Elektromotive Charger

Elektromotive Charger

The British company, Elektromotive, unveiled two new technologies at the Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS 24) in Norway today. The innovations are aimed at convenient billing for power consumption at charging stations and reducing EV charging times.

The 'Three-Phase Fast Charge Elektrobay prototype' debuted today, with a 32-amp power supply and dual five-pin power sockets designed for the future standard of EV plugs. This station is expected to reduce charging times significantly, but a small EV will still take about an hour to charge.

Strategic placement of the stations will be the key to mitigating charging times. Most motorists are probably willing to let their cars charge while they're working. Few of those people would be willing to interrupt the family road trip for hours while the vehicle is "refueling."

Elektromotive also introduced 'EBConnect' software today, which tracks the electricity consumed at a charging station and uses GSM and the Internet to bill the user. Drivers can choose to have the cost of the electricity added to their home electric bill, or they can "pay-and-go" using prepaid credits by swiping a key fob at the charging station. The system will also accept payments by text message and an automated voice recording system, so there's no use trying to bogart the juice. EBConnect will be incorporated into Elektromotive's 160 charging stations throughout the UK.

Just when you were getting used to free electricity for your Mini E...

Source: Elektromotive via Autoblog Green