Comments on: iPhone & iPod Touch App Crowdsources Locations of EV Charging Stations

By: Forrest North

Forrest North — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 18:56:00 +0000

Hi Ben,

PlugShare works hard to not be Stale!As of now we have almost 10,000 stations on our map, and over 50% have been reviewed by our users. This means you can see if someone has used a station recently and what their experience was. Currently there are about 500 stations being put in the ground per month which all get added to PlugShare. Also many people share their home charging port with the public which is a great way to make the EV movement happen faster.-Forrest North

By: Mitsubishi Unveils Solar-Powered Vehicle Charging Station | CleanTechnica

Mitsubishi Unveils Solar-Powered Vehicle Charging Station | CleanTechnica — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 13:38:29 +0000

[…] like this one.”Related Stories:1st Solar-Powered Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station in NYCiPhone & iPod Touch App Crowdsources Locations of EV Charging StationsGE Converts Parking Lot to Solar Charging Station for Electric VehicleImage via […]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:59:00 +0000

The charge points which can tell one if they are available or if they can be reserved are going to be web connected so it shouldn’t be much trouble to query them from time to time to see if they still exist. That’s certainly something easily built into the system.

I suspect we’ll see something like smart charge points which read the
EVs ID, meter power used, and bill the owners account. That should be
cheap to install with large volumes of charge locations, $10 cell phone
cheap. The billing info would provide the basis for accurate site
maps.

The other, crowd-sourced, places should get upgraded by crowd-sourcing as well. If someone goes there to charge and there’s no longer an outlet some people would report it if the reporting process is easy. Seems like a smart phone app would make this simple. An app could lead you to a charge point and then query you some minutes later to see if everything worked. One button press to indicate a problem.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:14:00 +0000

yeah, i think that it develops a truly active community of EV drivers is critical — they seem to be emphasizing that component quite a bit, but who knows if it will actually catch on

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:14:00 +0000

yeah, i think that it develops a truly active community of EV drivers is critical — they seem to be emphasizing that component quite a bit, but who knows if it will actually catch on

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:23:00 +0000

My concern is that this type of information can go stale quickly and not updated. Anyone who has ever tried to find free wifi in a city knows this all too well. There are maps like this for wifi as well but many no longer exist or were not free.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 05:49:00 +0000

Looks like rapid charging points are starting to roll out…”As part of the Green Highway
project where California, Oregon and Washington are partnering to turn
Interstate 5 into the first alternative-fuel-friendly freeway in
the U.S., AeroVironment is installing Level 3 EV quick chargers
along the route in Southern Oregon.For this first phase of the project, from the California state line
to the Willamette Valley, 150 miles of the highway will have
convenient access to EV chargers that can fully charge a battery in 30
minutes. Eight interchanges will be picked based on common
destinations, vehicle range and driving distances. The chargers will
be installed by the end of the fall.
The Green Highway will ultimately run from San Diego to Vancouver,
B.C. and will feature not only EV charging and battery swap
stations, but alternative fuel filling stations for biodiesel,
compressed natural gas and hydrogen. The project is being funded by
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3521and charge times on the way down…”Norway-based electric car firm Think announced yesterday that it has teamed up with charging technology specialist AeroVironment to produce a new system that promises to recharge a flat battery to 80 per cent capacity within 15 minutes. The
tests have confirmed that the technology is ready for commercial
deployment and Think said that it would now work with AeroVironment to
roll out fast-charging stations to fleet customers and commercial sites
such as shopping malls, convenience stores and parking garages.”http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1804301/fast-charger-promises-fuel-electric-cars-minutes

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 04:56:00 +0000

not sure about that, but i hope so! (on both points)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:45:00 +0000

Crowd-sourcing is a great idea.

Can it be fit together with existing charger maps which tell one which charge points are now available/in use and let one reserve a place to plug in as some now can?

As the infrastructure rolls out it’s going to be important to plan your charge stops for longer trips. Not very helpful to know that there’s a station where you need it and roll up, almost out of juice, to find a long line of cars waiting to charge.