I Started a Charger Company
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- Опубліковано 27 лип 2024
- We founded Coul St. to bring street charging to EV drivers everywhere. Curbside charging is hard, so we've created our unique charger, which solves the biggest challenges and gives electric vehicle drivers access to charging where they park. We want you to join our team!
You can contact me at: josh@coulst.com
The Coul St. Website: www.coulst.com
0:00 How will street parkers charge?
0:29 The problem
1:27 Current solutions
3:29 The solution
4:25 What should it look like?
5:41 Detachable cords
7:21 The post
7:58 The history of Coul St.
8:34 The Team - Авто та транспорт
![Tesla Taxi FULL HEALTH CHECK: Is The Battery RUINED After 430,000 Miles? [Episode 4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/doAcNVuTnXU/mqdefault.jpg)
![Tesla Taxi FULL HEALTH CHECK: Is The Battery RUINED After 430,000 Miles? [Episode 4]](/img/tr.png)
If you want them to really disappear paint them white and put mailboxes on top. Every house (without an HOA) could have one and no one would notice.
That is really smart and you don't have to have a random pole in your yard it just is half charging half mailbox
Tough because when charging it is a trip hazard for mail deliverers
Almost a good idea, how would the mailperson get mail into the box if there was a charger in front of it at every house? Seems like it would slow mail delivery down quite a bit.
@@JasonWho- Car is parked on the Street side, in a City, Mail Carriers walk the Sidewalk, don't they? So, make the Mailbox Door face the House!
In Rural Delivery, where they use a Vehicle, and reach out, if you don't have a Driveway, your car would be Parked in the Way anyway,
@@retrotim - In the City, a Mail carrier is walking on the Sidewalk, to deliver Mail, not on the Road, becoming a Potential "Hood Ornament!"
This is the kind of infrastructure we need. DC fast chargers are great for trips but for the vast majority of time we need to be charging where we park. After all the car is going to be there anyway.
DC Fast Charging is rarely needed when EV range are now 250 miles plus. What we need way more is Level 2 AC just everywhere.
I could definitely see this in small municipalities to get people to come to shop in their downtown!
Apartment complexes and condo complexes are the natural opportunity for this!
Specially here in the jersey shore where you are near nyc but the public transportation sucks here and you must drive everywhere for everything . Ev for all!!
My apartment complex has 4 (per level) FREE chargers in the parking garage
@@Plague_Rat778 lucky mine doesn't and they even warn us that putting extension out of our windows is a violation.
@@heribertosarmiento1265 damn, that sucks.
@@Plague_Rat778 yeah they got scared after seeing some EV catching fire....which are far and few and our parking spots are assigned and behind each condo
I would definitely reach out to Tom Moloughney from State of Charge to help get the word out and add it to the chargers he reviews. Perhaps you already have...
I reached out to Tom a while back, but I definitely need to hit him up again.
@@chargeeverywhere awesome!
@@chargeeverywhere Now that he sees the additional work that you've put into it, he might be more receptive to sharing his thoughts. I would also ask the ladies at Transport Evolved
@@StephenMatreseI second transport evolved!
Great Ideas include Teams at "A Better Route Planner", and at "Plug Share" also come to mind!
Lars at "Best In Tesla" is a good idea, also.
And a dozen other Similar UA-cam channels!
THIS! I have a driveway charger and I don't share it and really don't care to open it to the public as I don't want to bear the costs. What I've envisioned is a network where we swipe our card(or phone or whatever) and plug in and pay for our charging. (or GET paid for providing the charging but not gouging each other) You really need a pay/credit system built into this to make it viable and not have it overrun with freeloaders but you're on the perfect path if you can get the swipe payment/credit part integrated.
A credit card terminal cost money. In Europe we use an app. I have multiple apps for the commercial providers. I also have an app that allows people to share a charger and get paid through the network.
I wonder if there would not be some form of “summup” (uk mobile/personal) card reader that could be cheaply integrated in to this sort of charger? Thinking about this sort of thing for a holiday cottage to allow guests to charge at cost.
If you really want to keep it cheap, each charger could have a QR code on it that you scan and manage your payment and start/stop charging.
Having a plug and charge style system like tesla that integrates with the utility provider would be pretty cool.
@@buttonmonkey6845Payment is the easy part, but what about metering? And why on earth would I want to pay THOUSANDS to run cabling under the sidewalk out to the curb that anyone could use? How would I ever make that money back? This whole business model makes NO sense.
This is exactly type of charging, which I saw in 2016 in Oslo, Norway. Once I saw it, I was sold, that EVs are the future. We need more options like that. This is great. Good luck!
Thanks! Europe is well ahead of us on this. We'll get there.
@@chargeeverywhere using the right terminology will get us there quicker. What you are describing is an EVSE not a charger. There is no AC to DC rectification going on externally it is outputting AC.
@@joeyscleaninglady2877 - While you are "Technically Correct", go and talk to a Hundred people, half that own an EV, and half that don't, and ask them what they are calling these posts, or the Tesla and J1772 boxes, that are out there today! See if you hear more than 25% say "EVSE's! I doubt it!
Most will call them "EV Chargers" even if they are just a "NEMA 14-50 Stove Plug" you use to connect a Portable Charging Cable to!
So, if you are talking to "The People" - EV Charger" is Fine! Sure, if you have to deal with an Agency, for Permitting, go ahead and use "EVSE" as the Term!
(EVSE: Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) 😁
EVs are old tech and clearly not the future. Gas is better in every way.
@@darksideblues135Except for:
- the pollution
- the noise level
- the fuel cost
- the acceleration
- the ability to power devices that need an outlet
This is extremely common in Europe. It's pretty much every 3 parking spaces in new neighborhoods in the Netherlands. AFAIK, it's a requirement for all new neighborhoods and has been for at least the last 7-10 years. And they are really small, basically like a sidewalk light and you bring your own cable.
