EV charging company Voltpost‘s “first-of-a-kind” lamppost EV charger is now commercially available in major US metro areas.
The New York and San Francisco-based company is developing and deploying EV charging projects in US cities like New York, Chicago, Detroit, and others this spring.
Voltpost retrofits lampposts into a modular and upgradable Level 2 EV charging platform powered by a mobile app. The company says its platform provides EV drivers convenient and affordable charging while reducing installation costs, time, maintenance, and chargers’ footprint.
Voltpost can install a lamppost charger inexpensively in one to two hours without construction, trenching, or extensive permitting processes. The ease of installation helps bring more EV charging to underserved communities and high-density areas.
Last year, Voltpost participated in the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Studio program, a collaboration between the NYC DOT and Newlab. In its pilot, Voltpost installed chargers on lampposts at Newlab in Brooklyn and in a DOT parking lot. The chargers were installed in an hour, operated with a high uptime, and got positive feedback from EV drivers.
The lamppost EV chargers feature 20 feet of retractable cable and a charge plug with a pulsing light that routes the cable at a 90-degree angle to the car socket so the cable doesn’t become a hazard to pedestrians and traffic.
The system can accommodate either two or four charging ports. There’s a Voltpost mobile app so drivers can manage charging, and it also features a map of available and in-use Voltpost chargers. Users can make reservations, track charging, pay based on electricity consumed, and see stats on financial and environmental savings.
The lamppost EV chargers also have a Charge Station Management System that provides charging analytics for public and private stakeholders. Site hosts can set charger features, including pricing, and remotely monitor chargers.
Top comment by StuffOfInterest
The US needs to use the same system for curbside as Europe does where the post only has a socket and the user supplies their own cable. Imagine how often these retractable cables are going to end up damaged. Fortunately, I believe the new formal standard for NACS (J3400) includes a spec for this type of socket and cable combination.
Edit: See here for details on the separate cables - (removed)
Re-edit: Apparently, even a link to the SAE website is enough to get a post blocked.
Voltpost adviser Laura Fox, cofounder and managing partner at Streetlife Ventures and former general manager of Citi Bike, said, “Voltpost’s solution is a no-brainer for urban curbside charging –it uses and upgrades existing urban infrastructure (lampposts) for a fraction of the cost of traditional approaches, while enabling future urban use cases for that infrastructure – from 5G installs to air quality monitoring, e-bike charging, and more.”
Read more: This small curbside EV charger can deliver 200 miles of range in 13 minutes
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