The folks at General Motors are working to roll out some more EV charging stations around the country, and the focus this time is on level 2 EVSEs. While those don’t make sense for road trips, a solid level 2 infrastructure within a community can satisfy most charging needs.
The key is knowing where to put these charging stations. To that end, General Motors is working with its dealerships to figure out where the best place to put them would be.
Dealerships should know the community the best. Where do people shop? Where do they congregate? Where are the sporting venues? Where are the movie theaters? While Google Maps can answer lots of those questions, dealerships are the ones participating in each community. It makes sense to have them work with the mother ship for placing these chargers.
They’ll be accessible to everyone, considering they’re just J-1772 level 2 EVSEs, and they’ll be put in places like workplaces, multiunit dwellings, sports and entertainment venues, and college and universities, plus other places.
Additional, the General announced three new Ultium-branded level 2 chargers for customers. They all have Wi-Fi connectivity. Two of them are 48-amp setups, and one is an 80-amp setup. The premium version of the 48-amp and the 80-amp both have integrated cameras, because … well we don’t know why. But they will.
“These two initiatives are part of our plan to put everyone in an EV, making access to charging even more seamless than before,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “We want to give customers the right tools and access to charging where and when they need it, while working with our dealer network to accelerate the expansion of accessible charging throughout the U.S. and Canada, including in underserved, rural and urban areas.”
The level 2 chargers that customers can buy begin shipping next year and can be rolled into the lease of a new vehicle. As for the new community chargers, we’d imagine installation will start happening reasonably soon.