The J3400 standard (formerly NACS) specifies Type 2 connectors on the equipment side for detachable cables, exactly as in Europe. You deviating from that winds up with a “…there are now 15 competing standards” situation (xkcd 927). Use a Type 2 on the pole now before it’s too late. Otherwise your product will be irrelevant in the huge market of new charging stations to come.
A good point. We would already have cables available this way as well
This seems like a pretty big problem to me too, I would have went with J1772 since extension and adapter cables for it are already pretty prolific, and having a fixture with a male J1772 outlet does not violate the standard.
Indeed. Think I saw a NY company doing this as well but using a Type2 socket
The other advantage of Type2 over Type1/J1772 is it locks inside, so that end or both ends of a NACS car are locked
@@PSByteJ1772 might be currently more prolific in terms of charging stations your aware of. But Tesla uses NACS (J3400) and From June 2023 through February 2024, automakers BMW Group, Fisker, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motor Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Lotus Cars, Lucid Motors, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, Rivian, Stellantis, Subaru, Toyota, Volvo Cars, and Volkswagen Group all announced that they would equip their electric vehicles sold in the North American market with NACS charge ports from the factory starting in 2025. *By year, Tesla sells a MINIMUM of six times more EVs than all other MFGs COMBINED.
Does the post have the EVSE and you are simply plugging in an “extension” cord like Lectron’s NACS extension cord?
I’ve decently retired and am traveling by e-bike. Think about adding a solid loop to lock a bike to and a standard 110 outlet. Think of it as an even closer return to the hitching post.
The real question is how you get the wiring inexpensively (and legally) run under the sidewalk.
Legality isn't much of an issue. You apply for the permits.
I worked at a landscape company. We took a steel pipe and put a cap on the end and used a sledgehammer to drive it under the sidewalk.
There are lots of UA-cam videos about how to get a pipe under a sidewalk. In some you connect a garden hose to the pipe to wash the dirt out as you drive it through.
Imagine everyone charging their vehicle (which will eventually happen) wouldn’t that just fry up the entire country and possible the planet?
EV is BS
This is the problem here, because its not your property. And you also have to put all the wiring you put under the ground in a database etc. This does not work here, and many people want it. But local government has problems with it. While they also want to promote charging at the same time hahahaha
I am interested in how you imagine sharing would work, billing, and limiting freeloaders. In our condo in Mexico, I proposed connecting to the building with wall chargers and having multiple people use it and having a RFID card to access. The other owners, who do not foresee EVs did not like the idea.
So, two of us got together and had NMEA 6-20 outlets connected to 2 parking places where most owners do NOT prefer to park. These 2 outlets are connected to our individual electric meters instead of connected to the common meter for the building. Other owners are happier.
I think you should expand your thinking to condominiums. I am interested in the comments from others.
I still think that a common solution for charging in our condos in both the USA and Mexico would be ideal. Unfortunately, we are going with the private solutions in both.
I'm worried about freeloaders and such as others have said. I bet their are ways to combat most of that. Your idea is great and I wish I could help build your company and idea. Please let me know how to help. I'm in Illinois.
Our electricity is $0.10 per kWh, I'm not worried about "free-loaders". The freeloaders are the gas guzzlers polluting while taking oil com[anies take BILLIONS in free government money... oh but we don't pay the gas tax.
Anyone can charge at my house (If I'm not charging and can't disconnect... rare), it's been that way for years.
Do you have your granny lead? well, now 2 can charge.
@@coreyverisario6570 Switch at the home would be the easiest method.
The hardest part, in actuality, is the software. New federal regulations that were announced last year via executive order should relate to this idea, hopefully help but we know that stuff often has biases towards big business.
Like you said, RFID card and billing by energy exported from EVSE to connected vehicle.
I could see 1 of those posts with a parking meter on top of it. Perhaps the parking meter could handle the UI/payment for non-home owner charging points
For years now I’ve thought it was inevitable that we’d have to switch to Europe’s bring-your-own-cable model. Thieves will discover EVSE cables have copper and inevitably start cutting the cables off public stations. Of course, we also need these cables to lock on the EVSE during use so we aren’t making it any easier for them.
Once I discovered BYOC there was no way to unsee the advantages. Once I was talking with a Dutch man and he was shocked that we didn't take the cable off.
The dumbest part is that they get caught and are on the hook of tens of thousands of dollars (~$2000 USD/cable), but liquid cooling has dropped the copper to around $15 USD/cable
It's sad that we have to think about things like detering cable theft. I wonder if it is anti-EV or money or a mix
Especially in the US, those cables will be cut by crack heads faster than they can replace them. lol
@@StephenMatrese Not talking about liquid-cooled cables.
In particular, I’m thinking of my 16A AmazingE (ClipperCreek) portable EVSE that’s dangling from the side of my workshop. I share a parking lot with a convenience store… along with their drunks and schiztophrenic homeless who already ripped down exterior electrical wiring on the opposite side of my building. I have a backup if they get that one (NOS control board from the GM of the same ClipperCreek unit plus a J1772 from someone’s parted-out OpenEVSE build).
Thankfully, the store just got rid of their gazebo/gondola thing that the crazies were sleeping under. …and I do mean “crazies.” One of them recently admitted to throwing a piece from my van (diagonal brace bar) at “shadow people” when it turned out a doormat had simply fallen on top.
What's to prevent a thief from running off with a BYOC cable?
This is exactly the way to do it. Build a kiosk with the plug and let the car owner provide the cord. I'd suggest though that these kiosks also have an RFID or credit card reader to to turn the juice on and that reader could also bill the car owner. I've actually been advocating the kiosk approach like this for at least 10 years. Right after I saw a kiosk with a credit card reader on the side of a street in Limerick, Ireland in 2013.
It makes sense for the CITY to install this type of charger, but it makes absolutely no sense to expect individual homeowners to install them at great expense, with no way to meter or charge for it! It’s just wide open for anyone to use, at your expense. I just don’t know what this guy is thinking…
Hi. I am not from the US or Europe and have been thinking of trying to solve the same issue for my country. I have two suggestions.
