Bentley unveils a stunning new electric car charging station

Home charging stations for electric cars can often look quite dull, which is not a problem for most people since it just becomes another tool in your garage or driveway, but that’s not OK for Bentley.

The British luxury automaker designed a stunning new charging station for its upcoming electric vehicles.

At the Geneva Auto Show last week, Bentley unveiled the Bentayga Hybrid, a plug-in hybrid version of its popular luxury SUV.

It’s a timid first step in the electrification of the automaker with a hybrid vehicle not expected to hit the market until next year while most automakers are currently launching all-electric luxury SUVs.

But Bentley is part of the Volkswagen Group and it relies on a new cross-brand platform between the group’s luxury brands to release its own all-electric vehicles early in the next decade.

In the meantime, the company wants to stay active in the electrification space and released a home charger in collaboration with renowned designer Philippe Starck.

They are calling it the “Starck Power Dock”:

Starck commented on the design:

“As always with my designs I wanted the maximum of intelligence with the minimum of materiality. I wanted it to be a modern art piece: durable, real and avant-garde high tech. It was also important for me that the unit was as sustainable as possible.”

Unfortunately, Bentley didn’t unveil the specs of the level 2 charger or any availability. More details are expected when the company will open its order book for the Bentayga Hybrid during the second half of the year.

Electrek’s Take

I do like the design of Tesla’s Wall Connector, but until recently it felt like they were pretty much the only one with a good home charging station design on the market.

But now it looks like other manufacturers are putting more thoughts into how their charging stations look.

We recently reported on AeroVironment updating the design of their station and it’s quite an improvement.

Sonnen and Mercedes-Benz also both recently came out with new home charging stations and they clearly put some thoughts into the design.

Obviously, it’s not the most important part of a charging station. We want functional and feature-rich chargers, but it’s also fun to have a good design for those who care about how it affects the look of their garage or driveway.

With those last few charging stations, I think charger manufacturers will now have to up their game when it comes to design.