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Electric Mobility
Converting Street Lamps into
Charging Stations
At the core of the Ubitricity solution is a mobile electricity meter. Integrated into an intelligent charging cable with secure mobile
communication, it automatically activates charging processes, records the consumption data for each specific vehicle, and sends these for billing
to an energy data platform. The basis for this is an electricity contract that is concluded for the cable.
A Berlin-based startup has developed technology that enables street lamps to be easily
converted into charging stations for electric vehicles. Siemens has invested in this promising,
new technology.
The International Energy
Agency (IEA) would like to see
100 million electric cars on the
road worldwide by 2030. The
idea is to stay on course to
achieving the goals of the Paris
climate accord. In addition, the
IEA wants one fifth of all road
vehicles, including motorcycles,
buses and trucks, to run on
batteries by then. The Paris city
council might even ban
vehicles with combustion
engines from entering the city
from 2030 on. In addition, also
by 2030, the European Union is
planning to have 30 percent of
all new vehicles equipped with
electric or other alternative
drive systems.
into charging times will drive off with fully
charged batteries and help spread the use
of renewable energies, because their cars
will become energy storage devices.
Unless they are making a long trip, drivers
will then rarely have to stop at quick
charging stations to rapidly recharge their
vehicles’ batteries.
Ubitricity, a young company based in
Berlin, Germany, has developed a
technology that enables drivers to obtain
electricity generated from renewable
resources from the grid at almost any
location. What’s more, it could turn
vehicles into smart storage devices while
they are connected to the grid. In view of
this, Siemens has now bought an interest
in Ubitricity, because the startup’s
technology plugs into a number of
Siemens’ business activities at the
interface between electrification, digital
systems, and smart grids.
Clearly, electric mobility is on a
roll. However, to make the
vision of greenhouse-gas-free
transportation a reality, we
need not only enough
renewably-generated electricity
in the grid but also charging
stations in the right places —
especially where vehicles park
for long periods – in other
words, at work and at home.
People who turn parking times
In contrast to other charging cables, a mobile, calibrated electricity meter and SIM card is
integrated into the SmartCable. Thanks to it an electricity contract can be closed for the cable,
which would only be possible for the whole household other- wise.
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