1. As many already have, there is a need to mitigate the risk of chargers being simply unplugged from the car or charging posts by champion climate deniers. An alarm/alert can be set up during such a case. Such alert can also be triggered if the car stops charging at an unexpected time or SOC.
No one wants to come to their car in the morning, just to see if the car has not charged overnight.
2. As adoption picks up, the post socket will experience increased wear and tear, so an option to conveniently replace the socket will be a good future proofing step.
When using the type 2 chargers in Europe the car will lock the cable and to the charger. There’s no way for anyone to unplug or stop charging. From the car I can stop the charging and unlock the cable.
@@tomm5936 as long as the latching option is on both ends of the connector, it will be good.
erm... the chargers just lock in place?
@@MaticTheProto when you start charging a type 2 cable will lock and you cannot unplug as long as it is charging. There’s no way to stop charging at the charger, only I can do it from my car or in the app with my account. In my car it’s a setting that it stays locked even when charging has ended or it can immediately unlock. I have it locked because I charge on the street. When I unlock the car the cable will unlock at both the car and the charger and I can unplug and put the cable in the frunk.
The distributed ownership thing is a fantastic idea.
Regarding the concept of BYOC, I'm an electrician, and I have been saying this FOR YEARS!!
Chargers are not chargers! Chargers are extension cords. All you need is an outlet. Installing a 30 amp outlet is an extremely simple job, assuming your panel has enough space.
How has it taken this long for people to realize this?
Sure the outlet is simple, but trenching it from the panel is what takes time and in most cases "permission". The pay model is the hard part. How does one add the feature of charging someone for using your electricity? Overnight prices in my southern state are about $0.14/kWh. Someone fills up their 60kWh battery on their Tesla overnight, I am going to want my $8.40 plus a percentage of what it cost me to put in the outlet (or do you electricians work for free?).
@@jrjohnson5336 I'm assuming what they are making has some sort of integrated payment system, otherwise they wouldn't have talked about your neighbors buying power from you.
There is probably a small CT inside that monitors current flow, which likely links to an app. If you are the owner, you can likely set it up however you want, and sell the power at whatever rate you want. Good questions though! These are definitely things they should clarify.
Regarding the trenching and permits, I'm in Washington State, with pretty strict electrical laws, and all I have to do is buy a permit online, post it on the outside of my house, do the work and call for an inspection.
The laws in Washington allow homeowners to do their own electrical work, or to have someone assist them, as long as that person is not being compensated. Sizing a device like that, and installing an appropriate breaker is incredibly simple.
The actual installation of course needs to be done by a legit electrician, but you only need to bury that conduit (I believe) 2-3 feet down. Every house is different of course, but I could do that entire job all by myself in a day.
@@jrjohnson5336 man I hate UA-cam...keep deleting my comments!
I posted a longer response, but you make good points about the payment! They should clarify it for sure, but I'm assuming there is some kind of CT in the stand that monitors current flow, which likely links to an app through which the owner can sell the power to authorized users at whatever rate they want.
As far as the installation, I can go into more detail if you want, but the TLDR is a good electrician on average house can do that job in a day.
How much does a local electrical company charge to install a generator plug in on the outside of your house? If you dug the trench for the conduit yourself, it would take just about as long.
@@jrjohnson5336 UA-cam keeps deleting my comments.... apologies for the short response.
I think you make good points, I suspect that there is a current monitoring device in the post that links to an app, through which the owner can sell the power to authorized users at whatever rate they want. But you are totally right, they should clarify how they intend it to work!
In terms of installation, I've been a commercial electrician for the last seven years, and me or any other decent electrician could do this entire job by ourselves in one day. It's really not as complicated as it seems on the surface.
How does distributed ownership make sense? Why would anyone spend thousands to install this thing, which has no metering or payment capabilities, and is completely open for ANYONE to use, running up your electric bill? This is perhaps the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.
Living in a Type 2 Mennekes nation this would be another great option. We have a lot of curb side median strip space here, this is the most compact discrete version i've seen soo far. Hope to see this in Australia one day.
I like that post. I would combine mine with my mailbox so I could only have one post in front of my house.
Keep in mind that new neighborhoods in the US are going to cluster boxes.
And if it is a streetside box for vehicle post delivery... it is illegal to block it (eg: with a parked vehicle). At best, you just don't get mail delivery. At worst... ?
Eta: And with a property mount for a walking route (eg: edge of the lawn)... it's illegal to block a sidewalk such as with the cord running to the vehicle on the street.
Sad to say the mailbox combo is a beautiful idea, I just don't see how to accommodate it.
@@dalececil7527 I'm in a brand-new neighborhood and we still have individual boxes. Although they are a standard design neighborhood wide, and this would deviate from the others that everyone has.
Software developer here! I love the idea of having a website or app you could open that would allow you to see open chargers or broken chargers, if you were just wanting to use some else’s
We need these things everywhere in Chicago. The charging experience sucks here.
When I saw the prototype, my first thought was, "Put a mailbox on that!" That might make it more palatable in some neighborhoods. Perhaps something else could be integrated with it, like a light or address marker.
I think it's a great idea, though!
The downside to the mailbox idea is that you can't part there during the day. Otherwise, you won't get your mail.
Josh, I think this is a great concept. I have been following EV charging and infrastructure for a few years now and one of the big issues we are facing is people stealing the cord. Your design allows a charger to sit and not be vulnerable to theft. I have a vacation property that I would not want to have a traditional charger sitting out all year round and until this product I was thinking of a pole with a Nema 14-50 and being able to charge faster at my cabin. While I don't yet have and EV, I want to be ready to charge in the future...This could work for my situation and countless other people too. I will be watching to see where this product goes! Keep up the great ideas.
