A Juice Bar For The Electric Car

A Walnut Creek (Calif.) parking lot might seem like an unlikely spot to glimpse the future. But it's where the gold-medal-winning designers at IDEO are testing a futuristic idea. Next to a brightly lit aluminum kiosk are several parking spaces, each of which sports a sleek black-and-blue electricity-charging station. Palo Alto (Calif.)-based IDEO believes this is the place where an active, middle-aged woman named Kilo might someday routinely pull in, pay at the kiosk with a credit or ATM card, plug a lightweight plastic-covered inductive paddle charger into her electric vehicle and, returning after a couple hours of shopping, drive off into the sunset.

The Kilo character is part of one of many scenarios that IDEO designers created to wow both client GM/Hughes and the IDSA design judges with their electric-vehicle-charging station. Since 1991, IDEO has worked with Hughes on a project to address the daunting infrastructure needs that a shift to electric vehicles will require. Because electric cars can still only travel 100 to 150 miles on a full charge, IDEO realized that "filling up" will have to be incorporated into the driver's everyday life. In addition to a full, overnight charge in your garage, you'll be able to top off in parking lots, convenience stores, shopping malls, etc., throughout the day, IDEO figures.