A simple, inexpensive meter retrofit could blow the charging field for home EVs wide (photo courtesy of NREL).
Of all the obstacles between the car-buying public and the electric vehicle revolution, the American home is one of the stickiest. Many don’t have a garage or even driveway, and many others have old electrical systems, meaning charging electric cars at home is difficult, expensive to start, or nothing at all. Nevertheless, there are solutions, and the two companies Siemens and ConnectDER have come up with one that looks like a winner.
The wall to EV charging at home is starting to crumble
ConnectDER appeared on the CleanTechnica radar back in 2019, and they’ve been quite busy since then. Their EV charging solution for the home is a retrofit collar that goes on the electricity meter boxwhich saves time and avoids the expense of upgrading other parts of the household electrical system for EV charging.
ConnectDER has started testing the collar in New York City and they must have made a big impression as last December they received a $1.5 million “High Performing Grid” award from NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
“The funding will help the company develop and manufacture its next-generation meter-neck adapters that enable fast, low-cost, and universal interconnection of power and data with otherwise unmanaged DERs. [distributed energy resources] such as solar energy, energy storage and electric vehicles,” explains ConnectDER.
That specific price is an outward-looking program that uses DERS at a granular level to support grid stability and reliability. So, in addition to feeding the trend of distributed energy sourcesthe new collar also feeds in the trend of virtual power plants.
That VPP angle is a crucial one, because solar on the roof and charging electric cars at home are just two aspects of: the electrification movement of buildings. Heat pumps are also starting to work like crazy, and that includes more than space heating. Air conditioning, hot water heating and clothes drying are also in the mix.
An even better solution for charging electric cars at home
Siemens came into the picture last week when the two companies announced an agreement that will see ConnectDER provide Siemens with an exclusive on their new plug-in adapter for charging EVs.
“The new device allows electric vehicle (EV) owners to charge electric vehicles by connecting chargers directly through the meter socket, a convenient and efficient location available in every home,” Siemens explained. “By bypassing a home’s electrical service panel, the adapter saves an estimated 60 to 80 percent of charger installation costs by avoiding the need for electrical panel upgrades.”
“By enabling a simple 15-minute EV charger installation, the technology eliminates the need for complex and prohibitively expensive installations,” they emphasized.
According to Siemens and Connect DER, nearly 50% of homes in the US would require an upgrade to install Level 2 EV charging systems, which they define as a 7-11 kW device requiring 40-60 amps on a 240V line. .
“This is a major roadblock to electric car adoption, especially for low- and middle-income homeowners,” they note.
Leveling the EV playing field
As much as we love EVs here at CleanTechnica, the cost of upgrading a home to accommodate Level 2 EV charging is slowing down the EV adoption trends. Although the lifetime costs of electric vehicles are starting to beat gas mobiles at their own game, bridging the initial costs is a major challenge for many households. (Editor’s Note: Level 2 charging is not necessarily important for many households, something that is often ignored. I have had a level 2 charger in a box for over a year because level 1 charging works great for my family – a family of four with one car. When using Level 1 charging, there are no additional charges beyond the cost of electricity, and charging overnight or other times when the car is parked is sufficient for normal daily driving needs. That said, for people who feel like they need to charge at level 2, the solution highlighted here seems interesting and helpful. —Zach Shahan)
Siemens and ConnectDERS cite a report by Research on juniper, describing how “the pace of EV growth has left electricians and homeowners struggling to keep pace and find cost-effective solutions for integration into older homes.” They also cite reports from the National Association of Home Buildersand the firm Pecan Streetdescribing the extent of the problem across the country.
The average American home has about 40 years on the clock. Many of these are built in a low-demand scenario, when 100 amps would normally be sufficient. Many were also built at a time when home heating oil and natural gas were commonly used for space heating and other appliances, further reducing the need for a more powerful electrical system.
Next steps for decarbonization
Siemens has already created a huge space for itself in the cleantech field and its influence on the EV charging field is expanding rapidly.
In July, for example, Siemens joined other leading stakeholders in electric mobility in the field of trade and shipping under the umbrella of the green non-profit organization Ceres formulating a strategy for public EV charging stations.
“Our Goals Alliance members share a common goal to electrify their U.S. transportation, logistics and network fleets, as well as reduce their footprint in transportation emissions, and are actively working towards the transition to electric vehicles (EVs),” they wrote in a statement. public letter. “In fact, the Alliance members plan to collectively purchase more than 330,000 zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) in the U.S. market alone over the next five years.”
The Alliance is already looking at a $7.5 billion pot of funding for EV charging stations set aside in last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Last week’s surprising agreement on the Build Back Better climate bill — now called the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 — also describes a whole list of actions aimed at making electrification, EV charging, and zero emission vehicles more affordable, including $9 billion in consumer rebates and 10 years of consumer tax credits for energy efficiency and residential electrification, along with tax credits for both new and used EVs.
Another angle on the EV affordability provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is a $27 billion carve-out for a “clean energy technology accelerator” targeting underserved communities, which could help expand access to public EV charging stations among many other cleantech efforts.
The bill also includes an entire section devoted to environmental justice, which could also help expand access to electric vehicle charging in low-service areas.
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Photo: Charging EV courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory from the United States Department of Energy.
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