I like it, perhaps building a modular system that can fit within your pedestals, light posts (separate wire run, not the city energy) or offer multiple outlets at one post?
I like your thinking. This is exactly where we have landed. Pedestals were too limited, and we saw an opportunity to fit into existing electrical infrastructure. I'll be sharing more on this soon.
@@chargeeverywhere - A big problem in the US is convincing, licensing, and building charger in apartments and condos. So far my condo has no plans anytime soon to put some in.
@@BillAntgreed is a huge hurdle there, why would they do any of that if they can’t make money off of it? And it needs to be a big profit, fuck this capitalist system
It would be super easy to just add a specialized cap for the pedestal
I live in NYC and we desperately need something like this on every block. There are a total of 8 street side charging at level 2 in Astoria, Queens and they are always occupied.
My eyes lit up, I got it immediately, and anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together can easily understand just how much this idea can be beneficial to everyone moving forward.
Slow, street charging is definitely the way to go. I have a 2015 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive, it takes a full 16 hours to charge 0-100% on 110v (6h on Level 2 charging), just for 100km of range... and it's literally all I need for my daily needs! If I didn't have a private parking and external 110v plug, the car wouldn't be economical or convenient for me... Except if there was cheap, easy access to street parking with a charger. There *are* street chargers but they cost $1/h and even at that relatively cheap parking price it's still way too expensive for overnight, slow charging, especially since I usually don't need a full charge in the first place.
I absolutely love the metaphor of the hitching posts, it makes it simple to explain to people. You charge when you can, whenever you're parked, be it at home or at work or at the store (these posts in any parking lot would be insanely convenient, if they're made in a sturdier fashion), etc. We all know that 90% of people drive less than 100km per day, and even the slowest charging EV (mine!) gets me this easily plugged into the standard, dumb, 110v socket.
And hey, you know what, I also ride electric unicycles, and having the ability to just go anywhere and know, hopefully, that there's a charger around I can get power from to keep going on my ride... well let's say I'm in. Twice over. Now to get a house with street parking in front in the suburbs, now that's going to be my next step ;)
right now I use the charger that came with my ev and i got an extender cord to reach the street. we have no sidewalk. this would be cool but we rent. We love our Chevy bolt!!! we only have to charge everyother night and we will be charged to 80%
My sister owns a new Tesla & we just bought out first EV in a Nissan Leaf. My sister mentioned the amazing amount of needless hate that people have for EV owners. I have seen several instances of ICE cars parked in EV spaces blocking public chargers & I saw a photo recently of a guy using his ICE car to block ALL 3 EV parking spaces in a parking garage. I charge at home using the 120V 60HZ outlet in my garage to charge my car in the driveway. One benefit is that having your electric car in your garage over the winter gives you the motivation to clean all of the junk out of your garage.
"You're putting your charging in the hands of one entity and that entity is not you" - when I moved to my last apartment, I asked about EV charging. They said they'd be installing something within the year. I asked if they'd gotten a plan set up with a charger company like ChargePoint or SemaCharge or getting their own Clipper Creek units. They said they hadn't gotten a plan yet, but if I had recommendations, they'd love to hear them.
Well, I gave them my recommendations... and checked in 6 months later... and a year later... and two years later... and nothing :(
I've since moved out and have my own EVSE at my own place and it's so much nicer being able to charge at home rather than having to charge at public stations only! Making charging available for street parkers is going to be so helpful to increasing EV adoption.
Ive had this exact thought, as a landscaper in the process of switching over to All electric the power required to keep my batteries charged is pretty big, being able to pull up to every house and plugging in to maintain capacity is huge. This is definitely the future.
In Oslo, Norway about 20% of all public street parking spots have public chargers. And charging is free as long as you pay for parking. Parking while charging is about 70% cheaper than parking non-electric cars and charging your car up while parked is about 50% cheaper than on a tesla supercharger.
Wow
Love this idea -- especially in the roll out being person by person.
One thing you should try to do is find universal legal precedent for allowing homeowners to do this that can't be easily stopped by local zoning ordinances -- that is a huge problem. But I really LOVE the idea of a "bring your own cable" solution. Most EVs have space for them anyway and then the adapters are just part of the cable. Great work, keep it up.
If my mailbox sat on top of this ev post that would be awesome! Imagine every mailbox is actually a ev charger in the years to come.
I have Tesla destination chargers at my business that are also open to the public. In the beginning they were free as a perk for customers. I eventually went pay per use because people and car dealers were leaving their cars plugged in all day .
If you want to make the device usable to the public consider redesigning it to function like a parking meter. Since this device will be connected to your power or your neighbor's power, incorporating a payment method such as a card reader or a coin slot would be much more efficient. This way, neighbors or the public wouldn't need to knock on doors to ask to use the charger, and the owner of the charger would receive compensation immediately.
I like the post idea. Would add an RFID card to access, or at least have the option. Prevents freeloaders. Much nicer than the ones with the cables on the street, and more discrete. I was wondering why that concept has not made it to North America. Hope you make it catch. You will need to add some locking mechanism so people do not unplug and steal your cable. Perhaps scan the RFID to unlock the cable.
Yes, these things. I just stumbled on this video and I'm excited as a condo owner with no garage, only a parking spot in a parking lot in front of my condo. This could be the ticket to EVs for me cause I am not charging at commercial charging stations unless I absolutely have to.
This is super clean, I think it would be VERY difficult to get these installed in my city on the street.
But for multi-family buildings, having these in the parking spaces would be incredible!
So my main issue is the incentive for home owners. If I’m a home owner, I do not own the street parking in front of my house. But if I have an EV and park it on the street, I would want something like this. However, it looks like there isn’t anything on the post preventing people from using it (like a lock or a code).
