NYC To Roll Out Wireless Electric Vehicle Chargers

I read today on Wired, that New York City has invested in startup Hevo Power, to start rolling out new electric vehicle charging stations that will look like everyday manhole covers. The charging stations are the latest example of a growing trend in “charging-on-the-go” technology as opposed to traditional charging stations that look similar to gas pumps.

This creative way at looking at charging up vehicles is already being used in Korea, where electric buses can drive over a seven mile stretch of road embedded with specialized electric cables that can charge up the bus as it drives over it.

The Hevo Power chargers in New York will use “resonance charging,” a newer and more efficient charging method over the “inductive charging” currently being used by some smartphones, tablets, and the Nissan Leaf.

I’ve interviewed many operators who have thought about using electric vehicles, but have opted not to do it because of the difficulty finding charging stations. San Francisco is one of the few cities that has made an effort to install more charging stations, but with this new technology, charging a vehicle can become even more convenient and easy than a traditional gas pump.

There are also reports on how small electronic devices, (like smartphones and tablets), could possibly soon be charged by clothing, gathering energy from everyday movements or even from simple touch and body heat.

It will be great to see if New York can make this program work. Electric-vehicle owners made up only 0.05% of New York’s car-owning population last year, but with Mayor Bloomberg’s aggressive advocacy for green driving, NYC ground travel could become a new leader in ushering in the era of green fleets.

— Tim Crowley, LCT senior editor