Germans present charging system for electric cars integrated in the sidewalk

The lack of charging options for so-called street parking, which is often the case in cities, makes switching to electric cars difficult. Until now, they have had practically no opportunity to charge their e-car overnight. While there are pilot projects in blue zones with charging stations or ideas such as lantern charging – where you can connect your car to a street lamp – these solutions are difficult to implement.

The Düsseldorf-based car supplier Rheinmetall has now presented a new charging solution concept for electric cars, which aims to alleviate the charging problem for e-car drivers in city centers and metropolitan areas.

The charging infrastructure is therefore built directly into the curb to save space. Specifically, the technology is installed in a horizontal unit that can be integrated into the sidewalk instead of a curb.

According to Rheinmetall, the sidewalk becomes a charging station, “but without causing the limitations of a charging station for other road users”. It is not necessary to build a charging station at every parking space, which is problematic in inner cities due to lack of space.

The modular charging stations should allow charging e-cars up to 22 kW and can be integrated into existing charging systems. The aim is to use the existing urban infrastructure to achieve the greatest possible charging station density. The latter is given too little, for example, with charging options on street lamps.

With the modular solution it is possible to prepare “whole streets or parking lots for the integration of loading ramps”, writes Rheinmetall. “For this purpose, so-called dummy curbs are placed at the desired loading locations. The electronics module will be retrofitted as soon as local demand is sufficiently high due to the increase in electric mobility. A later adjustment can be made in just a few minutes.

For a long service life, the systems are designed for the environmental conditions along the road. However, it must be demonstrated whether the solution is stable enough if, for example, cars regularly run into it.

Long-term tests are currently being carried out before the loading belts are used in a pilot in public areas.

(oil)