This means the spot in front of my house will become a hot commodity for all the EVs in the neighborhood, just like when a parking lot introduces EV charging. If I’m installing one of these, I would like to see the ability to put some sort of code on the box to make charging exclusive to me or my visitors. I do see some challenges with this though because I would be putting up personal infrastructure on land reserved for the city to use (I’m from Canada so even if we own the land, the city has the right to use the front part of it)
If the idea is that other cars can use it and pay for the electricity, how will that work? Will they pay via credit card? Or are you thinking that having one of these posts hooked up to your property can be some sort of tax rebate on an annual basis?
Great project, this will really help advancing the EV transition in your area!
Two suggestions: Use a type 2 (mennekes) connector. Although it is larger, it supports cable locking and larger means more robustness. Parts may be cheaper because everyone in Europe uses it.
Also add an RFID based access control and accounting with a dedicated meter. Setup and operate a backend to track and account charging sessions. I'd suggest an ethernet connection to the pole which runs into the homes powering the pole. If connectivity is an issue (no cable to the router), just add a small ethernet to WiFi module where you connect to the power.
Also look into existing solutions for inspiration, like the "Charging Point Berlin" from the German company "Bender GmbH".
If the light ring indicates active charging, it should be a ring that wraps around the post horizontally, maybe just under the cap at the top to give it a tiny bit of protection. That way the usage state is glanceable from non-app users in any direction and could encourage better sharing.
Home charging is the only way to keep costs low so I like the idea.
I don't drive much anymore but I love my EV. No more maintenance is a win, win.
The superchargers are a perfect solution for me but I wish you the best with your company.
LOL! The notion that EV’s have “no more maintenance” is absurd!
Just a food for thought, have you thought of the idea of also making it a fence post. Invisible in plain sight but there when you needed it.
This is genius and we totally need this all over! Definitely need to talk to Kyle Connor’s and Tom Moloughney and get this idea spread out more.
I have a friend whose business is trenchless digging. He runs the power without actually digging up sidewalks and roads. I wonder if it would work for this too?
Edit: Scrap my comment, I just visited your site and see that there is a app dealing with this.
Really great Idea. There is only one issue I see with this.Unless there is already a feature for this. Most people would not want some random person park there and start charging using there power. I would personnaly not want some one use my charger if I pay the power bill associated with it. There should be a way to make it only usable by the owner or by approved users. Either with code thru an app or with a locking mechanism.
I've been wondering why nobody has done the lead method here in the States. Thank you for pushing it hopefully it takes off soon.
Obviously the big problem with this idea is that many homeowners will not love to pay to charge their neighbors cars everyday. Also won’t love to have neighbors park in front of their house, and lastly not appreciate if a neighbor charges his/her car at the charging point they paid to install when they need to use it to charge their own car. One solution that helps somewhat alleviate this is by putting a lock on the charger box.
Looks like good design though and could work in a lot of scenarios. I see that being a common application in driveways where I see lots of ev owners currently route their Tesla cord under the garage door and leave the cord out because they park their car in the driveway.
Needs to be taller northern America with snowfall & plows piling up snowbanks. We get crazy ice storms too & reestablishing acces to it when it's covered in 1/4 of ice needs to be easy. That means it should be able to take a beating as we inevitably wack ice off. No plastic parts & access plate/cover that can be cleared easily. Definitely make sure it drains at the bottom if water gets in & design to prevent bees and such making it home!
I’m working for Zaptec chargers, which is a Norwegian EV charger brand. And I’ve got to say, having only the plug and not cable fixed to the charger makes so much sense. Today in Europe there’s only old Leafs and Souls who has type 1 plug. All new cars have type 2, but having to bring your own cable you know that you’re able to charge your car.
I have daily customers contacting us wanting to switch out the old chargers as the cable is fixed and now the new car cannot charge. How stupid isn’t that?!?
It’s like with the type C and lightning cable. Try going to a Samsung store asking to charge your old iPhone with one of their cables. It doesn’t work!
Most cars today charge with 11kW on 3phase so if you’re able to support that I think it’s gonna be a great hit!
I think you original idea of retracting the cables would still be needed in some places where cable theft is a possibility. Or get a way of locking the cable to the charger while in use
I would go a step further and let people sell charging time. Even people who do not own EVs. You could add a contactless credit card machine to every pole, or even better, an app so you add your card and unlock the pole, and owners would track their earnings. Just like rental bikes. It would add extra complexity, but it'd be a huge incentive.
This only fixes a very small use case where people have a house, but they don't have parking at their house. Most of the problems are apartment buildings.
7:25 the glowing post may be more important than you think.
Where I live they put reflective flags on the fire hydrants so they don't get destroyed by graders trying to remove snow.
Very cool idea. I don't park on the street anymore, but in most cities this would be great.
EU “bring your own cable” makes so much more sense
yeah. In europe there's always at least one that comes with an ev or hybrid
I like the idea of a personal curbside charging post. I would want a lock on it or some function to let me control who and when someone is using it. Not that i mind sharing, but if i need my car charged for work the next day, i don't really want my neighbor using the spot i paid to install to charge his car on my dime.
Having Nema 1450 outlet which can provide 48 A is what works well for me, but there are some people that would benefit from even a little better charging speeds at these private locations. This could all be installed according to each individuals needs for some 30 amp for some 40 amp for some 50 amp, it can be turned off at breaker, if shared with somebody else, it would be a trusted friend or family member. to have one shared with the general neighborhood in the world and which we live is not going to work very often. keep it simple, just try to make one of these outlets for each person on electric bill or close family or friend. We can do that so that nobody can just drive up and use somebody else’s plug without flipping the switch first.
