A new idea for EV charging — at streetlights

There’s a new kind of technology on its way that would take electric vehicle charging to the streets. Or to streetlights, anyway.

A company called Voltpost says it’s going to retrofit about 100 lampposts with EV chargers in New York, Illinois and Michigan next year. Installation of the units will require coordination between Voltpost, public- or private-sector lamppost owners, and utility companies. 

You can’t really find Voltpost chargers in the wild yet. But there’s a Voltpost demo at Newlab, a tech innovation lab in Detroit. There you can see the Voltpost charger is about nine feet tall, a cylinder that envelops a single lamp post. You scan a QR code to pay for the charge, and the charge cord releases from the Voltpost box. When you’re done charging, the cord spools back into the cylinder, kind of like a vacuum cleaner cord.

“But if I called it a vacuum cleaner cord our product development team would be very sad,” joked Jeff Prosserman, the co-founder and CEO of Voltpost.

Prosserman said it’s cheaper and easier to install EV chargers where the electrical infrastructure already exists. And because of streetlights, there’s a grid of wiring all laid out, curbside. Prosserman said installing EV chargers at lampposts creates “opportunity charging.”

“This really provides the ability for people to charge where they are, or meet them where they park today,” he said.

But most lampposts only have the capacity to accommodate a level two EV charger. That’s what some EV owners would call a “slow charger” that gives you only get a few dozen miles of range in an hour. Whereas “fast chargers” — level three chargers you might find at a big box store parking lot — can get you full range in about a half hour.

But Prosserman said there’s too much focus on the importance of “fast charging” in the EV ownership experience. He said installing level three chargers is cost prohibitive, which makes creating a vast network challenging. And, he said, most charging is actually done at home with level two “slow” chargers.

But installing a charger at home can cost a couple thousand dollars, and about a third of all Americans live in apartments or condos where installing a charger isn’t realistic. 

“I personally do not have access to charging at home, and I love my EV,” said Alexia Melendez Martineau, senior policy manager with Plug In America, an electric vehicle advocacy group. “I don’t ever plan to drive a gas car again.”

She said she charges most often with level two chargers while she’s out; at the grocery store or while at work. She is accustomed to picking up 20 miles of charge here, 40 miles there. She said that requires a shift in habits around car ownership.

“We’re used to fueling, you know, traditional gas cars where you kind of drive until you’re empty and you fill up the tank until full. With EVs, the behavior changes so that you’re plugging in, you know, little bits at a time,” she said.

“Like any kind of change or change management, it takes a long time,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Director of Industry Insights at Cox Automotive.

She said a big hurdle for the growing EV sector is that the public isn’t accustomed to charging a car like a phone or a computer. And, she said, fast charging is important so drivers feel like they can juice up quickly on long hauls. But, she said, there’s an important role to be filled with ubiquity in chargers.

“So I think that it’s going back to this level two,” she said, “ensuring that there’s lots of level two charging.”

That’s where Voltpost comes in.

“I always come back to this simple question,” said Jeff Prosserman of Voltpost. “How many plugs are in the room that you’re in? And the answer is probably that you don’t know.”

Prosserman said he hopes to see EV chargers reach that level of ubiquity.

“When you think about EV charging and the adoption curve, we’re going from the early adopters into the mainstream. As we fast forward into the next five to 10 years, the plugs are just going to be everywhere,” he said.

Like maybe, under the glow of your neighborhood streetlight.