I hear a lot about EV adoption suffering among renters, so from that perspective this is nice.
But:
Itselectric installs Level 2 charger posts that get their power from nearby private buildings who make passive income from partnering with Itselectric. When EV drivers sign up with Itselectric, they’re sent a portable EV charger that’s registered to the driver’s account. They can then plug and charge at any Itselectric charger in Boston and beyond.
Requiring an account and special equipment? I really want to see pervasive simple cc payment for charging.
I’m not thrilled about it, but I do see some benefits of this design.
As you mentioned, this appears to be designed as home charging for people that can’t charge at home. More specifically, it’s for people who park on the street. This has been a chicken-and-egg problem for a while.
Full charging stations are expensive to install, and probably wouldn’t get much usage in a residential area. Then there’s the maintenance- one of the biggest complaints about EVs is how frequently charging stations are broken. The more pieces there are, the more expensive it is to install, and the more frequently something breaks.
These posts look dead simple. That makes them easy to manufacture and have minimal maintenance. It also reduces vandalism/theft concerns. Most notably, you carry the cord with you. If it breaks, you handle the replacement. It also means there are no concerns about compatibility or adapters- you have the right cord for your car, whether it’s J1772, NACS, or even CHAdeMO.
Finally, these aren’t random charging stations that you might only visit a few times per year. They are for your residence, which means your needs/usage probably won’t change much until you move. An app for billing makes sense in this case, and makes it similar to home charging that just gets included in your electric bill.
(FWIW, I despise the random public chargers that expect you to install their app, in a parking garage with no signal, just to charge one time. I make an effort to avoid those on principle, opting for ones with a CC reader)
In Europe everyone just carries a cable. It helps to prevent theft, damage and clutter.
I hope this is what they’re actually referring to when they say “charger”.
Realistically I’d like to see more wireless chargers.
This is why is why it bugs me when car manufactures design EVs without a charging port on the passenger side.
Usually the driver plugs in is probably why
It would be annoying to walk around every time
Not to mention how much harder to reach out the (driver’s) window to shut the charge port door (Bolt EV) when you drive away with it open lol
hehe as I bolt owner I’m now trained to listen for the beeps. I had an eGolf with the port on the rear passenger side and it seemed far less annoying than front driver side… I guess because stepping back to close driver door then forward seems more awkward than just continuing back and around. This is more so when getting back in the car to chill while DCFC charging.
Exactly, like, why did everybody decide to get cute and move them around?
Because different locations make sense in different situations. In the case of 99% of drivers they’ll be plugging in at home and having them on the left side means they don’t have to walk around the car to plug in.
I don’t love this, TBH. I’d rather see more investment in cities in transit or sidewalks/bikelanes. The geometry problem of car-centric transportation and storage is unchanged by electric cars.
deleted by creator
Right, but I also think there is room to talk about where public investments in charging should go. I am a huge EV proponent but also I love bikes and transit and car free spaces, and I’m cautious about further enshrining parking in our public spaces by building charging infrastructure. I don’t think it’s as simple as any and all charging infrastructure is good, there’s room for that discussion here.
This is Boston, which does invest quite a bit in transit and walkability, and will continue to do so. But that doesn’t make cars disappear overnight.
BTW, one of the recent changes in the direction was to mandate multifamily zoning near transit in every community served by mbta. This really deserves to be talked about more as the impact is just now being felt:
You have to do what you can. I think a lot of people would rather see that but that’s a massive investment you have to convince large masses of people to agree to pay for, which is historically futile. This approach requires zero investment from taxpayers.
I agree that we need better rail and mass transit along with more pedestrian-friendly planning overall. Some benefit from electric vehicles, including busses and trucks is less polluted air on the routes shared with bicycles and pedestrians.
Thanks for coming here from /All but please note that this is an Electric Vehicles community, of which is centered around cars.
Curbside chahgers for my cahr
Thaas no R in Bastaan
That’s no AHHH in Baastaan
When EV drivers sign up with Itselectric, they’re sent a portable EV charger that’s registered to the driver’s account. They can then plug and charge at any Itselectric charger in Boston and beyond.
So you need a proprietary dongle to charge at these stations? I have an EV that I drive into Boston somewhat regularly, but no way would I sign up to use these. The last thing I want is a trunk full of proprietary adapters to plug in at different locations.
