Connected Kerb Introduces Curbside EV Charging Station

Residential EV charging in cities awaits a viable solution

The new British start-up Connected Kerb installed its first curbside AC charging station in Borough Road, Southwark. The company targets residential market in cities, where potential EV owners have no place to charge.

The stations are mounted to the ground (the important parts are underground), which makes them smaller and resistant to vandals. We didn’t see what happens when snow drifts cover the pavement, but maybe that is not the case in the UK and many other countries.

Lack of fixed cables, of course, is often seen in AC charging stations in Europe (the Type 2 standard), which means that the owner needs to use his/her own cables (those are susceptible to weather conditions and vandals though). In North America, the SAE J1772 standard did not envision charging stations without cables.

The other feature of the stations is to be ultra fast WiFi (up to 350Mb/sec) for future autonomous vehicles.

Connected Kerb says that “the only viable option is a low power, low cost, low impact residential solution which can be rolled out nationally.” The company’s website shows an image with a price of around £2,000 ($2,600) compared to £22,000, in the case of a standard charging station.