Elektromotive unveils billing system chargepoint for EVs at EVS24 conference

Ok I discussed electric vehicles earlier bt now there is a nice charging option available. This would be great if you havce your own home power plant (solar or wind energy, not nuclear). Then you can sell your own left over energy to car owners.

On the other hand this will be the next big employee benefit. Free charges for your EV:). Challenge is that you can easily do this at the ofice but in the new world of work it will get complicted (but I guess a subscription model will do)

this is the article, found at autobloggreen

Elektromotive unveils billing system chargepoint for EVs at EVS24 conference
by Sam Abuelsamid on May 13th 2009 at 4:15PM

Right now – and likely even more so in the near future – lots of localities and businesses are installing electric vehicle charging stations at selected parking spots for customers and employees. For now, many of those stations are providing free electricity in a bid to encourage adoption of zero emissions plug-in vehicles. That works fine as long as the number of EVs remains relatively low, which it certainly will for at least then next several years. At some point however, if EVs start to reach mass adoption rates, the economics of providing free juice to drivers will become unaffordable.

At that point, some sort of mechanism for identifying the car being plugged in and then billing the driver will become a necessity.At this weeks EVS24 conference in Norway, Elektromotive has announced what it calls the world's first billable three phase fast charge station. The ElektroBay can supply up to 32 amps at 240 V to allow for faster charging than what is possible with other charge points. There are already 160 existing ElektroBay stations in the UK that will be updated with the new communications capability. The ElektroBay is equipped with 2-way GSM mobile communications and users will get a key fob to identify themselves. The system will be able to handle multiple billing systems including cell phone-style pay-as-you-go and direct billing to the home utility bill.[Source: Elektromotive]

PRESS RELEASE:WORLD'S FIRST BILLING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING POSTS REVEALED AT EVS 24

A ground-breaking tool for monitoring and invoicing electricity drawn from vehicle charging stations will debut at the Norwegian zero-emissions exhibition, EVS 24, today (Wednesday 13 May). Called 'EBConnect' – the latest technical innovation from British company Elektromotive – the system will make it easy to identify energy consumption and bill customers accurately. It will be installed in all Elektrobay charging stations, of which there are already over 160 across the UK.The sophisticated EBConnect software manages a two-way exchange of data via GSM and the internet to track electricity usage and invoice accordingly.

The system allows the possibility of a number of payment methods including a 'pay-and-go' service, where the user adds credits to their personalised Elektrobay keyfob. Alternatively, costs can be automatically added to the consumer's household utility bill, or the balance can be settled remotely with the user paying via SMS text messages, interactive voice recordings and automatic registration number recognition.

While the cost of charging electric vehicles is minimal in comparison to refuelling petrol- or diesel-powered vehicles, advancements such as EBConnect are essential to the development of a charging network. The intelligent Elektrobay is the world's only fully operational charging station that is compatible with all fully-electric and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles.

Another world first to be unveiled at EVS 24 is Elektromotive's Three-Phase 'Fast Charge' Elektrobay prototype. With a power supply of 32 amps, this charging station will reduce charging times, making it particularly suitable for heavier users of electricity and commercial vehicles. The single unit is the first of its kind to provide two separate five-pin power sockets, both able to accommodate the all-new Mennekes plug, which is anticipated to become standardised on all electric commercial vehicles.

Calvey Taylor-Haw, Managing Director for Elektromotive commented, "We are working hard to increase our network of charging stations around the globe. By offering new technologies, such as EBConnect and the Three-Phase 'Fast Charge' Elektrobay, we are helping to facilitate the transition to electric-powered passenger and commercial vehicles."For more information about Elektromotive, please visit www.elektromotive.com