German tech giant Siemens is joining forces with ConnectDER to make EC charging at home easier, and more affordable.
A common impediment to expanding electric vehicle ownership is the concern of how and where you’d be able to charge your EV. If you live in an older house, then it’s possible you held back from getting an EV because that would require an expensive upgrade for a charger in your home.
To work around that issue and make home-charging technology more accessible, ConnectDER and Siemens have partnered to create a special plug-in adapter that would go directly through your home’s meter socket. By bypassing the house’s electric service panel, the adapter would save around 60% to 80% of a typical charger installation cost by eliminating the need for electric panel upgrades.
For home charging, you usually need a 7-11 kW device that requires 40-60 amps on a 240 V line. However, the average American home is 40-60 years old, and most of those homes were built back when the demand for electric service rarely went above 100 amps. If you live in an older home, to get any sort of new electric product like an EV, a heat pump, or a smart appliance, you’d most likely have to get a service panel upgrade – which can range from $1,000 to $5,000.
This meter adapter, which is meant to help bridge the gap between energy transition and its high costs, will be offered exclusively through Siemens.
“Siemens invests in initiatives that help the world embrace electrified transportation, and we are pleased to partner with ConnectDER on this important effort,” explains Chris King, senior vice president of strategic partnerships, Siemens. “While the EV industry continues to show explosive growth, to meet critical net-zero carbon emission goals like we have at Siemens, we must remove obstacles to broader adoption. ConnectDER’s innovative solution to simplify home EV charging helps overcome these challenges and we are excited to work with its team to rapidly roll out this product.”
“We are very excited to partner with Siemens, obviously one of the strongest and most storied electrical infrastructure providers on the planet,” says Whit Fulton, CEO of ConnectDER. “If we’re going to meet ambitious decarbonization targets, we simply must accelerate the adoption of EVs — the installation of EV chargers is a huge part of that equation. This technology saves homeowners thousands of dollars in electrical costs and will help make the move to electric vehicles considerably easier.”
SOURCE | IMAGES: CONNECTDER.
