Could Liverpool’s idea of adding chargers to lightposts work in US cities?

Not everyone with an electric vehicle or hybrid has the opportunity to charge up at home. They want a charging station that’s convenient. Liverpool is in the process of adding 300 charge points to city lampposts ranking Liverpool the third largest public charging network in the country, having many charging points already installed.

The idea of chargers in lampposts have been implemented in various countries for years. France has over 30,000 charging points, many of which are in lampposts for charging EV’s, and 2 or 3 wheeled vehicles. However, China claims to have the most worldwide, with 1.5 million publicly available EV charging stations. But only 41% of these are fast charging. The US has only 113,527 stations, but 82% are slow charging. California has the highest number, with 29% of all charging stations in the US.

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Battery swapping stations are available in China and Israel. This is a process where a depleted battery is exchanged for a new one rather than wait for charging. In some cases it only takes a few minutes. This hasn’t been implemented successfully in the US.

Local governments are working with private companies to install charging stations on light posts in public areas throughout cities, including along streets and in parking lots. Charging units are simple to install and generally take less than two hours. The City of Los Angeles has installed many chargers in streetlight poles and will continue to do so, as two-thirds of households in the city are renters. Apartment dwellers who have street side parking or people who have limited options for charging need a convenient way to charge their EVs, and installing car charges on light posts is a easy and efficient solution. Wether they park on the street or an open parking lot, a light post is usually nearby.

The future of charging stations will continue to evolve as the popularity of electric vehicles increases. The accessibility of these charging stations encourages the purchase of electric vehicles and also addresses the environmental concerns. The proliferation of charging stations has already begun in places like shopping centers, office buildings, and parking lots. New technologies, such as ultra-fast and wireless charging, are being developed to reduce charging times. Efforts are also underway to standardize charging connectors, to making all charging stations compatible with different types of electric vehicles, such as Tesla and those that use CCS (Combined Charging System).

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