San Francisco designer Yves Béhar of Fuseproject has designed these electric car-chargers for public and home use. 

Called GE WattStation, the project was unveiled yesterday in collaboration with Ecomagination, a green initiative by energy company General Electric.

The cylindrical devices flare out towards a circular LED interface on the top and have a retractable cable.

The stations are to be installed across Europe, America and Asia.

Here’s some more information from Fuseproject:

The collaboration between GE Ecomagination and fuseproject has led to the GE WattStation, an electric vehicle charging station that is designed for public and private spaces.

fuseproject’s vision for the WattStation is an electric-car-charger design that is as durable as street furniture, as visible as a light beacon, and as beautiful as street greenery.

The WattStation design needed to break all paradigms of the typical large scale, angular and brash “gas pump”. To achieve our goal, a new soft and distinctive friendly icon is expressed through a cylindrical body that flares toward the top and becomes the circular interface. The UI screen faces the user at a “service angle” for optimized ergonomic comfort, and its surround lens houses a useful and informational graphic interface. The LED light ring indicates to the driver whether the WattStation is available (white), fully charged (green), charging (red), or out of order (yellow).

The WattStation comes imbedded with GE’s Smart Grid technology which enables the station to charge a vehicle in 4-8 hours compared to the typical 12-18. By communicating wirelessly with digital platforms and mobile devices, users will be able to remotely locate, operate and monitor the unit. The WattStation is also the very first charging station with a self-retractable charging cable, keeping streets tidy while protecting the cable from weather elements. All of these innovations are jammed tight into a compact metal shell, which is solidly constructed to withstand any harsh weather and usage conditions. It even has a built-in heater to defrost the snow!

The WattStation will be planted all over the US, as well as Europe and Asia. It will promote the deployment of renewable energy for electric vehicles worldwide.