Around mid-2010 there was a lot of excitement around the GE WattStation, the world’s first Electric Vehicle Charging Station for General Electric. It was designed by Yves Béhar and the folks at fuseproject as part of GE’s ecoimagination initiative to bring cleaner power to the consumer market by popularising electric plug-in vehicles.
Now follwing on the announcement of the public charger, the residential WattStation has been designed, also by Béhar and the team, to bring smart grid technology into more popular use. The residential WattStation will allow utility companies to manage the impact of electric vehicles on the local and regional grids.
The modular design of the WattStation means that it can easily be updated as new technology becomes available. Reducing charging time from 18 to 12 hours is one of the key benefits of the WattStation. There is also talk of a financing programme that will allow consumers to pay for the charger and installation costs over time to reduce the financial obstacle that comes with the use of EV technologies.
