During coronavirus restrictions, call-outs to roadside assistance for jump starts or new batteries reportedly surged when cars weren’t used over extended periods.
But what happens when an electric car battery runs flat or needs a top up?
US start-up SparkCharge is offering on-demand mobile charging service.
The company has developed a mobile fast-charging pack it calls Roadie. Roadie looks like a stack of white crates connected to a power cable. The charging system is small and modular. It fits inside a car boot allowing it to be delivered where and when needed.
SparkCharge says Roadie can top up an electric vehicle with more than 20 kilometres of range in 15 minutes.
In US cities like Los Angeles, Dallas and San Francisco, electric vehicle owners can order a quick top-up charge through the SparkCharge smartphone app.
In other cities, the company is partnering with local logistics or ride hailing companies to deliver the service. In addition to delivering people and packages, such companies can now deliver electricity.
“Some of the people that we work with that are covering these cities, previously, they were Uber Eats or Uber drivers, Lyft drivers, and they said, ‘Well, I can be delivering goods or delivering people, but now with BoostEV, I can start delivering range, delivering electricity to people’”, CEO Josh Aviv said in an interview with Charged.
In Brisbane, RAQC’s roadside assistance patrol vehicles are equipped with mobile chargers. The organisation says it can re-charge an electric vehicle within 30 minutes.
“If you’re driving an EV and run out of charge in Brisbane, we can now come to you and get you back up and running within 30 minutes, alternatively, we can tow you to straight to our nearest RACQ fast charger,” Howard Strasser from RACQ Patrol said.
Petra Stock is a Master of Journalism student who has worked in climate change, renewable energy and transport. She also works part-time in climate change for the Australian Conservation Foundation.