Lampost EV Charging Joins Curbside Charging To Open Urban Charging Bottlenecks

A startup called Voltpost is expanding a way to charge electric cars using street lampposts and other existing poles, instead of building new charging stations from scratch. The company mounts a charger about 10 feet up a pole, out of easy reach for vandals, with a retractable cable that drivers pull down to plug in. Because the poles already have power connections, installation takes hours instead of the days needed to dig trenches for a standalone charger.

Voltpost just added 14 new charging ports in New York, including in Albany, Saratoga Springs, and the historic Village of Cold Spring, funded partly by the state energy agency NYSERDA. The company also opened a free public charger in Brooklyn during Climate Week and has projects running in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, and Washington, DC. A new partnership with installation firm InCharge Energy will help maintain the chargers and cut down on outages.

None of this changes anything for homeowners who already charge in a driveway or garage — most EV drivers still prefer plugging in at home. But it matters for the many renters and other households without a home charging spot, since street-pole charging is aimed at exactly that gap. As gas prices rise and EV prices and range keep improving, more curbside charging options like this could make an EV a realistic choice even for people who can't install a home charger.