North Carolina Startup, Evatran, Attracting Funds By Finding Ways To Cut The Cord For Electric Cars

Outside of Detroit, North Carolina is a mecca for innovation in the automobile sector. North Carolina also has a thriving tech community in the research triangle area which encompasses Raliegh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary and surrounding areas. One of those companies is Evatran.

Evatran is a spinoff of a company called MTC transformers, which is an electronics manufacturer based in Whytheville Virginia. Evatran moved to Morrisville NC to be closer to the global technology hub that exists there.

So what is this start up doing that is Evatran doing that is so phenomenal that Google, Hertz Rent A Car, Duke Energy and Clemson University have come to the plate with funding for them? They are looking to cut the cord to recharge electric cars. Evatran is working on a plugless recharging station for electric cars.

“Fundamentally, what we’re selling here is convenience,” said Evatran co-founder Rebecca Hough told the Winston Salem Journal. “The cord gets really dirty. People run over the cord.”

More after the break



Now Evatran isn’t working on some kid of secondary battery system. They are working on a system that’s similar to induction charging systems for cell phones and portable electronics. Essentially they are working on a power matt type system where the electric car parks on a matt and gets its charge that way rather than having to plug into a wall outlet.

This means the owner doesn’t have to deal with the power cord to the car in the rain. Sure you’ve filled up your gas powered car a million times in a thunder storm but with the electric car the charging cord belongs to the car not the charging source so you would have to charge it in the rain (sometimes dangerous) and throw the soaking wet, muddy cable back in the car.

The system would be available for homeowners to store in their garage and also other places with huge parking lots, like amusement parks and college campuses. Electric cars would just park on top of the matt and voila they are charging.  Officials in Raleigh North Carolina are already negotiating with Evatran to install the matts in public places around town.

Duke Energy, the dominant power company in North Carolina and an investor in Evatran, is planning to set their Plugless Power unit up in a South Carolina home of an employee who drives a Chevy Volt. They want to see first hand what their investment is producing.

While this idea seems quite innovative, Jim Poch, the executive director of the Plug-in Hybrid Coalition of the Carolinas and a long time electric car driver, doesn’t think the technology is needed and feels that most people can handle the plug in recharging.

“I think it’s self-serving and incorrect to talk about the huge need for this,” Poch told the Winston Salem Journal. “I don’t see it as being a barrier to someone purchasing an electric car.”

The problem with Poch’s statement is that he’s not considering the ramifications of installing the technology on a wider scale. While home kits are going to be marketed to the general public, the bigger story is these partnerships, like the one with the city of Raleigh, where these charging matts could be everywhere.

Convenience is an investment.

The Plugless Power system will cost around $3,000 before installation. It will also have to be retrofit at some car dealerships, although Evatran hopes to have it widely adopted and pre-installed. Evatran also pointed out that the Plugless Power system will cost about $1.345 to charge the car rather than the $1.35 that it costs with a traditional cord.

If the electric car is to be widely adopted in the United States the issue of charging on the road needs to be handled with widespread foresight. Convenience, and aesthetic appearance will actually be a big factor as will safety when you’re talking about fitting a baseball stadium or a shopping mall with electric car chargers.

Evatran is well on the way to doing just that.

source: Winston Salem Journal