On January 17, 2020, Los Angeles officials unveiled the city’s first charging port designed specifically for e-scooters. Parent company Charge hopes this novel technology will increase the efficiency of overnight charging operations for micro-mobility companies in the area.
The official location of this Charge SmartHub is 1200 West Olympic Boulevard, which is less than a 10-minute walk from the STAPLES Center. According to Charge, this hub has four charging bays that are able to handle just over 70 e-scooters at any given moment.
To use LA’s Charge SmartHub, users have to rent time on Charge’s app. Each bay has sensors that are able to tell what company’s e-scooters are being charged in the hub. Charge then “charges” companies their percentage of energy consumption, much like drivers pay for gasoline.
Most e-scooter companies hire freelance contractors to pick up e-scooters every night and charge devices before placing them on the streets the next morning. Most of these “Juicers” have to use outlets at their homes to charge e-scooters. Not only does this practice increase contractors’ energy expenditure, it could easily spark a fire.
Executives at Charge believe their SmartHub technology will promote efficiency and safety in the emerging micro-mobility market. By giving Angelenos a safe area to charge e-scooters in the city, Juicers could save money and reduce fire hazard risk.
Currently, Charge has an active charging port in Atlanta and roughly 6,000 connections with cities in America and Europe. To learn more about this company’s services, feel free to visit https://www.charge.us/.
Anyone interested in learning more about Los Angeles’s e-scooter program should check out this thorough webpage put together by LADOT.