According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, by 2025 Los Angeles will need 35,000 charging stations, about seven times the number it had in 2019. New York might need to add 35 percent more chargers every year; Boston, 27 percent; Portland, Oregon, 23 percent; and Washington, DC, 20 percent. Envision Solar believes that these cities typify future global EV charging requirements and that a very large proportion of the EV chargers deployed will have to be on-street. Cities in Europe, the Eastern United States, China and other densely populated areas often do not have large open parking lots. They rely on on-street, curbside parking. Apartment dwellers, fleets and others will require EV charging solutions where they park on the street. It is generally very challenging and expensive to deliver sufficient electrical circuits to those locations.
Envision’s patented EV Standard product is designed to overcome the hurdles associated with the provision of on-street EV charging while also providing an energy efficient and sustainable lighting solution. It provides efficient street lighting and curbside EV charging by combining solar, wind and utility-generated electricity in a bank of integrated batteries. While most traditional streetlamps do not have sufficient electrical capacity to provide meaningful EV charging, the combination of all three sources of power will do so in a sustainable and economical manner.
EV Standard products can be deployed without having to invest in expensive, disruptive and time-consuming civil or electrical upgrades because they leverage streetlamps’ preexisting foundations and connections to the electrical grid.
“This latest patented product will enable us to fill a significant gap in the current EV charging infrastructure market” said CEO Desmond Wheatley. “As electric vehicles become more widespread the demand for on-street charging will become urgent. Having a product which at once solves a city’s lighting efficiency and EV charging requirements promises to be a powerful enabler for the inevitable electrification of transportation. The EV Standard is an important addition to our existing portfolio which I believe will not only be transformational for the Company, but for the EV Charging, transportation and lighting efficiency markets as well.”
The newly patented EV Standard is equipped with a high-lumens, low-consumption LED light and a Level II EV charger. The product provides a clean and inexpensive EV charging solution which does not require new utility-grid circuits, or the trenching and other construction services required to deliver them to the curb. Most of the energy required for EV charging will come from the renewable sources, wind and solar, reducing the carbon impact and the cost of the electricity consumed. It will continue to provide EV charging and a source of emergency power during grid outages as well as support and power other vital infrastructure such as IoT connected devices, 5G radios, CCTV, Smart City Sensors and environmental monitors.
“Patents must address two requirements before we will invest in pursuing them” added Mr. Wheatley, “First they must cover a product we believe has market demand and that we can monetise. Second, they must create a significant barrier to entry for the competition. To date all but our newest patent for the EV Standard, which is in development, cover products which we have sold and for which the demand is increasing. I intend to maintain this discipline around IP creation and protection, and I believe that the EV Standard will be another great example of that discipline at work.”
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