New vocabulary: "Smartlets" could charge plug-in vehicles from sidewalk
Smartlets. Sounds like a new, electrolyte-filled candy or something you plug into your MacBook. Instead, Smartlets are one idea that would provide power to plug-in electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt or the Saturn Vue.
Partners Richard Lowenthal, CEO of California-based Coulomb Technologies, and Praveen Mandal will describe Smartlets to attendees of the Plug-In Car show in San Jose, California this July. According to Automotive News, Loenthal envisions Smartlets available for EVs and PHEVs in urban areas where people normally park their cars: parking lots, offices, stores, etc. Of course, Smartlet-like chargers are already available (for free) in some areas, like London.
GM likes the idea, but is taking a hands-off approach, but GM's vice president of global program management. Jon Lauckner, told Lowenthal and Mandal last fall that Smartlets are "a good idea." Of course, even though the Vue and the Volt are likely to be among the first plug-in vehicles available from a large automaker, Smarlets would probably be compatible with many plug-in vehicles, at least those that use a standard plug and can accept 110 or 220 volts. We'll need a wait a while to here more about Smartets. The Coulomb Technologies website says the company "is currently in quiet mode."
[Source: Jamie LaReau / Automotive News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
armmat 6:56PM (3/24/2008)
I'm sure the outlet will be made WELL BEFORE the car...which is all vaporware anyway.
Reply
OhmExcited 7:06PM (3/24/2008)
OK, they are advocating Smartlets. But what are Smartlets?
Reply
Simon 7:13PM (3/24/2008)
Isn't it called an engine block heater in Canada?
Reply
Eletruk 7:20PM (3/24/2008)
So will this require the vehicle to proved the cord, or do the outlets have retractable cords? If so, how long are they? Should the industry standardize on where to place the charge port? I say YES! Where the plug is on an EV is less of an engineering issue than with gas vehicles so everybody can put them in the same place on every car! Then a charger station won't have to have a 20 ft. cord to reach around to the far backside of a vehicle because that's where the manufacturer put the plug!
So anyways, are these supposed to be combo parking meter/charger spots? Not exactly clear in the article.
Reply
KEVIN 7:34PM (3/24/2008)
ThaT IS TRUE ARMMAT
Reply
jake 7:28PM (3/24/2008)
I think it's a little overboard to paint the whole parking space green. I'm a EV/PHEV advocate, but I can't help barfing a little bit looking at the level of smugness from some of this. I think the whole EV/PHEV movement can benefit by not making themselves appear so smug in general to prevent some of the backlash (seems to me many of those who oppose hybrids/EVs/PHEVs are more offended by the image that hybrid/EV/PHEV drivers think of themselves as being better than others). But what can I say, that's how marketing works.
Reply
Murc 8:23PM (3/24/2008)
they might as well call it "gaylet".
the name, is dumb. not a huge fan of the concept.
It would look better if we just cut the cord and go wireless.
wi-tricity baby.
Reply
GenWaylaid 8:18PM (3/24/2008)
It would make sense to build the parking meter into these things. For an ICE car, it would be a regular parking meter. For an EV, it also would be a source of electricity, plus the meter charge could be by actual plugged-in time (no need to feed the meter beforehand), plus there's a chance of providing a parking discount for EVs and PHEVs.
Reply
fnc 9:11PM (3/24/2008)
Not bad. I think it would be more practical to create tech that allowed cars to recharge via contact with the ground somehow though. Press a button inside and it drops some sort of pickup to a contact to communicate with the charger before getting its shot of juice. It would all have to be weatherproofed somehow of course, and would rely on some open standards for communication and placement.
But then you could have a few rows of charging stations in every parking lot, most likely operated by a utility on a lease from the property owner. People would probably pay a premium for the convenience of charging their car while picking up groceries or doing other errands, making it worth the operator's investment. It could be built into garage floors and driveways as well. Just park your Tesla II on it and know you'll leave with a full charge in the morning.
It's funny to me that the range of EV's is so often cited as a drawback when I'm rarely more than a few ~feet~ from what could essentially be a gas pump for an EV.
Reply
Mike Z 10:11PM (3/24/2008)
It's an idea: But, how do you make money at it?
Assume the average PHEV needs 8 Kwh of energy and 2-3 car park at the same spot in a day (or just one for an office parking lot)
Assume a 100% markup of electricity to $0.20/kWh. That means that every day a single station will generate a gross revenue of $2.40/day. That's really not very good at all.. That's only $876 per year per post in revenue.
