I am posting this here because this site probably has the kind of people on it who just might be interested in this concept. And I often see environment oriented posts on this site so here goes.
Here’s a set of ideas for car charging that I have no idea how to get off the ground so I present it here for people that might. I hope someone can make use of some of these ideas.
A way to retrofit all the lamp posts in parking lots into EV charging stations.
Electric car charging should be done either at home or at destinations. Charging at gas stations makes no sense since who wants to sit around at a gas station for an hour or 2. And it will be many years before cars can charge in 10 minutes or less.
Plus, putting electric car chargers at the front door at shopping malls and work sites often results in those spots getting taken by ICE cars. (Internal combustion engines) Or they piss off co-workers.
First, I propose that the electric charging stations consist simply of computerized plugs and not fancy stations that include the cord and such. Make the car owner bring their own. This would decrease costs for those interested in installing chargers, and would also lower the liability insurance for those businesses since they don’t install anything other than plugs. (computerized plugs, but the computer can be well protected)
Places like airports and hotels should be fine with mostly 110 plugs since many of the EV’s that will park there will sit still long enough to get a pretty good charge even only at 110v. A mix of 110v and 220v would be best for those places.
But this is the main part of my idea: Someone needs to come up with a computer that can be put into current parking light fixtures at shopping malls and such. This computer would be installed in the lamp post base and have a few 220v sockets and maybe also a few 110v sockets. This computer would have RFID technology that could talk to the car, or talk to the car owners RFID chip. Preferably it would talk to the car directly. It would also have internet connection via either wifi or through the wiring.
I assume that during the day there is zero electricity in this light pole. I assume that the lights are either turned on for the entire parking lot back inside the store or mall manually, or some centralized light sensor turns them all on. This would have to change such that there is electricity on for the lamp posts all the time. The computer in the base of the lamp post would then control the lighting. Plus, the current lighting system would undoubtedly not be able to supply electricity to 20-40 cars at once, so that same computer would have to regulate which cars get the charge first or fastest. More about this later.
The EV owner would plug their charger into the socket at the lamp post. Then the computer in the car or in the RFID chip the owner carries would communicate with the computer in the lamp post and things like payment would be sorted out. And there could be a tiered payment system. This payment system could be worked out ahead of time and be built into the RFID chip, or could be determined at the time via a kiosk inside the store. It would make the lamp post computer too expensive, I think, to put a screen at the lamp post for working out this payment system. Another idea would be to have the customer/EV owner work out details of the transaction from a screen on the dash of their car, but this would not be a likely retrofit possibility for current/older EVs but could be built into future ones.
Now, since current parking lots would not be able to charge 20+ cars at once, there needs to be a priority system. Now first come first serve would be the basic priority system, and the computers in the lamp post, after communication with the central computer back inside the store via wifi or whatever, could easily arrange this. But I think it would be wise for the system to allow for overriding basic first come first serve. This is where tiered pricing comes in. Customers could be advised at the kiosk that their car is x number in line for a charge and won’t be charged till y O’clock. The customer could then be offered a higher fee to jump ahead of other EV owners. Thus, if someone who really needs a charge to get home, and are willing to pay for it, they could jump ahead of another customer who is just getting convenience charging. Another option might be that a customer might opt for paying extra for only a couple KW , such as just enough KW to get home, and then switch to the lower priced convenience charging after that. Plus, once your EV got fully charged, or charged up to your preset limit, the computer in the lamp post, or inside the store, would shut your charge off and start charging the next car in line. Thus, nobody would have to move their cars.
As I said above, current parking lots don’t have enough capacity to charge 20+ cars at once. Thus, the computer in the lamp post after communicating with the computer in the store would control the total electricity that gets sent to each car and it would also switch cars to on and off as time passes and charges complete. Maybe the kiosk in the store could advise customers that today “we are so busy that it is unlikely your car will be charged today”.
So, someone needs to invent a couple of computers.
1) A computer to put in lamp post bases that connect to sockets for the customer. It would need to be hardy to protect against vandalism and small enough to fit in most lamp posts. This computer would not really need to be all that technically robust since most of the computing could be done back at a central computer in the store/business. This computer needs to have communication abilities to the computer back in the store and even onto the internet. It would also need to be cheap enough to make it worthwhile
2) There would also be another type computer for lamp posts that would not be a retrofit but would be for new construction. This could then become the standard device that would get put into every new parking lot lamp – and maybe also city street lamps and poles – all over the place.
3) A centralized computer/kiosk that would be back in the store or business for the EV owners to use to work out pricing and priority charging.
4) A RFID chip that the EV owner would carry to activate/connect to this system. There would need to be a way to change the programming in this RFID device that the EV owner could preset and thus avoid the need to arrange the transaction every time they plug into a plug like this. Indeed, maybe the RFID could be programmed right into their personal charge cord so when they plug their car in they would not have to take anything out of their pocket at all to set everything up.
5) In lieu of the RFID chip, a computer that is installed in the EV itself, either as a retrofit or as factory equipment that could allow for the transaction that could take place in the car and not require the EV owner to find the Kiosk inside the store.
I think it also wise that there be a push on that the wiring that gets put into new parking lot lighting be robust enough to handle 20-30 EVs at once. Better to do that now then worry about retrofitting for the day when EV ownership is ubiquitous.