Siemens, GE Launch EV Charging Stations
Energy Boom
Energy giants General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) and Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) have announced separate plans to further enter the electric vehicle(EV) market by launching new charging stations for homeowners.
GE has partnered with the world’s second largest home improvement retailer Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) to offer consumers the GE WattStation Wall Mount Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station.
Identified as a "Level 2 charger," the 24" by 16" GE Wattstation hasbeen designed to be installed in a garage or outdoors, and is capable of returning an EV to full charge in four to eight hours.
According to GE, "This is the first time customers can purchase theGE WattStation from a retailer, marking a milestone for GE as we helpaccelerate the mass adoption of EVs.” The first of the charging stations will be made available at Lowe’s stores in five California locations in August and at 60 stores nationwide in September.
Within hours of the GE announcement, Siemens’ subsidiary Siemens Industry Inc. unvieled its new line of EV charging stations-VersiCharge and VersiCharge SG.
Like the GE Wattstatio,n both VersiCharge and VersiCharge SG stations are Level 2 chargers that are designed to be installed both indoors and outdoors
Siemens says the VersiCharge is intended for homeowners looking for"an economical, easy-to-use station to charge their new EV." TheVersiCharge SG has been designed with the commercial consumer in mindand offers network connectivity, expandability and smart gridintegration.
The largest hurdle facing the growing EV market is an infrastructurecapable of supporting and charging the vehicles, thereby increasingtheir drive range.
Barry Contrael, director, Low VoltageBusiness Unit, Siemens Industry, Inc, says, "As electric vehicles gainmomentum, the infrastructure and installation of charging systemsbecomes more and more suited to the engineering and distributionstrengths of an organization like Siemens."
Image Credit: justinpickard via Flickr
Original Article on EnergyBoom
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