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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday June 20 2017, @11:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the hope-the-cable-has-locks dept.

The global fleet of electric vehicles grew 60% last year, and while predictions vary, some people claim that we'll all be driving (or riding in) electric vehicles within just a few decades.

But in many cities, one major impediment could slow down adoption: Where the heck do you charge your car if you don't have a driveway or garage?

Hounslow Council in London has implemented an interesting—and aesthetically pleasing—solution to this problem. It has converted its streetlights to energy efficient LEDs and, in doing so, is integrating electric vehicle charging points in the base of those streetlamps. The charge points themselves come from German company Ubitricity, and they integrate with a custom charging cable—which is ordered by the EV owner/driver—that has an electricity meter built in.

So if you happen to live in Hounslow, you simply request a charging point from your council, they install three near your house (they are trying to avoid painting dedicated electric vehicle bays). You then order an Ubitricity cable, you plug in, and you start charging. Ubitricity then sends you a monthly bill, charged at a competitive rate of £0.13 per kWh. And that's it.

Who's liable when pedestrians trip on the charging cables?

[Ed note - As a side note, apparently the LED streetlamp replacement has some issues.] - Fnord666


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 21 2017, @12:50PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 21 2017, @12:50PM (#528984)

    Yep, this is a known issue and one of the ways in that the older, less-bright, yellowish streetlights were better is that they didn't produce so more contrast that you couldn't see past the lit up area.

  • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Wednesday June 21 2017, @04:58PM

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Wednesday June 21 2017, @04:58PM (#529112) Journal

    That's another reason flashlights are better: instead of one pool of light where you can see, you can put light anywhere you actually need or want to see, any time you want to.

    Anyone who thinks streetlights make them "safer" needs to go stand under one and look around at all the places they now can't see. Because if there's one thing streetlights do very well, it's create deep pools of shadows.