Is the future of motoring electric? Only if a whole new infrastructure of charging points is put in place. Even state-of-the-art batteries need to be topped up after a hundred or so miles of travel, so unless every journey begins and ends at home, the electric equivalent of a network of filling stations is required. Evoasis, an American company, plans to build exactly that.
Evoasis’s designs feature off-street bays for up to 24 cars to recharge at the same time, with electricity supplied not in the 220-volt form accepted by most current models of electric vehicle, but at up to 440 volts — powerful enough to charge a suitably adapted car in about 20 minutes.
Because of the dangers involved with such high voltages, the recharge would be performed by station staff. Each station would maintain a “tack room” of cables to ensure that every make of electric car could be catered for (to get a glimpse of the potential chaos waiting in the future, just think of the jumble of mobile phone chargers and connectors).