We’ve seen it adorned with a giant Honeycomb and an oversized Gingerbread man , and now Google’s bringing a simpler addition to its Mountain View campus — specifically, a Plugless Power EV charging station. Its maker touts the installation as “the 1st public release” of the handsfree re-juicing system, and says it would eventually provided power to a fleet of low-speed EVs already in use at El Goog HQ — the 1st of which has already been retrofitted to get pumped up. Who knows, maybe now we’ll see something come of Google’s claims to make electrical vehicles charge more efficiently. Full PR after the break.
Evatran™ Installs Plugless Power™ Electric Vehicle Charging Unit at Google HeadquartersPlugless Power’s “hands-free” charging technology provides Google with a convenient option for recharging its electric vehicles
WYTHEVILLE, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Using technology much like that available in an electrical toothbrush, Google is trialing a Plugless Power™ charging station for electric vehicles at its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters. Plugless Power is the primary electric vehicle (EV) charging system for sale to provide consumers a straightforward approach to charge their EVs with the convenience of hands-free, automatic technology.
Developed by Evatran™, LLC, Plugless Power is predicated on inductive technology, which has been utilized in electrical transformers for greater than 100 years, and streamlines the charging of electrical vehicles and extended-range hybrids by eliminating the nuisance of the cord and the plug.
“We’re thrilled to have our first public release of the Plugless Power technology installed at Google’s headquarters,” said Tom Hough, co-founder and CEO of Plugless Power. “The interest shown by Google and the cooperation we’ve received to retrofit their EV provides evidence that a straightforward, convenient charging process is required for the widespread adoption of electrical vehicles.”
Google has multiple low-speed electric vehicles for brief-range travel around its campus and includes plug-in vehicles in its on-campus employee car-sharing program. The corporate will initially use the Plugless Power station to charge a retrofitted short-range electric vehicle. Google showed interest in testing the Plugless Power technology and understanding how its features could simplify the charging process for its plug-in EV fleet vehicles.
Consistent with Hough, this primary public installation is a vital step in bringing the technology to commercial customers, and Evatran is actively seeking other fleet trial opportunities with corporations and municipalities to experience the Plugless Power technology within the third quarter of 2011. Most EV models are eligible for Plugless Power through a straightforward retrofit process. As well as fleet distribution, Evatran is currently working with automotive manufacturers to integrate the Plugless Power technology into mass-market EVs by 2012.
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