You guys could put a QR code on the post to buy a cable that you sell as a way to make profit. You could also have something that requires the people to use it to pay back for the electricity they used (maybe a few cents more per kilowatt hour than what the energy provider charges, and the person who owns the charger makes the extra money)
I can see this also be the new mailbox post. It can serve as a double duty. As for usage I can also see nfc tag usage. If you come across one you just use your phone to scan an nfc and you pay for the usage and the home owner gets a small cut as part of being part of the communal network. Lots of other things you can do with this (allow others to use during certain hours, etc)
Seems neat. Would be cool to see how you’re going to handle the payment piece for the homeowner. In a perfect world you’d have a simple app that allows the homeowner to set their own rates and/or access control for who’s allowed to unlock and use the electricity. Super smart idea so far
This is an amazing idea. I could see an app where when a person taps their phone to the charger it checks if they're the owner and then shows the price for charging. You could even split the income of each charger with the owner so that the owner gets paid for the used electricity and the company can get a small kick back.
You did the work its ok to reap some reward. If you make a lot of money. You can spend a lot of money. Train people, Hire teams of people in each big city. Think outside the box and think big.
I’m sure you’ve already thought of this, but what about existing street lights. As we transition to LED’s , the current draw is much less, so the existing breaker size and wire gauge could be enough to deliver a useful amount of power.
Really cool solution to a problem I've been wondering about for a long time! Best of luck to you guys. I hope your product is successful. There's a lot of potential in this idea.
Stateside as well. I hated the idea of leaving cables out in the elements all year with most type 1 charging configurations. My biggest gripe with public charging is much wear level 2 station cables see.
So in 19' I bought two of the OpenEVSE charger DIY kits and reworked them to run to very small outdoor box with two Type 2 female sockets. While the OpenEVSE components stay in a relative cool indoor location. I purchased a few Type2 to Type1 cables and have been satisfied ever since. dual 32A chargers at the house is fantastic.
The main issue though has always been the Type1 plug, They should have never had the Latch/microswitch/resistor as its always been my source of wear/failure. I have still have mixed feelings on the move to NACS over Type2, because discontinuing type1 should have been done years ago. But its a step in the right direction.
This is so awesome. This is going to be a game changer. I'm 100% behind this idea.
I mean it would be next level once contactless payments are added for everyone to use it that way the person that decides to install it has an initiative of sharing and it benefits them and the community.
The post itself is the easy part. Getting power to it will be the difficult part. Next will be the payment system. Following would be maintenance.
I was thinking of the European driver provided cables before you mentioned it. With the recent rash of charging cable thefts for the copper, the owner cables makes even more sense. Owner's will treat their expensive cables better than anyone else.
Fortunately I park in my garage.
Be sure to look at Canadian cities as a potential option for growth / expansion. EVs and PHEVs are REALLY catching on in many parts of Canada, even more so than much of the US it seems. And the residential power systems are essentially identical, and also use J1772 and (soon) NACS.
So long as the end product is reasonably simple and inexpensive to get installed, I think LOTS of people will jump on board.
How do you charge your customer for charging? App?
My question too
If you go into the description of the video and visit the website, there's what looks to be an app shown towards the bottom of the page.
I didn't realise coming from the UK that the US did not use charging posts where you need your own cable, they are everywhere here from supermarkets to parks and work places and charge from 7kw to 22kw AC. Even though I live in a Flat (apartment) I have bought an EV as I can charge at 22kw AC on a 3 phase work charger which my Renault Zoe supports.😁
I would think it would be nessasary to lock the system so power isn't stolen by others.
It would also be neat to offer these as a service where someone can rent time on the charge while the charger isn't normally in use (midday). The owner could set avaliablity time and earn some money renting the charger. Potential users/renters could be other members of the community or people visiting family/friends in the area.
It's a great idea. The detachable cord is the best. No more worries about damaged connectors twisted cables, etc. This will make it a much more reliable system too. I think a payment system is a must, but it works have to be better competitive.
What's your plan to manage sharing? In a perfect world, everyone would play nice, however, in our world, we need ways to ensure this isn't abused.
Do you have any ideas for how you might mitigate cable theft?
Have you considered the safety aspects of what happens if a charger is struck by a vehicle?
What about preventing them from being struck by a vehicle. Reflective tape might be one approach, but another might be lights atop the posts either solar-powered or powered by the charger.
Except that you have to go through the same permission processes, since it is on public ground with a cable through public ground.
My city simply doesn't allow laying cables over or through public ground from your home to a car or charging pole. No negotiation.
The public charging stations (that are not monopolized) are similar slim line units as you designed.
How does your pole manage the payments for the power delivered by your pole to other cars? Here the public charging poles use (nearly universal) cards from lots of different providers, that simply manage authorization for the power you load to your car (and will handle charging to any other car too)
Mailbox option would be sweet as most houses have a post for a mailbox. Make it as diy friendly as possible with videos so homeowners have less electrician expense, hopefully just the hookup and inspection of it. a lot of ev people are dyi type of people.
I think it's a great idea, however, you are still leaving the cable unattended overnight. If someone has a lopper and electrician's gloves, they can just lop it off in a few minutes. I've seen a different solution where the cable comes down from a utility pole and has a retraction mechanism that pulls the cable tight and pulls the cable up when not being used. Much more expensive to implement but more secure.
In some places people can still have nice things.
Would be nice to have a fingerprint sensor or something built into it. Maybe some sort of local auth system. This way users are able to decide who can use their charger. Considering the costs of electricity and that technically anyone can use the charger. Amazing work none the less.
Sooooo…….. the industrial light. No one has nothing to say about it. How it goes into the ceiling? How it’s floating. Why there is duct work? I love it
I live in a condo with no garage. I use a 120V plug to charge but the HOA doesn’t want me to use it. I wish there was something mobile or even a solar panel option. I really like your idea and I’m sure a lot of apartment and condo complexes will like the idea of no cord. Best of luck.
You need to convince condo complex to install a Plugzio or Orange Charger outlet in the garage. You fund the $400 new outlet and they can retrofit an existing outlet in 15 mins. These devices directly bill you for the electricity used through your mobile charger. You must plug in whenever the vehicle is not moving.
I love this idea! I think this is a great opportunity for new home developments to just add these outside of homes on the curb already! If its not need, no worries, but sets up the infrastructure to be ready for it when the time comes. However, i do wish there was a way to do this without detachable cables, but I understand the complexity with that.
