Recharging points - increasing numbers?
Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:54 pm
I have had a bit of a read through and if I am about to make some sort of dreadful faux-pas, then I apologise in advance.
Notwithstanding the wonderful idea of "free" which we all love to bits, is there not some REAL merit in encouraging jo-public - even if they are NOT an EV owner/driver, from putting a fairly simple sort of plastic box on their outside wall (assuming on street parking etc etc and all other things being equal) - and providing a private "recharge point". - knock the door, pay Mrs Smith £2 and she pushes the button in the house and it connects up a 13A & 16A socket in the box for a total of 4 hours (or £1 for 2 hours)
For unattended use, a cellular system could be used to both pay for the charging point (Txt BOX345678 to 112233 and your account will be dedcucted £1.50 and the box will receive an SMS bleep which will activate the power sockets for the next 3 hours - or until you remove the socket and the door closes.
If the system was houses in a tough polycarbonate base, no coins / cash inside and the SMS reception / relays etc were on the INSIDE of the wall), there would be very little of interest to a vandal - and the cost ought to be fairly modest. A basic SMS-triggered relay/timer would be all the box would need and the billing system would be ONE pay-per-product type SMS system - the correct account to credit (and box to turn on) being identified by the six digit box code. SMS controlled switches are not that expensive if you shop around.
ON A MORE PRACTICAL LEVEL:-
The same as above - but placed at petrol stations, roadside cafes and supermarket carparks. Either coin-op, token-op, free use (supermarket promos) or "cashier controlled" so the person goes into the kiosk, hands over the cash and the job is done.
For places like travel-lodges etc, is there not a polycarbonate box they could buy which plonk in perhaps four or five charging bays reserved JUST for EV's. Go into reception, hand over your cash, they hit the button and you charge while you sleep.
As someone who is not yet an EV owner, I am perhaps able to look at this in a fairly simple commercial way. I own a small B&B, I have other little interests dotted about the place - and if I could make an honest income from providing a service I would happily help to increase the number of charging points. I suspect though, that there is no-one yet offering a simple 13A / 16A polybox with a remote switch (SMS triggered or even just a relay timer back to a staffed desk).
It is nothing complicated to set up (other than the SMS payment front end which is too much hassle for a one-off), but I wonder if there would be a good market in "unattended charging points" which people could buy and install as small microbusinesses.
I expect a metal chrome and LED's twinkly pillar box has a four or five digit price tag. Most people are not going to buy that in exchange for 25p in the £1 profit margin. A box which costs them less than a colour TV and might earn money while they sleep for the next few years might JUST get a look in.
Kind Regards
Mark
Notwithstanding the wonderful idea of "free" which we all love to bits, is there not some REAL merit in encouraging jo-public - even if they are NOT an EV owner/driver, from putting a fairly simple sort of plastic box on their outside wall (assuming on street parking etc etc and all other things being equal) - and providing a private "recharge point". - knock the door, pay Mrs Smith £2 and she pushes the button in the house and it connects up a 13A & 16A socket in the box for a total of 4 hours (or £1 for 2 hours)
For unattended use, a cellular system could be used to both pay for the charging point (Txt BOX345678 to 112233 and your account will be dedcucted £1.50 and the box will receive an SMS bleep which will activate the power sockets for the next 3 hours - or until you remove the socket and the door closes.
If the system was houses in a tough polycarbonate base, no coins / cash inside and the SMS reception / relays etc were on the INSIDE of the wall), there would be very little of interest to a vandal - and the cost ought to be fairly modest. A basic SMS-triggered relay/timer would be all the box would need and the billing system would be ONE pay-per-product type SMS system - the correct account to credit (and box to turn on) being identified by the six digit box code. SMS controlled switches are not that expensive if you shop around.
ON A MORE PRACTICAL LEVEL:-
The same as above - but placed at petrol stations, roadside cafes and supermarket carparks. Either coin-op, token-op, free use (supermarket promos) or "cashier controlled" so the person goes into the kiosk, hands over the cash and the job is done.
For places like travel-lodges etc, is there not a polycarbonate box they could buy which plonk in perhaps four or five charging bays reserved JUST for EV's. Go into reception, hand over your cash, they hit the button and you charge while you sleep.
As someone who is not yet an EV owner, I am perhaps able to look at this in a fairly simple commercial way. I own a small B&B, I have other little interests dotted about the place - and if I could make an honest income from providing a service I would happily help to increase the number of charging points. I suspect though, that there is no-one yet offering a simple 13A / 16A polybox with a remote switch (SMS triggered or even just a relay timer back to a staffed desk).
It is nothing complicated to set up (other than the SMS payment front end which is too much hassle for a one-off), but I wonder if there would be a good market in "unattended charging points" which people could buy and install as small microbusinesses.
I expect a metal chrome and LED's twinkly pillar box has a four or five digit price tag. Most people are not going to buy that in exchange for 25p in the £1 profit margin. A box which costs them less than a colour TV and might earn money while they sleep for the next few years might JUST get a look in.
Kind Regards
Mark