These Solar-Powered Streetlights Could Solve Urban EV Charging

Beam Global announced BeamSpot, a charging solution that replaces streetlights. Solar- and wind-powered BeamSpot units also feature 15 kWh of battery storage. They're meant for city streets and other places where charging is lacking and difficult to install. 

Driving an electric car in a dense city like New York can be a big pain in the ass for one reason: charging. Americans with their own driveway or garage can plug in at home, making the jump to an EV a pain-free—or even joyous—lifestyle shift. In Manhattan, you're about as likely to have a private garage with EV charging as you are to have a helipad.

America's street-parkers need to rely on publicly available chargers to get their fix of electrons. Some urbanites hit up fast-charging stations, whose lines can stretch for hours on a bad day. Others improvise, dangling extension cords out of second-story windows to their Teslas below. Some drip-feed off of level 2 chargers. Beam Global has a better solution. 

On Monday, the clean-technology company announced BeamSpot, a solar- and wind-powered EV charger meant to replace streetlights in areas where it's too expensive or difficult to install conventional EV chargers. That includes city streets and apartment complexes, along with airports and shopping centers, Beam Global says. 

"We believe our BeamSpot product line will solve real problems both in America and in Europe: expanding access to charging where people need it most, at the curb on the street and in parking lots," Desmond Wheatley, Beam Global's CEO, said in a statement. 

Yes, streetlight-based EV chargers already exist in some places. What makes BeamSpot units special is that they produce much of their own electricity and store it in integrated batteries, allowing them to dispense more power than a typical streetlight circuit can, according to the company. 

Meanwhile, since they replace streetlights, they require less electrical work and construction to install than traditional chargers. They need no complicated permitting, trenching or utility upgrades, the company says, though permitting laws vary widely. They also don't take up any more space on a city's sidewalk than an existing streetlight, it says.  

"Areas with the most EVs often face significant challenges in deploying infrastructure and managing increased electricity demand. Traditional charging infrastructure can be costly and disruptive to install, often requiring significant modifications to existing public spaces," Wheatley said. 

Beam Global says a BeamSpot can deliver up to 220 miles of electric driving per day, when you factor in energy from its 1-kilowatt solar array, 1-kW wind turbine, 15-kilowatt-hour battery pack and the streetlight's existing electrical connection. Each unit can dispense up to 5.76 kW of power and work with charging equipment from any brand. Beam Global also makes something called the EV Arc 2020, which is basically a super-sized BeamSpot with a much larger solar array and more battery storage.

A BeamSpot is 40 feet tall, including the wind option, or 30 feet tall without it. That should make for some interesting community engagement meetings as neighborhoods look to install these things.

We asked Beam Global for pricing. While the firm wouldn't get into specifics, a representative said a BeamSpot costs less than the EV Arc, which typically runs customers around $65,000. They also said that all-in, a BeamSpot is more cost-effective than trenching and installing traditional EV chargers. 

Installing more curbside charging is a no-brainer solution for getting more people into EVs. Given that EVs are parked almost all the time, many experts will tell you that lots and lots of slow-charging infrastructure is the key to wider EV adoption. While fast-charging stations get all the attention, what most people need is a cheap, slow trickle of electricity where they park for hours at a time.

Just ask the guy leaning out of his window with a 30-foot extension cord. He'll tell you.