Reply
Chris M 10:34PM (3/24/2008)
Lets see, we've got:
Project Better Place,
Tesla Motors,
Subaru / TECO,
Mitsubishi,
and Lord knows how many utility companies
all developing charging stations, some of which might be proprietary. It would really be nice if they could make them all compatable, so drivers wouldn't have to worry that the nearest charging station might not work with their car.
The revenue stream per outlet that Mike Z mentioned might not be a problem if the outlets were inexpensive enough. The outlets might even be designed to serve 2 to 4 parking spots simultaneously.
Reply
Ping 11:13PM (3/24/2008)
Either that woman is huge, or the volt is uncomfortably low...
Reply
Niralisherni 5:54AM (3/25/2008)
I don't think it is at all unrealistic a concept, in fact it is practical and feasible. In the future it will be as widespread as, say the way you can recharge your cellphone in an airport terminal or train, so it will be for electric vehicles; you will be able to recharge on the move!
Reply
LaughingTooHard 11:29PM (3/25/2008)
Mike Z,
Actually in NY the rates are closer to $.19/Kw and I am sure the mark up will be a lot more than 100%
Since the Volt should have a 16Kw battery, that is just over $3 to fully charge at a NY home.
Make Smartlets 220v and now you have the advantage of quicker charging to offset the cost of $1/hour.
Add in normal parking rates of $2/hour and you can see how it makes money in NYC. A maximum of 3 hour recharge/parking is $9. Fifteen hour paid parking zones are not uncommon in NYC so that works out to $16K a year per Smartlet.
I would have no problems paying $9 to parking my Volt for 3 hours on a NYC street AND get a recharge at the same time.
No exactly the cheapest way to go, but $15-25 for 3 hours of parking is the average and tickets just went up to $125 plus $275 for a tow ride to the impound.
Welcome to New York!
Reply
Ralph 10:24AM (3/25/2008)
I would think the potential for vandalism outweighs the convenience.
Reply
Steve 10:57AM (3/25/2008)
Murc has a point on the wi-tricity, but I still think this is a good idea.
I like the fact that the company is in "quiet mode" too--it means they're not a vaporware company.
And the lady is in heels on a curb, so drop her about a foot and you've got a better height comparison. Doesn't matter anyway, though, 'cause the Volt ain't gonna look like that.
Reply
Richard 11:23AM (3/25/2008)
I like the idea alot. Just like parking meters, you stick coins in there for a certain amount of time to charge it. No one ever said that recharging at the meter was supposed to be cheap, it's supposed to be convenient. You recharge at home, over night, but if you are running a lot of errands and are low on "fuel", you take an opportunity charge. It's a great concept.
Reply
Morgan Kelps 4:31AM (3/31/2008)
The concept is a great one, it is selling the individual municipalities on the service that is going to be the challenge.
I think the Volt will need this type of technology to enusre high levels of user adoption.
Learn more about the Volt at
http://www.chevy-volt.net
Reply
Steven Ensslen 12:05PM (3/25/2008)
As the earlier "block heater" comment points out, curb side plugins are already ubiquitous in Canada and many other places, including much of the northern united states. There are millions of curb side plugins and there have been for decades.
Vandalism has not been a problem.
And plugins are almost always free. While giving away 500W per stall in a hundred car parking lot isn't cheap, at pennies per KWh it apparently doesn't cover the cost of installing meters.
Reply
1985 Gripen 2:05PM (3/25/2008)
I live in SoCal and we have a huge existing network of public and private charging stations which were put-in at taxpayer expense (the public ones were directly paid-for by taxpayers and the private ones were tax-subsidized by the state, indirectly being paid-for by taxpayers). There are still white on blue reflective signs all over roads and freeways here directing one to the nearest charging station.
Many of these chargers are still functional, but have nothing to charge. The EV fleet here is miniscule.
These charging stations were installed when GM was selling the EV-1 and Chevy S10EV, Toyota sold the RAV4-EV, etc. Back when CARB was insisting on ZEV cars.
It'd be nice if there were some sort of adapters made to use these existing charging stations with the newer plug-in vehicles. They also charge MUCH faster than a standard 110/220V outlet due to their higher power output.
http://www.evchargernews.com/
http://www.evchargermaps.com/
The ones that are "down" would likely be repaired if there were actual cars on the road to use them.
Seems like a waste to ignore such an expansive existing network.
Reply