Mitsubishi, JDS Develop Electric-Vehicle Charging System for Apartment Buildings
By Scott Doggett December 9, 2009
Mitsubishi has teamed up with Japan Delivery System Corp. to develop an electric-vehicle charging system for the shared parking lots of apartment complexes.
JDS will sell the i-CHARGER system (pictured) in Japan beginning this month.
The system is targeted at apartment dwellers who own electric vehicles. It uses the authentication capability of existing delivery-box systems to manage who plugs in, when they plug in, and how much electricity is used.
A "delivery box" is a system of lockers that allow for delivery or sending of packages when tenants are not at home. It notifies tenants when a package has arrived, and the package can be retrieved by the tenant by personal identification number or verification card.
With i-CHARGER, when a tenant uses his or her delivery box verification card over the main charging unit, the outlet unit installed at the parking space is activated, which allows the user's electric vehicle to be charged.
Charging time is calculated and managed by the charging system, which permits the building supervisor to charge an accurate electricity fee to the correct tenant.
Mitsubishi is working on developing a stand-alone unit that is not dependent on a delivery-box system.
Mitsubishi launched its all-electric, zero-emissions i-MiEV model in Japan earlier this year. The i-MiEV's three-way charging system allows the battery to be charged at home or "quick charged" at stations that are currently being set up across Japan.
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