Great idea! I understand the mission you are looking for help with includes: - figuring out how to turn it into a ecosystem - with installers, maintainers, municipal information kits, manufacturers, and payment / sharing solutions.
j1772 allows up to 80A. Tesla limits to 48A (but adapter says 80A). They can charge 19.2kw which is almost fast charging in my book.
Meanwhile the on-board charger on my 2011 Leaf is only about 3.5kW.
Also recently learned my Leaf may be incompatible with EVSEs advertising 80A (manual for the charger says there is a 70A work-around mode).
Interesting. One major problem (especially if its a city build out) is how do you stop people other than you from stealing your power? Or alternatively how can you pay? Not a silver bullet, but probably a better idea than permanently leaving a cable outside for meth heads to steal.
A little bit of sidewalk ambient lighting might be nice as well. Especially if you consider people leaving for work before the sun comes up.
Also probably a good idea to just make the NACS (tesla) version only. Since the country will be switching over this year for basically every new EV.
TBH, I think it will be a lot easier for you guys to go mass production if you just work with one of the EV charging providers in China and figure out a way to install them in the states. They even have a mature ecosystem that can finance installations, pay for charging with a QR code and distribute the proceeds at the end of each billing cycle. Really, fly to China and take a look at how charging is handled there, might save you a lot of time and money
Hi Josh. I have a couple of points. Someone from Europe here, or more specifically, Ireland. In Ireland and the UK, 3 phase domestic is not common. Single phase 240V is where the vast majority of us are at. The home charge points available to us are sold in single phase or 3 phase units, with some catering for both. In single phase, the additional 2 pins on the socket side are redundant. It's cheaper to manufacture them this way, as the same product essentially suits both markets, similar to manufacturers putting electric seats in all cars, but only connecting them in premium models. Most of our EVs take a TYPE 2 MENNEKES and some of the older cars, such as the 2010-2017 Nissan Leaf, or the Mitsubishi i-miev take the TYPE 1 (J1772).
Here's the important bit. No matter the connection on the EV end, the port on the charge point is always the same Type 2. So I could rock up with my i-miev and use the cable that came with the car to charge from any untethered charge point. The same is true if I do the same in my Tesla. I just use the cable that comes with the car. I assumed the charger sockets in the US were also Type 2. Is this not the case? The only difference should be the end that connects to the car, which should have a cable with a TYPE 2 connector for the charge point and then a J1772, or MENNEKES, or NACS or whatever other type connects to the car.
Another option would be to add a domestic socket to the charge point, allowing users to use the "granny" charger if they don't have the larger public charging cable. Maybe you call it something different over there, but I am talking about the slow domestic charge cable which looks like an old laptop charger and has a domestic plug on it. This would add a lot of redundancy to the unit at low cost and a minor design addition. You would simply need to add a second socket point under the existing one.
I agree that the port on the EVSE side should be whatever is the standard and the same on every charger, so that you never have the issue of incompatibility with the cable. I do believe however that NACS has recently become the US official standard connection.
I really like your idea of adding a standard outlet for the granny charger, if for some reason you cannot connect using a standard charging cable! That’s a nice redundancy I wish public chargers in Europe would have. Maybe an important consideration for this would be to provide some sort of locking/latching mechanism covering the socket, so someone doesn’t run off with your charger. Type 2 and NACS can be mechanically locked but a standard plug/socket traditionally cannot.
Whatever happens to be the country standard, I think the EVSE port should be a type 2. That doesn’t prevent the car side from being Type 1, Type 2, or NACS.
The locking mechanism to prevent someone running away is on most EVs and doesn’t require locking at the EVSE side, save for the low life people who purposefully disconnect cars that are charging for selfish, or childish reasons. When my Leaf, or Model 3 is charging, the car either automatically locks the charging cable, or it can be set manually.
@@GaryMeatsLife I agree that Type 2 is probably the safest option right now, although I don’t know what cable EVs in the US typically ship with. Many US brands are switching to NACS on the car side, and there’s a case to be made for NACS in that it could support either AC or DC charging on the same connector/cable which is a good future proof feature.
On some older EVs (so not the biggest issue) like my 2011 Leaf the connector doesn’t lock on the side of the car. In Europe most public chargers lock the cable on the charger side too. This does help prevent people from simply unplugging your car from the charger for the sake of it. But if I read in the comments the hate EVs/chargers get in the US, it might still be a nice thing to have for now. Also in the case of the granny socket, it would prevent somebody from unplugging you and plugging in their own car or any other appliance while you/the homeowner pays for the electrical bill (assuming you don’t automatically stop a session/cut power when the load is removed, but as the socket would not have any communication, this might be harder to implement).
@@noevandenbranden1229 The NACS standard is a perfectly good option for the car side, especially because of the AC or DC charging through a smaller connector. I am based in Ireland and the Fremont built Teslas arrived here with the NACS charge port. My "made in china" Tesla Model 3 is Type 2 and CCS. The Fremont built cars could plug directly into the Tesla Super Chargers before CCS became mandatory, or with an adaptor they could use CHAdeMO, or CCS charge points. They also came with the type 2 to Tesla (NACS) public cable to allow people to AC charge either from untethered public, work, or home charge points. The only issue I have with the NACS is the naming of it. The aim should be Global, not North America. I suspect Europe would fight to keep CCS though because they only recently enough mandated the standard.
My 2012 Leaf also did not have a locking mechanism for the charge port, but my 2014 UK built one did. It may be the case that the Japanese built ones did not have a locking mechanism, or it may be that from late 2013 they came with them. My 2014 Leaf had one and my 2018 also has one. Like I said, most EVs have a charge cable lock built in.
