Coulomb's "gas" pump ChargePoint ups the ante with 30-minute electric car refills

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in

All of the Coulomb Technologies charging units that we’ve seen thus far are rectangular units that sit on poles or hang from the wall. A new ChargePoint unit that Coulomb is developing with Aker Wade Power Technologies looks much more like a standard gas pump and, more importantly, will provide fast Level 3 charging. These units, which will be available to buy this fall for around $40,000 (and $20,000 to install!), draw power from dedicated 480-volt, 125-amp circuits and can theoretically deliver a full charge in a half hour.

Other levels of charging include the slowest, Level 1, which runs off of 120 volts (also known as a standard outlet), and Level 2, which splits the difference with 240-volt power. Even though Coulomb and Aker Wade are bullish on the the potential for their high-speed chargers, Ford’s manager of battery electric vehicle applications, Greg Frenette, told HybridCars.com last fall that:

You can’t just charge batteries at any level without some sort of impact on safety, battery life, reliability and durability. I’m not one that believes there’s a viable solution-given where battery chemistries and technologies are today-that says you can charge these batteries in two or three minutes and send them on their way.

[Source: HybridCars, Coulomb]

Coulomb’s “gas” pump ChargePoint ups the ante with 30-minute electric car refills originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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