Yves Behar-designed GE WattStation electric vehicle charger spruces streets, juices cars
By Darren Murph 
posted July 14th 2010 3:01AM
posted July 14th 2010 3:01AM
GE Introduces Smart Grid-Compatible Electric Vehicle Charger
GE WattStation(TM) is an easy-to-use electric vehicle charger designed by renowned industrial designer Yves Behar
SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 13, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --Will help utility companies manage electricity demand, expanding consumer access to electric vehicle charging stations
--Significantly decreases time required for full car charging
GE today introduced the GE WattStation, an easy-to-use electric vehicle (EV) charger. Designed to help accelerate the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles, GE WattStation significantly decreases time needed for vehicle charging and, using smart grid technology, allows utility companies to manage the impact of electric vehicles on the local and regional grids.
Steve Fludder, vice president of GE ecomagination, said, "Widespread electric vehicle adoption depends on having charging stations that integrate the need for quick charging with the personal need for easy functionality. GE WattStation will meet this challenge."
Combining functionality with consumer friendly form from renowned industrial designer Yves Behar, the GE WattStation on average decreases electric vehicle charging time from 12-18 hours to as little as four to eight hours compared to standard charging "level 1", assuming a full-cycle charge for a 24 kWh battery.
"Good design is when a new technology enters our life and makes it simpler, beautiful and healthy" said Yves Behar, founder of fuseproject. "The GE WattStation achieves this with a welcoming design that is seamlessly integrated in the urban landscape and becomes a natural part of our daily driving routine"
Dan Heintzelman, president & CEO GE Energy Services, said, "For more than 100 years GE has worked to optimize energy use. Given our expertise in electrical distribution, WattStation is a natural progression in our commitment to creating cutting edge innovation for the next century."
GE WattStation will be commercially available globally in 2011. GE will unveil a specialized home version of the charger later this year.
In addition to the GE WattStation, GE recently announced two new partnerships to advance electric vehicle adoption. In April 2010, Project Get Ready, a non-profit initiative led by Rocky Mountain Institute to help communities prepare for electric vehicles, named GE a technical advisor focusing on design and planning of the local and regional electric grids for electric vehicles.
In May 2010, GE Global Research and Nissan signed a separate three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore new technologies that are needed to build a reliable, dynamic smart-charging infrastructure.
For more information on GE WattStation, including preorder details, please visit www.ecomagination.com/wattstation.
About GE's ecomagination
GE is driving a global energy transformation with a focus on innovation and R&D investment to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technology. Since its inception in 2005, more than 90 ecomagination-approved products have been brought to market with revenues reaching $18 billion in 2009. With $5 billion invested in R&D its first five years, GE committed to doubling its ecomagination investment and collaborate with partners to accelerate a new era of energy innovation. The company will invest $10 billion in R&D over five years and double operational energy efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. As part of the initiative, GE launched "GE ecomagination Challenge: Powering the Grid", a $200 million financial commitment challenging innovators to join in building the next-generation power grid. For more information, visit the ecomagination website at http://www.ecomagination.com
About GE
GE /quotes/comstock/13*!ge/quotes/nls/ge (GE 15.31, +0.10, +0.66%) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, health care solutions, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com.
the design is okay, and i love the distribution of such chargers everywhere till i get my model s in 2012 or 2013.. but the design doesn't fit the rest of the picture at all. should be much more fitting, else people get pissed off.
@davepermen
Just wait till the DIY'ers figure out ways to make use of these things.
Probably just use em to charge their cellphones or something, but, they could always figure out a way to BLOW UP CARS like on "Demolition Man"
@davepermen I think more people care about the time it takes to charge than how it looks. Yeah, this looks great, but there are lots of nice looking chargers that have been shown off and some of them can do real crazy things like charge a car 70% in 20 minutes. If this can do something similar, then that is great. Otherwise, they should spend more time on the electrical and chemical engineering and less on the design.
P.S. Did anyone else notice the OLPC in his studio?
@davepermen
i think battery renting could be more efficient.
that sounds reasonable.
This won't last long, as it will be vandalized by the end of the day.
@pika2000
or some idiot will electrocute themselves to death by using it with their non-electric cars.
@pika2000 -- Why is the first vision that comes to my mind some homeless guy camping out next to it and rubbing his feces on the plug end? Electric cars are destined to be a giant public health hazard.
@PrepaidAndroidUSA
Laughing Out Loud !!!!!!!!! now that's the truth !
I wonder how many amps you will need in a house circuit breaker for the home version. 80? 100!?
At last, parking meter money that pays you back!
Dog tails across the country wagged a little faster today.
There will be so much graffiti on these things
@AlienSix Shocking. Hopefully, they will be charged a hefty fine. :P
Just a wild guess here, but I bet these are more expensive to use than the equivalent mileage from a gasoline pump. Hope I'm wrong.
But it's good to see this product developed.
I still think the better solution is removable batteries you exchange like a propane tank, common across automakers, maintained relatively consistently by gas station operators, with a credit for how much power was left on the cell you turned in and a deposit for the cost of an entire battery.
@Dustin F
Really??? A removable battery that weighs how many hundreds of pounds? These aren't AA size, they're massive batteries. Plus trying to get companies to agree on a standard battery seems a lot less likely than the already agreed upon standard plug size. The battery, its capacity and how it's charged would all be proprietary technology for the respective automakers while a standard plug is relatively inconsequential.
