Companies like Voltpost are taking charging to new heights — somewhat literally — by mounting the hardware 10 feet off the ground on streetlamp posts to enable curbside charging, and remove the charging devices from the temptation of vandals and the more pedestrian obstacle of cables becoming tripping hazards.
Drivers activate a session with Voltpost via the mobile app, Jeffrey Prosserman, the company’s CEO and co-founder, said.
“Which sends a command to the Voltpost charger to release the cable,” he said in an email. “The retractable cable mechanism extends the cable downward. This is designed to provide up to 25 feet of cable to reach the vehicle’s charging port.”
The Voltpost Air, as the devices are known, is part of a pilot project at the MADE Bush Terminal in Brooklyn, N.Y., where it is due to be operational by the end of the year, officials said.
Voltpost’s more conventional curbside charging technology has been deployed in Illinois, Michigan, California and other states.
Chargers mounted to streetlamps are an obvious way to serve the many users of street parking, and another attempt to make charging infrastructure a ubiquitous part of the urban landscape — which is what consumers want to see more of, industry watchers said.
They also want chargers that work, according to a new report from ChargerHelp, which provides maintenance for the charging industry and concluded one-third of charging sessions fail on their first attempt, frustrating drivers and blunting EV enthusiasm.
Reasons behind the failures include a mix of confusion around how to use the devices, navigating glitchy apps, and aging equipment which is generally more prone to failure, Kameale Terry, ChargerHelp CEO, said.
“First, the charging experience has to be simpler for drivers,” Terry said via email, indicating this includes better signage and more user-friendly technology.
“There also needs to be consistent practices for firmware updates,” Terry said. “When it comes to aging infrastructure, swapping out a charger or refreshing a site might solve a short-term problem, but it doesn’t address the deeper issue: Technology moves faster than most charging site deployments.”
Today, roughly 64 percent of Americans live within 2 miles of a public EV charger, according to the Pew Research Center, with the number of charging locations more than doubling since 2020.
Lingering concerns related to range or the availability of charging locations continue to plague the U.S. market, even though vehicle range and the number of chargers coming online have both steadily grown, Ronak Amin, global product marketing lead for HERE Technologies, said last month, talking about a new report by HERE technologies and SBD Automotive examining the U.S. EV market.
Improving the charging experience is a key component in increasing the comfort level U.S. consumers have with the technology, Terry said, but it will require “better technology, smarter processes, and accountability across the ecosystem.”
“Overall, we’re incredibly optimistic about the EV transition. The progress in technology, investment, and adoption is real,” she said. “But that optimism has to be matched with honesty.”
To increase their convenience factor, Voltpost officials said the company will soon let users begin a charging session from a website landing page, eliminating the need to download a separate app.
