NYC startup Gravity plans to line streets with stylish ‘trees’ that can charge an electric car in 5 minutes
NY Post
A Big Apple-based electric vehicle startup wants to plant a network of ultra-efficient curbside “trees” along the city’s busy streets that are capable of recharging a car’s battery in at little as five minutes.
Google-backed Gravity Inc. developed the fast-charging technology already in use at its flagship station in a parking garage on West 42nd Street.
Now, Gravity CEO Moshe Cohen is hoping the city will approve his concept for the “DEAP Trees” – short for Distributed Energy Access Points – as it seeks to significantly enlarge its network.
The charging trees are meant to fit in seamlessly on metered streets — allowing drivers to pull in and park for a quick fill-up.
“The constraint is we have to deliver a charge at a speed that’s shorter than the dwell-time. So if you can only be there for 30 minutes, that car has to be charged in less than 30 minutes,” Cohen told The Post.
The charging cables can provide 200 miles of range in 13 minutes for its 200kW mode and just five minutes for the 500kW model. That’s dramatically faster than the so-called “level 2” charging ports currently in use, which provide just 20 miles of range per hour of charging, according to the city’s website.