Washington based Greenlight is discharging a new charger for electric cars and plug-in hybrids for an expensive price.
The ChargeBar can charge both 120-volt (the standard U.S. household socket) and 240-volt batteries, and the company says it will work with virtually any electric car or plug-in hybrid, including the upcoming GM Volt.
The exception is electric cars that use 480-volt charging, which according to the company is not yet an established standard for upcoming electric cars.
A number of electric sedans are planned for market introduction in the next two years. But automakers say that establishing a charging infrastructure in public places is critical for their acceptance with consumers.
The ChargeBar will charge about seven to eight hours for 110-volt cars, and about four hours for 240-volt cars. The charger will cost $3,200 including installation. That is the equivalent of 1,300 gallons of gas in California today.
The product is aimed at the consumer market: indoor garages, family houses, businesses, and institutions such as museums.
However, the charger has no billing mechanism.
"In our first release, there is no point-of-charge mechanism," said Max Brown, partner and co-founder of Greenlight. "Right now it is only about a dollar a day to charge a car."
Instead, Greenlight hopes companies and institutions see the charger as an amenity to attract customers, tenants, and employees.
"There is plenty of grid capacity for the number of cars we are talking about, certainly the first couple of years," said Max Brown, partner and co-founder of Greenlight.
Currently, the ChargeBar is in its final testing phase.
Manufacturing is expected to start in three months, and no orders have been placed yet. Greenlight will primarily market to the East Coast, with deliveries expected in the first quarter of 2010.
