GE unveils residential WattStation EV charger

October 1, 2010

Renowned industrial designer Yves Behar helped GE’s new electric vehicle charger, WattStation, turn heads when the curtain rose on the beauty he designed in July. Now the smart-grid compatible charger has a home-use cousin that was unveiled today. Also designed by Behar, the founder of fuseproject, the smaller residential version also significantly decreases the time required for full car charging. Behar, who explains the thinking behind the new version in the video below, says: “The residential GE WattStation design is friendly and so simple to adopt that it will literally change one’s life overnight: No more trips to the gas station, something that surely no one will miss.”

GE WattStation on average decreases electric vehicle charging time from 12-18 hours to as little as four to eight hours compared to standard charging “level 1”, assuming a full-cycle charge for a 24 kWh battery. It will be commercially available globally in 2011. Importantly, smart grid connectivity will allow the charger to interact with utility electric vehicle demand response systems, which will allow the utilities to manage the impact of EVs on the local and regional grid.

Making it easy: The price is still being finalized, but the team expects the residential version to cost between $1,000-1,500 per unit. As part of the announcement, GE has partnered with ServiceMagic, which is the nation’s leading website connecting consumers with service professionals, for simple installation and financing programs. In addition GE Capital, working with ServiceMagic, will provide financing options, enabling consumers to pay for the charger and installation costs over time – which helps overcome a major hurdle when it comes to widespread adoption of EV technologies.

In a recent Deloitte study, the top three considerations when purchasing an EV are vehicle price, reliability and cost to charge – which can vary based on the electrical grid infrastructure. Currently a full charge for a 24 kWh battery will cost approximately $3.50 – $4.00, based on average electricity rates, which is still much cheaper than the option of a gasoline powered car. Rates at public charging stations will vary according to what operators may choose to charge. And smart grid time-of-use pricing programs will allow customers to charge their vehicle at an even more efficient rate.

* Read today’s residential WattStation announcement
* Learn about our ecomagination business
* Learn more about WattStation

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “GE & Better Place to partner on EV infrastructure”
* “Unveiled: $200M challenge, EV charger, smart monitor”
* “GE teams with Nissan on electric car smart charging”
* “New York powers up with new GE battery plant”
* Read more smart grid stories on GE Reports
* “In 1900 Electric Vehicles Reigned and Edison Charged Them!”
* “Edison speaks! Cracking the pallophotophone code“


This entry was posted in Ecomagination, Electric Vehicles, Other, Smart Grid, Stories and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.
  • Martin Walsh

    Brilliant design, packaging and ease of use. The discussed price point seem right on and not much more then you would pay for a portable generator in the house. Its this type of product to lower the barrier to entry for the consumer to consider the electric vehicle as a real option. This product will blast off when it hits the market. I am proud, and not surprised it is GE to lead the pack with this innovation.
    Congrats

  • Dan

    It’s a very nice looking charge dock. But at $1,000 or more, it is priced much too high. These are fundamentally very simple devices. The primary componet expenses are the cable, connector, and relay. There is not a lot of electronics involved in making one of these. Competition will drive the cost of J1772-compliant charge docs to under $300 in short order. For comparison, the retail price of Aerovironment’s residential dock is $721. Admittedly, the WattStation is more attractive.

  • Todd

    Brilliant design? This $1500 gadget is going to be installed on the wall of my garage. You know, the wall with the rusty garden tools, bicycles and old 2×4′s leaning against it. Should look GREAT in that company. A real design fit.

    Give me a RECESSED install (so I dont bump into the thing every time I try to squeeze between it and the car), include a robust retractable charge cable (you know, like the one for my compressed air hose?!) and flush mount the doggone handle/plug. I’ll buy one for $1000.

    Looks like a case of style over substance folks. Sorry. Can we say CTQ’s anyone?

    Best of luck though.

  • joe

    Why should anyone buy this when any Electrician can make and install a charging circuit for your garage for less than $500. If the charge power is 240/120vac and the connector is a common type thats available at Home Depot, few will buy yours.

    It is nice looking though…

  • Megan

    Hi Joe! Megan from GE here. The benefits to the GE WattStation are the additional functionally that allows the EV and charger to communicate with each other to perform tasks such as shutting off the power when the car is fully charged. Also there are optimal features that include smart grid communications with the local utility and integration into a home energy management system so you can monitor your household energy usage. Thanks!

  • Bill Taft

    It is very difficult to find in one article on EVs, the kwhrs required to charge an EV car’s battery and the miles the car can obtain from the charge. This article indicates 24 kwhr for the battery charge, and at $0.16 per kwhr which is about my top tier utility rate (where the battery would be charged since my normal usage gets me to the top tier) the cost to charge is $3.84, which falls in your stated $3.50 to $4.00 range. In another GE Reports article on the Chevy Volt, it was reported that 36.3 miles were traveled before the gas engine had to be started. Assuming $3 per gallon for gasoline and calculating as follow:
    ($3/gallon)(36.3 miles/$3.84) = 28 miles/gallon, something seems to be missing here if EV cars have such a great advantage. Can you explain and provide the data to back up the explanation?

  • Thomas

    What a ripoff. If you factor in the cost of the unit (1500 bucks) it totally negates any potential cost savings to the consumer of the Volt, as thin as it might be. This is not even factoring in depreciation of the unit or the car itself- or that your utility rates will climb as they upgrade to the new ‘SmartGrid’ ripoff to handle the load.
    And if you think you are being green, think again- to generate that kind of power load to your home will cost far more than a gallon of gas burning in your relatively clean car, compared to a coal, oil or nuclear power plant.
    Boondoggle.

  • Ted

    Thomas: “And if you think you are being green, think again- to generate that kind of power load to your home will cost far more than a gallon of gas burning in your relatively clean car”

    Not true. Even considering transmission losses in power lines, electric energy from a power plant will be cleaner and more efficient than burning gasoline in your car. Even a coal plant.

    One source:
    http://fuelfix.com/energywatch/2010/11/18/how-much-cleaner-is-that-electric-car/

  • Jeff

    Right now the federal and state tax on gas is about $0.50 a gallon. I’d like to know how Uncle Sam is going to tax these EV’s without taxing me to make a pot of coffee.

  • Andrew

    I’d rather see the charging electronics incorporated in the car – then we simply plug into an outlet to charge. This will help with EV adoption. This will also lessen restrictions on vehicle travel – like taking a trip to a friends or just a long roadtrip to an area without charging facilities and creating “commercial” charging areas becomes “utility access” in parking garages or a new thinking for “rest stop” design.
    Also, vehiclle designs don’t do enough yet with solar and other vehicle power reclamation techniques – to extend travel distance.

  • John

    Actually all of the “chargers” are in the vehicles. These EVSE’s are a smart connection that the vehicle can communicate with. They have a standardized plug and operational protocol. The GE unit is capable of 32a which is twice as much as the current Leaf can use but they will probably upgrade the Leaf charger by 2013. Ford is talking about a faster charger and Tesla already has one. Great design GE!