stack-parking technologies to create a “Charging Tower.” At the ground level, “super charge” stations are housed beneath a light-weight canopy. The parking towers above are clad in a reflective, perforated metal, recalling the chrome-filled aesthetic history of the automobile and creating a beacon for those searching for parking and car charging.”
It was clearly partly inspired by Tesla’s Superchargers since the charging stalls are visible at the bottom of the tower and they use renders of the Model S:
Those parking towers are not exactly a new concept. They have been around for decades and Ennead Lab acknowledges that.
What they are trying to do is modernize the concept and combine it with electric vehicle charging technology.
What do you think? A viable solution or too complex to be economical? Let us know in the comment section below.
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