Electric Vehicle Charging Technology: Urban Electric - Pop-Up Charger | Fully Charged
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters bring it up in EV-adoption threads as an answer to how people without driveways can charge on the street.
What it is
A Fully Charged episode where Robert Llewellyn visits an Oxford street trialling Urban Electric's pop-up chargers. These are retractable 7kW charging points built into street furniture for homes without off-street parking.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2020 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Cites throw0101a · 2020-11 · on “UK to ban sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030: FT”
> All new street lights (as of a couple of years ago) have to have charging points built-in […] If anyone wants to see an example of light pole charging, the Fully Charged YT channel had an episode of one example: * [LINK] See also pop-up chargers for streets without poles: * [this video]
Cites throw0101a · 2021-01 · on “Electric vehicles close to ‘tipping point’ of mass adoption”
> The number of people in the UK and Ireland that have to park overnight on the street is way too high to start banning ICE vehicles within the next decade. You're not wrong (and I too am a "garage orphan"—neither a garage or even a driveway), but there are some options being developed. The YT channel Fully Charged featured two a while back: * Street lamps: [LINK] * Pop-up charger: [this video] I'm a bit skeptical.
Cites throw0101a · 2021-11 · on “Electric vehicles could fully recharge in 5 minutes with new cable design”
Fully Charged , based out of the UK, had episodes on street lamp plugs, and pop-up chargers: * [LINK] * [this video] Each area/street will probably have to examined individually to find the right solution for it.
Cites clouddrover · 2022-05 · on “Shell to install 100K charge points in the UK by 2030”
Wireless charging has the lowest footprint and is the best option when there isn't much room, though not many EVs can charge wirelessly yet: [LINK] Pop-up chargers are at least hidden when not in use: [this video] Utility pole chargers do a good job of staying out of the way: [LINK]
Cites throw0101d · 2025-11 · on “Using street lamps as EV chargers”
Robert Llewellyn (previously of Red Dwarf fame) covered this idea eight years ago (July 2017) on his 'electrify' channel: > The simple and very commonplace lamp post will soon become a ubiquitous charge point for electric cars. They charge at about 5 kW, or 16 amps, not super fast but overnight charging is all most drivers need. Ubitricity is a German based company who've come up with a simple, cheap to install and well managed system for more people on more streets to adopt electric cars. * [LINK] See also pop-up chargers from six years ago: * [this video]