For a long time we have been warning of some of the barriers, in our opinion the most decisive, that could and are slowing down the progress of the electric car. Buying an electric car without having a parking space, in which to install a charging point from which we can recharge our car, does not seem like a viable option. At least we wouldn’t recommend it.
Hence, one of the issues to be resolved is to offer a public recharging infrastructure in accordance with the needs of the electric carwith high availability and accessible to all, and scalable to adapt to the growth of the electric car fleet that will necessarily take place in the coming years.
Is it possible to design a charging system that allows solving all these problems, which the electric car presents, at a stroke of the pen?
Curb chargers for electric cars
The German company Rheinmetall promises to have achieved it. And the solution is as simple as an ultra-compact electric car chargerwhich admits powers of up to 22 kW (in alternating current) and that would blend in perfectly with a curb. This charging system could be connected to the existing electrical infrastructure, although foreseeably, especially if it is installed on a large scale, it would require an oversizing of the power of the existing electrical networks.
One of its great advantages is that of being able to install many recharging points in public parking spaces without the impact and cost of traditional charging points and, above all, getting closer to the user. Therefore, a large number of recharging points could potentially be available in public parking spaces. But the great advantage lies in the facilities it offers for scaling and oversizing the number of curb chargers, adapting to the growing number of electric vehicles.
Its creators assure that they have devised a fake charger installation strategy. Those localities that opt for its installation can take this point into consideration when reconditioning the pavement of the roads and sidewalks. And at first replace some curbs with fake chargers. These fake chargers would not be functional, but could be quickly replaced when more charging points need to be installed to meet the charging needs of a larger number of electric cars. This ability to be replaced quickly would also facilitate the maintenance of the charging points and their replacement to solve faults.
