GE WattStation available globally this year

GE WattStation colour range

GE WattStation, out in the street

If the electric car is in our future, the GE WattStation could well be what you use to top up your battery, whether you’re at home or out and about.

The GE WattStation provides Level 2 charging, meaning that a 24 kWh battery will take 4 – 8 hours to charge, rather than 12 – 18 hours by using Level 1 charging.



GE WattStation colour range

GE WattStation’s design

The design is by Yves Behar, an industrial designer, previously responsible for the Jawbone Bluetooth Headset and the FORM 2 Waterproof Rechargeable Vibrator. Quite the diverse design portfolio!

Public perception & energy saving

GE says this in relation to the public’s perception of electric vehicles, and of the potential energy saving:

Research on consumer attitude towards electric vehicles (EV) indicates that adoption could increase if charging time is reduced. Designed to enable faster charging compared to standard (level 1) plug-in charging, GE’s WattStation can encourage EV adoption. If 10,000 vehicle owners switched from gas-powered passenger cars to EVs, over 33,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions could be avoided annually, assuming the EVs have a typical 24 kWh battery with 100 mile range, vehicles travel a typical 12,000 miles per year, and the EVs are powered by the average US electric grid mix. This is equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of approximately 6,500 gas-powered passenger cars on U.S. roads.

The WattStation is designed to be upgradeable, to enable to appliance to stay, ahem, ‘current’, and is Smart Grid-ready, with “built-in support for two-way communication between the utility and charging station”.