I'm not sure if this is the best design for charging EV vehicles but charging stations are definitely the next step. Some researchers have already gotten charging times up to 80% capacity in about 11 minutes. That's enough for long trips and you can do the full fast & trickle charge at home over 3-4 hours.
Current battery tech isn't at this level yet, but hopefully once the the charging speeds are fast enough, I hope the government invests in nationwide charging stations alongside gas stations similar to when we expanded the national highways over half a decade ago.
Investment in infrastructure is necessary to move into the next phase of clean energy.
@ravissimo
I agree with Dustin that the ultimate goal is to use batteries like we use gas/petrol. When we run out we refill. The fastest way to refill is to exchange the empty battery with one that is full if we are in a hurry (5 minutes if you check Better Place video) or plug in at home if we have plenty of time. These are rechargeable batteries, and as I do at home when I have to recharge my battery without waiting to wait for it: I replace it with an already charged battery. I do not agree with having recharging stations like the one mentioned above as we live in communities where few of their elements do not respect any types of property (private or public) and these will get eventually vandalized and their use will be limited. Ravissimo is correct, these are no AA batteries we are talking about. But I also say that we already have the infrastructure of gas stations everywhere that can be retrofitted with battery exchanging bays. The money the government is spending on installing these recharging stations everwhere in communities or parking garages counld be better utilized to retrofit fewer gas stations with higher current rechrging stations and exchange bays.
The current battery types although not standard are limited to the number of companies that produce electric cars and will not be a big issue to store some of those at the gas station for ready exchange and as the gas station accumulates exchanged batteries these will get recharged.
In my opinion this is the fastest and least disruptive way of deploying the infrastructure.
Toe-Knee
@Dustin F
I don't know enough about batteries... but why not just replace the worn acid inside with charged acid? Is that even possible?
@ravissimo
The next phase will probably be hydrogen. People diss it because it takes more energy to make than it gives back, but they are stupidly misunderstanding that it's just a storage medium like a battery and waste is inherent.
I think swappable batteries would be easy to implement. Yes, they weigh a lot. You could be guided onto some kind of ramp that swivels a little and swaps the battery in 30 seconds, giving you a new 200 miles of range.
Obviously, I'm not talking about current battery powered cars, but cars designed to work with this kind of system.
I like the other guy's idea about swapping the liquid in the battery, but that probably can't work with modern battery tech.
We have to think outside the box a little. It's never going to work for me if I have to wait for my battery to recharge.
*wakes up to go to work the next morning to discover that pesky spotty ass kid down the road unplugged my car shortly after I plugged it in* ... 'for a laugh' ... ughh! ... what I'd do for one of those hydrogen cars right now!
@hazardouswaster
a simple locking system would suffice.
The shadows don't line up. Compare them with that of the flower pot. Newbs.
Dogs will love these unless they leak juice whilst doggies are er, leaking.
This is clear, once the chaging stations have defined the charging plug and chare liad length, then every electric car from then on has to have their charge socket made the same and within reach.
Can you image the confusion if electric car owners had to carry a range of charging adapters.
240Volts is way too low, it would take ages!
I said it on Gizmodo and i'll say it here. People will just walk by and unplug it because they can.
@Vakarian
That certainly does seem likely - because they are dickheads.
@Vakarian
maybe the cars could have a locking mechanism that's operated with the car's key?
Neat, except sidewalks would have to be ripped up (using oil powered construction equipment) in order to install the power lines needed for those things. This tech won't take off anytime soon.
I like the design, but I have a couple of objections / improvements:
1- The LED service signal seems like an unnecessary waste of energy. Why not use a display like color EInk where the energy consumption is minimized?
2- The screen orientation while ergonomically correct + the cool glossy finish, will make it hard for users to see it in direct sunlight. Though a proximity / light sensors could adjust the display inside the frame for better viewing angles. Also a rounded screen would fit more seamlessly with the design.
Or better yet disregard the service LED light all together. We live in an era of information, and there is no reason why these stations cannot update their status to the network and make such information available to drivers on their in car navigation systems.
I was hoping the electrical revolution would be induction charging along the major roads...... as you drive even. But alas, it was bound to be a pipe dream.
These are going to look really "beautiful" when some thug gang comes around and spray paints it with their crap. Or better yet, you plug in your car only to come back to find that some idiot cut the hose. The highly expensive concept is not realistic...sorry! Take Telsa for an example who are funded by the government - stock recently tanked and they lose $250,000 per car that will only get you about 250 miles before recharging is needed.
Aren't dogs and small children are going to clothesline themselves on the cords? and won't adults be tripping over them literally? lol.
Put 2 dozen of these outside his house and see how he likes it.
What about tge person who parks wrong and now you can't get into the next space to charge your car.
One day i hope a good percentage of americans will read a few books on electricity, economics and reasonable thinking.....Then after we can get serious about alternative energy. Anyone who thinks rationally and logically will come to a simple conclusion solar, rechargeable batteries and wind farming will never be able to scale up to meet a tech world which consumes energy at a upward level. Truth Hurts!
Nice OLPC in the background!
...and is easily damaged and rendered useless by vandals.
Wouldn't it be great if these things had wi-fi antennas in them too? Why not kill two birds with one stone by offering blanket internet coverage and EV charging?
As an aside, what's this story have to do with Minneapolis?
A more realistic rendering would show one of these bent over 10 degrees with a Prius bumper-shaped dent amidships.