Well, it was only a matter of time. Electric vehicle charging stations aren’t even commonplace yet, but already someone has come up with a better-looking one. Frog Design, well-known for developing cool concepts such as an Intel Point-of-Sale kiosk and a range of wearable devices, has teamed up with clean energy company ECOtality to create the Blink EV charging station. There are two versions, one for homes and one for commercial use, and they’re both pretty snazzy.
The designers at Frog believe that early EV owners will appreciate familiar, hands-on technology, as opposed to intimating mega-high tech. That’s why one of the defining features of the Blink is its charging hose, that wraps around a spool much like a garden hose. It’s simple, it’s approachable, and won’t jam up. Heck, you can almost picture the thing in a Norman Rockwell painting.
The residential version consists of two separate parts, the charger itself and the cable wrap. This is so that the cable can be placed in different parts of the owner’s garage, depending on where their vehicle’s charging outlet is located. If they change vehicles and the new car has the outlet on the other side, it’s relatively simple to just move the cable wrap to the other wall. The connector (or “nozzle”, if you will) doesn’t stick out from the wrap, plus both components have rounded edges, so users won’t snag themselves on it when squeezing past in a cramped garage.
Full article here: http://www.gizmag.com/frog-design-blink-ev-charger/15887/
