Hi Engineering 407 class,
This will be my first blog ever so don’t expect too much; I hopefully will get better at these as the year goes on. I figure I take a little time introducing myself in this first blog. My name is Joe Massimo from Ridley, PA. If you do not know where that is, it is basically right next to the Philadelphia Airport and is the location for one of Boeings plants, which only normally interest engineering students. I am a fifth year senior in Mechanical Engineering and will be hopefully graduating in May. The reason I am a fifth year senior is because I spent 2 fall semesters on co-ops with GE. I have over a year experience working with GE in 3 different locations: electrical distribution in Cherry Hill, NJ, Optimization and controls in Exton, PA, and GE Wind in Greenville, SC (which I also work part time for now). I will also be starting full time in GE Water’s CLP program starting in September.
Moving on to my first topic of discussion and sticking with GE, is their relatively new idea that should make electric cars more plausible. One of the largest problems with electric cars is the fact that people worry about them running out of energy since they are only really capable of going a small distance. GE has come up with an idea to both fix and capitalize on this problem. The WattStationTM is a device that GE hopes will one day be used much like today’s Gas Stations combined with a parking meter.
Currently, the WattStation can cut down on charging time from 12-14 hours to 4-8 hours meaning know people are capable of charging their car while they are at work. The product is very neat and utilizes new technologies; for example, it is capable for the WattStations to communicate to your mobile to device to tell you where an open station is located. Technologies like the WattStation are key in making people feel more comfortable in buying electric cars. I hope that the WattStation and similar devices start being put in place all over urban areas.
Here is a link to one of GE’s articles on the WattStation: http://www.ge.com/innovation/electric_vehicles/index.html
