The American home is one of the most difficult barriers standing between the car-buying public and the electric vehicle revolution. Many homes lack garages or even driveways, and many others have outdated electrical systems, making it challenging, expensive to get started, or completely impractical to charge EVs at home. However, there are solutions, and Siemens and ConnectDER have developed one that appears to be a success.
ConnectDER first appeared on CleanTechnica’s radar in 2019, and since then, they have been rather busy. THE WALL AROUND HOME EV CHARGING IS STARTING TO CRUMBLE They employ a retrofit-able collar that attaches to the electricity meter box as their home EV charging solution since it is quicker and less expensive than changing other areas of the household electrical system.
a $1.5 million High Performing Grid award from NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, was awarded to ConnectDER in December of last year after they began testing the collar in New York City.
According to ConnectDER, the funding will assist the business in creating and commercializing its next-generation meter collar adapters that enable quick, affordable, and all-encompassing interconnection of power and data to DERs (distributed energy resources) like solar, energy storage, and electric vehicles that are otherwise unmanaged.
The grant in question is an external initiative that uses DERS at a detailed level to support grid stability and dependability. Therefore, the new collar feeds into the virtual power plant trend in addition to the dispersed energy resources trend.
Rooftop solar and home EV charging are just two facets of the building electrification movement, so that VPP viewpoint is important. Additionally, the popularity of heat pumps is surging, and they are used for more than just space heating. Additionally included are hot water heating, air conditioning, and clothes drying.
A BETTER SOLUTION FOR HOME EV CHARGING When ConnectDER and the two businesses announced an agreement last week, Siemens entered the picture. The deal calls for Siemens to receive an exclusivity on ConnectDER’s new plug-in adapter for EV charging.
According to Siemens , the new gadget will allow owners of electric vehicles (EVs) to charge their vehicles straight through the meter socket, a practical and effective place found on every home. The adapter will minimize the requirement for electrical panel improvements, which will reduce the cost of the charger installation by an estimated 60 to 80 percent.
They underlined that the method does away with the requirement for difficult and excessively expensive installations by enabling a quick, 15-minute EV charger installation.
Nearly 50% of US houses would need to be upgraded in order to install Level 2 EV charging systems, which are defined as 711kW devices requiring 4060 amps on a 240V line.
They stress that this is a significant barrier to EV adoption, particularly for low- and moderate-income homeowners.
EV PLAYING FIELD LEVELING Even though we at CleanTechnica adore electric vehicles, the cost of remodeling a home to allow Level 2 EV charging hinders adoption trends. Even though the lifetime cost of ownership for electric cars is starting to surpass that of gas cars, many households still struggle to cover the initial outlay. (Editor’s note: Level 2 charging is frequently disregarded by many households because it isn’t necessarily significant. Because my family, a four-person, one-car household, can get by just fine with Level 1 charging, I’ve had a Level 2 charger lying in a box for more than a year. With Level 1 charge, there are no additional costs beyond the price of energy, and overnight or other times when the car is parked, charging is sufficient for everyday driving requirements. That being said, the method described here appears intriguing and practical for those who believe they require Level 2 charging. (Zachary Shahan
Siemens and ConnectDERS cite a paper by Juniper Research that details how electricians and homeowners are finding it difficult to keep up with the rate of EV growth and to find practical solutions for integrating them into older homes. They also mention reports from the companies the National Association of Home Builders and Pecan Street , which outline the problem’s national breadth.
The typical American home has been around for around 40 years. Many of those were constructed in low-demand conditions, when 100 amps would frequently be sufficient. Many were constructed at a time when space heating and other equipment were frequently powered by natural gas or home heating oil, which further diminished the need for a more robust electrical system.
UPCOMING STEPS FOR DECARBONIZATION Siemens has already established a sizable presence in the cleantech sector, and its clout in the EV charging industry is growing quickly.
For instance, Siemens collaborated with other top electric mobility players from the business and shipping sectors in July under the auspices of the green nonprofit organization Ceres to develop a plan for public EV charging stations.
Aims we have In a letter made public, alliance members stated that switching to electric vehicles (EVs) is one of their top priorities as they fight to reduce transportation emissions while powering their fleets and logistics systems in the United States. In fact, the Alliance members want to buy more than 330,000 zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) in the U.S. market alone over the course of the following five years.
The Alliance is already considering a $7.5 billion fund set aside in last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill for EV charging stations.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which was unexpectedly reached last week, includes a long list of measures designed to lower the cost of electrification, EV charging, and zero emission vehicles , including $9 billion in consumer rebates, 10 years’ worth of consumer tax credits for home energy efficiency and electrification, and tax credits for both new and used EVs.
A $ 27 billion carve-out for a clean energy technology accelerator with a focus on underserved communities is another way that the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’s provisions on EV affordability can be viewed. This accelerator could aid in expanding access to public EV charging stations among many other cleantech initiatives.
The measure also contains a substantial section on environmental justice, which might increase access to EV charging stations in underserved communities.
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Image: Electric vehicle charging, courtesy of the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory .
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