BMW Is Working On Lampposts That Charge Your Car

Electric cars have always been a symbol of hatred for petrolheads, but with 100 per cent torque from a standstill, the sporting applications are plain to see. Companies like Tesla and BMW have led the charge towards an EV future - we’ve fallen in love with both the Model S and the i8 - so it’s no surprise to see the pair are also intent on helping build infrastructure.

Tesla has its Supercharger stations, which refuel your battery free of charge. But now BMW wants to push its own tech, and it’s targeting existing structures found on pretty much every street in every city: the lamppost. The new design uses energy efficient LEDs to light the road, combined with a charging point using BMW’s ChargeNow technology.

“Seamless charging infrastructure is essential if we want to see more electric vehicles on the road in our cities in the future,” Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management of BMW told Reuters. Simply put, instead of trying to cram charging stations into wherever they’ll fit, BMW wanted to put them in something that already exists.

It’s close to becoming a reality, too. A pilot programme is scheduled to be implemented in Munich next year.