Friday, October 1, 2010

Charging Stations are a rip-off

I started to explore the Smart Charging Stations available in the market. It ranges from $1000 - $2000. 
What does it do?

  • It is not a charger. It provides an interface to industry standard SAE J1772 connector.
  • Its CDMA/GPRS/3G enabled and connects to internet
  • 802.15.4 dynamic mesh network enabled
  • programmable to start stop charging
  • Woud alert you when
    • it starts/completes charging
    • someone disconnects the connector
    • tries to steal electricity from the connector
No it doesn't do any voltage conversion. AC to DC conversion happens in the car, before the Batteries are charged.

Yes, it is not trivial, but is it worth $2K. In my opinion it is not worth it. This to me is a new business opportunity..
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2 comments:

  1. YogiNovember 8, 2010 at 1:16 PM

    Exactly ... This and the additional Level3 Charger point for Nissan Leaf is optional equipment which costs about $700. It should come standard.

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  2. YogiDecember 3, 2010 at 11:30 AM

    http://www.plugincars.com/curious-what-750-gets-you-pics-guts-nissan-leafs-charge-station-106524.html

    ReplyDelete

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