- A new company says that it has a solution for urban EV charging and it’s called a DEAP Tree.
- The company says the chargers could add 200 miles of range in as little as 5 minutes.
- It’s also solved some other potential issues but other technology needs to catch up too.
Charging an electric car away from home can be a real nightmare. So many charging stations don’t work and oftentimes the ones that do are incredibly slow. Gravity, a New York-based company says that it has the solution. It’s designed as a charging station that sits on the sidewalk and offers up to 500kW speeds, all while (supposedly) looking like a bare tree. It’s calling the device the DEAP Tree and it sounds rather clever.
Gravity leverages several design features to make these chargers work as intended. First, they take advantage of what it calls Distributed Energy Access Points (DEAPs) which pull power from the grid without the need for new utility upgrades.
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That power is then fed through a ‘Tree’ which has a hinge about two-thirds of the way up the pole. When in use, the upper arm folds down and provides the charging cord for the user. When finished, the arm returns to an upright position and out of the way. According to Gravity, this is the only system that makes sense, especially from a speed perspective.
“Right now, American cities are choosing the curbside charging that drivers will use for decades to come. Unfortunately, many are looking to obsolete overnight Level 2 charging with cables that clutter sidewalks and that don’t fit the needs of urban EV drivers. EV drivers require and deserve so much better.
With even partial adoption by American cities, this product alone could quickly become the largest fast-charging network in America, eclipsing even the Supercharger network,” said Moshe Cohen, CEO of Gravity. That’s right, this team has some big goals but it’s not too hard to see the path that takes it there.
Gravity’s “charging trees” offer higher speeds than the vast majority of public chargers so long as they can maintain that 200kW minimum speed. In addition, they’re somewhat compact and can still work on streets with metered parking. They’re also bidirectional so, in theory, they can help to support the grid. Keeping the charging cord up in the air helps to reduce vandalism, theft, and tripping hazards too.
It says it’ll offer two versions, one that can charge at 200kW and another at 500kW. Provided a car that can handle those speeds these chargers could add 200 miles of range in 13 and 5 minutes respectively.
Notably, the claims here sound great but the technology to support them doesn’t really exist just yet; at least not in the current crop of EVs. Gravity might be capable of building a charging tree that can support 500kW but not a single car on the market can handle that amount of power. Even prototypes don’t often fill up at 400+kW rates. Battery chemistry plays a large role in how quickly one can charge up. However, Gravity’s 200kW trees could be useful immediately. Level 3 chargers from other brands already push up to 350 kW.
In addition, Gravity has also proven itself adept at building innovative charging infrastructure. Its network of chargers at 401 West 42nd Street is already capable of pushing 500kW which makes it, and future chargers of the same strength, somewhat future-proof.
