News Summary: Voltpost Brings Curbside EV Charging to City Light Poles
During our latest interview, we sat down with Luke Myro, co-founder of urban charging company Voltpost, to discuss how the company is tackling one of the tougher challenges in electric mobility: charging for drivers without a driveway or garage. Voltpost converts existing street lamp posts and wooden utility poles into functional Level 2 EV charging stations.
Here are the primary facts, technical details, and rollout plans highlighted during our conversation:
- Conduit Infrastructure Utilization: Rather than splitting power directly from the light fixture, Voltpost pulls a dedicated electrical service through existing municipal underground conduit. Upgrades to energy-efficient LED streetlights across major cities have freed up both physical space in conduits and electrical capacity, making these retrofits possible.
- Overhead Cable Protection: To combat vandalism, cable theft, and sidewalk tripping hazards, the main charging unit sits high up on the pole. Drivers scan a QR code via their phone, causing the charging plug to drop down to an ADA-accessible height. Once unplugged, the cable automatically retracts back into the elevated housing.
- Trenchless Installation: By utilizing existing poles and conduit paths, installation avoids costly street trenching, sidewalk excavation, and heavy site construction.
- Broad Pole Compatibility: While initially focused on municipal steel and concrete lamp posts, Voltpost also deploys on commercial surface lots (such as a recent installation at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan) and wooden utility poles using established telecom/5G attachment protocols.
- Municipal Revenue Sharing: Voltpost works directly with local governments, utilities, and site hosts, offering revenue-sharing options to convert public right-of-way assets into self-sustaining infrastructure.
Industry Context: Solving the Apartment and Street Parking EV Gap
For millions of urban EV drivers, renters, and multi-family home residents, access to reliable overnight charging remains a significant friction point. While home charging in a private garage costs relatively little to set up, installing traditional ground-mounted curbside chargers in major cities involves astronomical trenching costs, lengthy permitting delays, and significant public disruption.
By leveraging existing utility assets, pole-mounted systems offer a viable path toward scaling curbside infrastructure quickly. Furthermore, as rideshare platforms (such as Uber and Lyft) transition toward full electrification, drivers living in dense outer-borough neighborhoods need accessible overnight charging without driving into downtown commercial cores.
| Deployment Metric | Traditional Curbside Pedestal | Voltpost Pole-Mounted Charging |
|---|---|---|
| Ground Construction | Requires sidewalk excavation & trenching | Uses existing conduit & pole footprints |
| Cable Vandalism Risk | High (exposed ground cables, prone to theft) | Low (retracts high overhead when idle) |
| Sidewalk Footprint | Adds new physical barriers/bollards | Zero added ground footprint |
| Weather & Flood Resistance | Subject to snowplow damage & standing water | Mounted above typical flood levels & snowdrifts |
The Electric Duo Take: Why Smart Cable Management and Pole Mounts Win
If you have followed our channel for any length of time, you know we frequently talk about the real-world friction points of public charging. We have personally pulled up to public chargers only to find six out of six charging cables sliced off by copper thieves. That is why Voltpost's automated, high-mounted retracting system caught our attention right away.
Keeping the cable elevated inside the housing until an authorized driver requests it solves three major problems at once: it protects against vandal cut wires, keeps cables off snowy or flooded sidewalks, and eliminates the risk of pedestrians tripping over strewn cords. It is practical design built specifically for rough urban environments like New York City, Chicago, or Denver.
From an engineering standpoint, piggybacking on municipal LED lighting upgrades is a smart move. Cities across the country have already spent years pulling out power-hungry high-pressure sodium bulbs and running slimmer LED wiring. Voltpost taking advantage of that freed-up conduit space sidesteps the millions of dollars in civil engineering costs usually required to drop power onto a city block.
The policy side remains the biggest bottleneck. As Luke mentioned in our chat, the tech works, and the engineering precedent already exists thanks to 5G cell tower attachments on wooden utility poles. What we need now is for local city councils and transportation departments to streamline right-of-way approvals. If you want pole-mounted charging on your street, get in touch with your local city representatives or EV advocacy groups—municipalities respond when constituents demand cleaner, accessible street parking solutions.
