Wireless charging stations disguised as manhole covers will debut next spring near Washington Square Park.
The pilot project, which will be launched by a Soho-based company called HEVO Power, will begin with two electric NYU cars that will patrol for campus security.
The cars will approach the wireless station with a charging receiver on the bottom of their cars, which will sync with the cords and cables under the cover in their ground.
It will take about one to two hours for a compact car to charge.
“It’s similar to the way an FM tuner on your radio tunes into the right radio station,” said HEVO Power founder Jeremy Cool, 33. “Once that frequency tunes in properly, the vehicle automatically begins to charge with the charging stations.”
He picked a manhole cover as the design so that it will fit easily into the urban environment.
After the pilot is over, future customers will download an app that will show them where available charging stations are.
The company is also working to create wireless charging stations for electric trucks at both curbside locations and warehouses in New York City.
“When you talk with any fleet operator with electric trucks, their greatest barrier is their inability to be able to charge in route at the delivery site,” said Cool. “This is the biggest barrier.”
He added that some trucks will also accidentally back up into plug-in kiosks, damaging them.
Companies like Pepsi and City Harvest, which have electric trucks, have said they are interested in trying out the chargers.
Cool, who lives on the Upper West Side, started the company after receiving a business grant for veterans. He has a purple heart from serving in the Iraq war, where he was injured by shrapnel and also damaged his inner ear after being near a blast.
He created HEVO Power while he was in grad school at Columbia University after his service in the army.
“I loved how electrical vehicles could provide an option to gasoline-powered vehicles,” he said. “One thing I couldn’t get over was that there was no existing charging infrastructure to allow the adoption of electric vehicles, even in urban, dense environments like New York City, San Francisco, and L.A.”
His company is now part of a business incubator at NYU Poly-Technic that focuses on clean technology. The university purchased the initial wireless charging stations through a city grant.
Yahoo Local News – New York Post
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