We’ve seen a bunch curbside chargers that enable apartment dwellers to join the electric revolution without having to always top up away from home, but the one from Rheinmetall AG is about the least obtrusive. The street-level charger replaces concrete curbs with a Level 2 charge point.
I’d love to know how they addressed water ingress and people driving over them.
A well-thought-out cooling concept enables reliable operation at high outside temperatures and prevents overheating. In addition to targeted heat exchange, integrated temperature monitoring ensures optimal charging performance.
At sub-zero temperatures, a built-in heating system ensures visibility and reliable snow- and ice-free operation of the charger.
Encapsulated electronic components (IP68) and the charging socket equipped with seals and water drains enable reliable charging even in the rain. If water accumulates on the street and compromises a safe charging process, a water level sensor interrupts the process before the residual current device (RCD) is triggered.
In the event of electrical faults, the integrated surge protection as well as the permanent contact adhesive and PE monitoring offer additional safety for people, electrical cars and connected systems.
Also wondering how accumulated snow would be handled. Where I live at least, it would be impossible to use them for around 4 months a year.
That too. By me, we can get 8-16" overnight a few times in winter and those caps would be frozen closed with ice. Most of the time the snow stays on the curbs for weeks or months. Maybe the internal heater mentioned can keep it from freezing closed, but the water and salt does some damage on everything.
They say they tested in the Cologne area, which is pretty light in snowfall AFAIK.
A lot of Europe experiences very little snow, so they certainly have a market. I agree this wouldn’t work in Quebec.
There’s a water hose looking thing on the bottom. Maybe the thing is simply semi hermetic and just pumps water out ? Or even just used gravity.
Looks nice, but then comes a snow plow and pushes 30 cm of snow on top of it. Drivers use voodoo to find it and hack their way down there with a shovel. If the box survives that, it’s a good box. :)
Unobtrusive, but not exactly the most accessible of solutions.
Yeah, you’d need some way to make this usable for people who can’t bend over/get up on the curb. The former seems somewhat easier because you can just have a charging cable “on a stick,” with the release mechanism up top. Dunno how you’d solve the latter.
Kudos for the BMW i3 in the clip. (owner my self of the coolest BMW ever)
