Guide to electric car recharging companies

So we’re all about to abandon our conventional vehicle and jump behind the wheel of an electric car. That at least, is the theory. However, just as names like REVA, Tesla and Fisker Automotive are yet to establish the same notoriety as Ford, General Motors and Toyota, the electric car recharging companies face the task of competing with giants such as Shell and BP.

This guide will introduce you to some of these recharging companies, exploring how they work and their ambitions.

Quick links:

• Better Place
• Coulomb Technologies
• Elektromotive
• Evoasis

Better Place

Originating in Palo Alto, California, Better Place supports market-based infrastructure for electric vehicles.

It is building an electric vehicle network in Israel and has since announced partnerships in Denmark, San Francisco, Australia, Hawaii, Oregon and more. It is said to be in discussions with around 25 additional regions around the world.

Better Place, which was originally known as Project Better Place, uses battery swap stations where batteries are replaced at the end of their range at a service station. This removes the time-constraints of recharging while meaning that electric cars’ range is only limited to the distribution of the battery swapping infrastructure.

The company has already announced a memorandum of understanding with Renault-Nissan which will see it build the world’s first electric recharger grid operator model for green transportation in Israel. Renault has committed around $600million to the scheme ahead of its deployment in 2011. In Australia meanwhile, a roll out of a network will begin in the major Eastern coast cities before it is rolled out nationally.

Coulomb Technologies

An electric vehicle infrastructure company based in Campbell, California, Coulomb Technologies has expanded into Europe, the Middle East and Africa following the opening of its headquarters represented by 365 Energy Group in Berlin, Germany.

Coulomb sells charging stations for electric cars to businesses and cities. It makes money by charging between $2,000 and $4,000 for the charging stations and then charging drivers around $720 annually to use the stations. By keeping $120 for maintenance cost, the city or business is then able to keep the rest ensuring that it quickly pays off the cost of the station and usually profits.

In addition to charging points that appear on the street, Coulomb will build charging points for homes such as apartments. Its first network was installed in December in San Jose with around 100 drivers quickly signing up. The company hopes to sell around 520 stations a month in order to become profitable by October 2010.

Elektromotive

One of Britain’s own companies, Elektromotive was founded in 2003 in Brighton and Hove. It spent the first four years of its existence creating the so-called Elektrobay, a recharging station for use in both car park installations and on the street. The company describes the Elektrobay as a unique and user friendly design innovation.

To recharge at an Elektrobay drivers simply look for a blue light which shows it is ready and then plug the power lead into the car before presenting an access tag to the right side of the Elektrobay which means a door clicks open and gives you access to the socket. Drivers then plug the power lead into the socket and watch for the light to turn green to show it is recharging.

The company has an array of charging points across the UK. As of April 24 2009 its charging points consisted of seven sites in Westminster; two in Hammersmith & Fulham; two in Richmond Upon Thames; two in Sutton; two in Wandsworth; five in Camden; and two in Islington. Outside London, Elektromotive also has charging bays in Watford, Glasgow, Sheffield, Milton Keynes, West Thurrock, Nottingham, Bromley, Norwich, Uxbridge, Tyne & Wear and Stoke On Trent.

Evoasis

With bases in both San Diego, California and London, England, Evoasis is developing full service fast charge electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle charging station facilities.

Its charging stations can handle multiple vehicles with dynamic load sharing for charging each vehicle based on the time of its arrival. Known as EVSTAT (Electric Vehicle Stations) there are bays for up to 24 cars with electricity not supplied in the 220V form accepted by most models but in 440V form – meaning that a suitably adapted car could be fully recharged in as little as 20 minutes. Due to the dangers involved with such high voltages, the recharges are performed by station staff and each station will have a room dedicated to different types of cables to ensure that every mode of electric vehicle is catered for.

It plans to build recharging stations, the first of which is expected to be set up in London, which feature coffee shops, television screens and fast internet access.

Know of any other electric car charging stations that you’d like to see listed here? Email us with the details at

Paul Lucas, 2009