I think a locking mechanism at the charge point is a piece of extra security. I don't know how they would implement a locking mechanism for a domestic plug without adding significant costs to the charge point. With regards to stealing electricity, the answer is RFID to engage the electrical contactor and allow electrons to flow. As soon as the cable is unplugged, the contactor should dis-engage and be ready for the next RFID scan.
@@noevandenbranden1229 We don't get cords that separate from our chargers in the US currently. All EVSE's come with it hard wired. Even the ones you can add from the manufacturer have them hard wired into them. This is one of the areas where thieves are starting to cut the wires for the metal and leaving EV drivers with issues of not being able to charge. There are even videos out there where people are getting shocked cutting the cables. Then they get broke because people don't take care of them when using them and some don't have cable management built into them at all. Our charging here is a mess between connector types, networks, and reliability I am all for this as a solution here.
I wonder if, at least for some units, you wouldn't want them sticking out as part of branding, to drive awareness, and to make people excited to see them. I don't think you'd want the entire street to be lined with bright pink electric car chargers, but at least, as a way to get passers by to notice, striking design may be desirable.
It’s going to be difficult if you guys don’t carry a Menkes cable with you. In Europe, all cars come with that cable. And cars and chargers lock the cable from both ends until the user wants to remove it.
I love this idea and hope you get it everywhere esp I would love to have it at my condo building! It definitely made me think of Helium when you mentioned a network by the people. There's another company called DIMO that is building a connected car ecosystem and was just thinking of how your plug could utilize something like IOT to handle infrastructure, location of chargers and/or payments somehow. Just things that came to mind when watching your video if you haven't heard of any of these things; I think what you're building could fit right into that space.
Taxpayer funded/subsidized vehicle storage is such a weird thing. Leading to more weird things like how to get power from my house to my government funded parking spot.
This is good stuff! I've seen the detachable cables in Europe, and always wondered why this wasn't a thing in the US. Kudos to you for making it happen.
I have a garage, so I don't currently need one, but I'd be more than willing to throw a few bucks your way if desired.
Its a neat idea. I think the street parking solution will look similar to this, but with one large caveat. Streets are public spaces. You dont own the parking space in front of your house. The vast majority of street parking in urban areas is free without permits, and even in places where permitted parking exists, it is never limited to one specific parking spot.
By paying personally to install this in front of your house, you are essentially claiming "dibs" to "your" parking spot, but its not your spot, its free public parking for anyone.
Perhaps in a more suburban environment where a few people park on the street, but theres still a lot of driveways, this could work as basically a more aesthetically pleasing extension cord. But for urban areas where street parking is more heavily used, and sometimes you cant always park RIGHT in front of your house, the only real way street charging working is for the City or Electric Utility company to install them all the way down the block and implement some sort of RFID payment/metering system.
The post can be accidentally run over as people did all the time to mailboxes. Consider some sort of hinges at bottom or bendable post. If it were up to me, I would do away with the post. The outlet would be something round like half a basketball and perhaps a foot tall. Make it red or any color suitable for housing codes.
Another thought: Will it be something that Airbnb wants to get a piece of the pie ?
I love the idea, but most cities and residents would not do it, unless repaid for their power. You need some type of point of sale feature. I think your best bet is to sell to private parties, and provide a locking access. The plug needs to be in a NEMA 6 enclosure, so a 14-50 receptacle would be better. Most 14-50 plugs are offset, and could be enclosed in the NEMA 6 enclosure.
Great idea! I have an installed ChargePoint in my carport, but I also have a cable that I can plug into a 50 amp service. I don’t use it on a regular basis, but there are RV parks everywhere. Say, the isolated level 3 charger you need doesn’t work, you can ask a park manager to sell you a few electrons. Had I known then what I know now, I would have gotten a 50 amp plug for my carport and saved myself some money. Maybe you could register locations on a trip planner, like PlugShare, with a billing system so the owners can make a little income when they aren’t using them.
I grew up on a street with street parking, and parking spots are NOT assigned. You are not guaranteed a parking spot in front of your house. What about cars not charging, where do they park? Well in front of a charger if that’s the only place to park.
Explore this idea:
Replace the fossil fuel with a eco friendly fuel. 😳
Retain ICE vehicles with only minor changes needed.
Utilize the existing distribution infrastructure. (Service stations)
But what is this wonder fuel? Alcohol.
Go to a drag strip, we have been running engines on alcohol for decades.
Alcohol can be made with a variety of plants including grasses. We certainly know how to produce large volumes of alcohol.
What comes out the tailpipe? Water. No noxious fumes or carbon.
Combined with a hybrid, you will have a non-polluting vehicle with range, and can fill up in minutes at an existing service station.
See if you can come up with a knockdown design. When not in use, it lies down on the ground, so it can't be hit by careless drivers, and doesn't detract from the environment. When you want to use it, you step on a part of it to pop it upright, and plug in.
Obviously, this would only be a solution where mailbox or street lamp integration isn't an option.
Hey! This is awesome! We are avid Tesla and charging enthusiasts, and EV road trippers. I love the idea and don’t know exactly how we could be of help, but we’d love to be a part of it in any way!
The office complex where I work could sure use a few of these. We have 4-5 EV drivers now and nowhere to charge.
I like the way you two are thinking; specifically, enabling charging near your home where a private garage isn’t viable and sharing (with payment) when others use it. I suggest you establish principles like: only using NACS/J3400 and include this cable -or- only provide a 240v outlet where the car brings their own cable (i think you’ve chosen the latter but wasn’t clear in the YT or website). Also, can you piggy back on an existing app that’s already common - Tesla, EA, Plugshare, etc. so that charges can be collected without any local terminals? Hope you find the success you’re aiming for here. (I’m grateful that i can charge my two Tesla’s in my home garage using a Tesla Wall Charger)
Now I’m watching your other videos…you addressed some of my points - thanks! Good luck and success!
What a great idea, especially if you connect directly to solar, no transforming your power, in Australia the power company are complaining there is too much solar power on the grid and are starting to charge people for the privilege of “Storing” your power