BMW is Developing Street Lights That Can Also Charge Your Electric Car..

[Tech_Dreamer]

Pump it..Louder..

 

BMW has an innovative plan to keep your(#pun) electric car keep running even if you're a 100 miles away from the next charging station, The company plans to developed street lights(current ones) that are modified to handle the power delivery to be equipped with sockets to charge electric cars through out the city..

 

The company has developed "Light and Charge" LED street lights that could keep your Electric car  topped up (Beemer or otherwise) using existing urban infrastructure instead of dedicated power outlets and charging stations..

 

 

 

Street lamps are an already-existing piece of infrastructure which already have the necessary cables inside.Adding a charging port should be very simple..

 

BMW has developed two prototypes that meld a LED street light with electric car-charging sockets.

BMW's focusing on existing street light for this innovative tech instead of building a new one & placing the on the road for miles there by creating their own private network of charging stations , instead they went the other way around , because they want to reduce costs Plus It should be cheaper for cities to implement,

 

 

 

"Seamless charging infrastructure is essential if we want to see more electric vehicles on the road in our cities in the future,"

                                                                                                                -    Peter Schwarzenbauer (BMW)

 

BMW i8

 

BMW has developed some of the most advanced electric cars, including the i3 city vehicle and i8 hybrid. But electric cars as a product category have struggled to gain widespread popularity due to their limited operating range, the scarcity of charging stations and the time it takes to recharge them..This should put electric cars back on track (literally) & do it efficiently

 

 

 

BMW already has two prototypes outside its head office, and is deploying a pilot programme onto the streets of Munich, Germany by next year. These additional charging stations can be used by as many drivers as possible, regardless of vehicle model and electricity provider..

 

BMW i8 & i3 Electric cars shown below..

 

Current estimate is that it will run a pilot project in Munich next year that uses existing local authority lighting networks.

 

Althought there is a catch to it , the electricity won't be free, and for the charges you will have to use a mobile app to pay for charging you do for the car evertime..

 

BMW executives recently met with rival Tesla Motors to discuss the availability of electric vehicle charging stations & In addition to developing street lighting, BMW has already invested into software and applications that help drivers of electric cars find a parking space and charging stations, including investments into Justpark and the SLAM charging network.

 

Pretty cool news, What are your thoughts on this? Post a Comment or leave a rant down below...

 

Bonus:

 

 

Head over to these sites for more reads:

http://gizmodo.com/bmw-is-developing-street-lights-that-also-charge-your-e-1656404266

http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/10/bmw-ev-charging-street-lights/

[Clyne]

I wonder what would Tesla would think about this.......

[XTankSlayerX]

More specifically I wonder what Elon Musk would think

[Sidiox]

that car is sexy though.... I want moar electric cars!

[WelshDdraig]

I think it is a really good idea as the infrastructure is already there. Trouble is, how will they know if you paid?. Yes there is an app for you to pay, but what's to stop someone charging their car and not paying? They (BMW) would have to put cameras in to make sure or implement a time based pre-pay charge system. 

[Tech_Dreamer]

I think it is a really good idea as the infrastructure is already there. Trouble is, how will they know if you paid?. Yes there is an app for you to pay, but what's to stop someone charging their car and not paying? They (BMW) would have to put cameras in to make sure or implement a time based pre-pay charge system. 

NFC maybe? to keep logs, Nothing too much on the sources i read about this , but this is a real project that's going to happen that's for sure, it's not just a rumor ..

[Fred Castellum]

I wonder what would Tesla would think about this.......

Tesla provides 100% free charging. 

 

More specifically I wonder what Elon Musk would think

Elon Musk probably doesn't see this as competition, but instead as a push for more electric vehicle use. In other words good progress in his eyes.

 

that car is sexy though.... I want moar electric cars!

The car looks nice but has it's cons. 

[X1XNobleX1X]

that car is sexy though.... I want moar electric cars!

The one on the left is, not so much the one on the right. 

[Clyne]

Tesla provides 100% free charging. 

It's not available everywhere.......

[Fred Castellum]

It's not available everywhere.......

Supercharger stations are popping up all across the US at the moment. You can take a roadtrip from one end of the US to the other no problem. 

 

Coverage should be extended even more by the next quarter.

[Clyne]

Supercharger stations are popping up all across the US at the moment. You can take a roadtrip from one end of the US to the other no problem. 

 

Coverage should be extended even more by the next quarter.

They do make it easy.......

http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger

[Fred Castellum]

They do make it easy.......

http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger

Yuppp good stuff and efficient planning does that.

[dizmo]

That's pretty interesting, can't wait to see how it develops. Only really solves part of the problem though.

For example, there aren't light poles on huge amounts of Canadian highways...

 

 

Tesla provides 100% free charging. 

 

For how long remains to be seen. As it increases the draw on the California power grid, I'm sure they'll be demanding money to upgrade their already inadequate infrastructure.

[Shaade]

Well, at least someone is trying. I for one really hope this catches on, or at least inspires something else that will.

 

Thumbs up BMW <3

[ShadowCaptain]

the BMW i3 is horrible, I had one at my office the other week.. the i8 on the other hand... nom

[NinjaStyle013]

Jesus thats a good idea.

[Fred Castellum]

That's pretty interesting, can't wait to see how it develops. Only really solves part of the problem though.

For example, there aren't light poles on huge amounts of Canadian highways...

For how long remains to be seen. As it increases the draw on the California power grid, I'm sure they'll be demanding money to upgrade their already inadequate infrastructure.

All supercharger stations are built be self sustainable. Tesla team up with their affiliated solar company solarcity to install high quality panels on all charging stations.

[dizmo]

All supercharger stations are built be self sustainable. Tesla team up with their affiliated solar company solarcity to install high quality panels on all charging stations.

Ehhh...while that's a great idea I'm almost positive they can't produce as much electricity with small panels that they use when they charge a vehicle.

They're also not all designed like this.

[Fred Castellum]

Ehhh...while that's a great idea I'm almost positive they can't produce as much electricity with small panels that they use when they charge a vehicle.

They're also not all designed like this.

The supercharger stations are reportedly producing more power than their consuming. According to the Tesla Forums. 

 

The whole roof of the station is nothing but solar panels lol. 

[WereCat]

Neat idea but I don't see this happening in eastern EU countries for the next 10 years.

[connorpiper]

Just wait till the EEV blog gets this news.

 

"I smell BULLSHIT!" 

[dizmo]

The supercharger stations are reportedly producing more power than their consuming. According to the Tesla Forums. 

 

The whole roof of the station is nothing but solar panels lol. 

Yeah, but that's only the ones that are designed like that. There are stations that are simply small gas pump style units.