Skip to main content

BMW tests street light EV charger

BMW is to run a pilot project in Munich to test a newly-developed an electric car charging station which the company says can be can be grafted straight onto the existing local authority street lighting infrastructure. BMW said it has made two prototype ‘Light and Charge’ street lights which combine efficient light emitting diodes (LED) with the company's ChargeNow recharging stations for electric cars. "Seamless charging infrastructure is essential if we want to see more electric vehicles on the road
November 11, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
1731 BMW is to run a pilot project in Munich to test a newly-developed an electric car charging station which the company says can be can be grafted straight onto the existing local authority street lighting infrastructure.

BMW said it has made two prototype ‘Light and Charge’ street lights which combine efficient light emitting diodes (LED) with the company's ChargeNow recharging stations for electric cars.

"Seamless charging infrastructure is essential if we want to see more electric vehicles on the road in our cities in the future," Peter Schwarzenbauer, member of the Board of Management of BMW, said.

The company claims the charging stations can be used by as many drivers as possible, regardless of vehicle model and electricity provider.

Two street lights are already installed in front of the BMW headquarters. Drivers will be able to pay to charge their cars via a mobile phone app.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Geotoll’s payment app could be the smart answer to tolling interoperability
    July 30, 2013
    Jon Masters looks at a smartphone app which could be the ‘disruptive technology’ that eases the way to interoperability in tolling systems. Consumer demand may soon drive the biggest step change yet in tolling. In the United States a new start-up company, Geotoll, has launched a smartphone app for electronic toll payment. It is not beyond possibility that rapid growth of the market for smartphones will continue – an estimated 50% of US citizens and 80% of Europeans now have one – and that the Geotoll brand
  • HERMES Study provides guidance for forward ITS thinking in Finland
    August 25, 2016
    Having authored HERMES, a major study for the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communication, Josef Czako talks to ITS International about his findings and lessons for other authorities. When CEOs of major automakers are predicting more change in the next five years than in the past 50, what is the role of national authorities considering the benefits of innovations in ITS?
  • Need for simpler urban tolling solutions
    January 10, 2013
    A common assumption, even amongst informed observers, is that there’s but a handful of urban charging schemes in operation around the world and scant prospect of that changing any time soon. Larger city-sized schemes such as Singapore, London and Stockholm come readily to mind but if we take a wider view and also consider urban access control and Low Emission Zones (LEZs) then the picture changes rather radically. There is a notable concentration of such schemes in Europe but worldwide the number is comfort
  • Dundee trial offers insight into delivering MaaS in smaller urban and rural areas
    March 27, 2018
    A MaaS trial in Scotland will evaluate the attraction of such services for young people living in small cities and rural areas. Colin Sowman reports. It is often said that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is fine in big cities - but what about smaller towns and rural areas? Well, the city of Dundee in Scotland has only around 150,000 people but is set to provide some answers with its trial of NaviGoGo, a MaaS operation aimed at 16-25 year olds – be they students, working or unemployed. By population, Dundee