German automobile giant BMW has installed two electric vehicle charging street lights at its BMW Welt exhibition centre.
The Light and Charge prototype system can be integrated into BMW’s ChargeNow network and also includes energy efficient LED lighting.
“Light and Charge is a simple and innovative solution which aims to seamlessly integrate a smoothly functioning charging station network into the urban landscape,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, member of the board of management, BMW AG.
“The BMW i ChargeNow card already offers access to the world’s largest network of charging stations, and now it gives us great pleasure, in cooperation with our partners, to further expand this network with the help of the Light and Charge project. After all, a seamless charging infrastructure is essential if we want to see more electric vehicles on the road in our cities in the future,” added Schwarzenbauer.
The company is working with the city of Munich to integrate the system into the existing public street lighting network. The Munich pilot will launch in spring 2015 with cashless payment via the BMW ChargeNow network.
BMW claims the ChargeNow network is the largest in the world with 18,000 stations in Europe.
