Last week, charging company Enel X Way North America conducted a master class on how to screw over your customer base when it abruptly announced it would close up shop on this continent and discontinue its connected electric vehicle charging service. So while millions of people who own its charger, the JuiceBox, can still use them to power their vehicles, they now lose the app-connected features that made them useful in the first place.
Worse, many JuiceBox owners had partnerships with their participating local energy providers where they supported "smart grid" solutions to bring down their utility bills. All of that seemed poised to go up in smoke with no warning—a kind of worst-case scenario for our connected vehicle future.
Fortunately, some new players are stepping up to help JuiceBox owners fill the void. Some companies are working to get the charging equipment to work, giving users the resources that Enel X Way won't.
I'll round up a few options here, but I'd first direct you to this video from InsideEVs' Contributing Editor Tom Moloughney on his State of Charge YouTube channel. He speaks to CEOs from three different charging companies—Chargelab, Epic Charging and United Chargers—about what they're doing to help. That's a good primer on where to start.
Next, I have a list of other companies working to serve JuiceBox owners in both residential and commercial spaces.
- Liberty Plugins, Inc. says it has "a turnkey solution with 90 days of free service" for commercial operators who were using Enel X Way's systems. "Site hosts affected by the discontinuation of Enel X Way’s software should immediately contact Liberty Plugins for assistance with migrating to the Liberty Access Platform so they may continue regular charging operations at their sites," the company said. Contact them here.
- Sagewell, Inc., an analytics company in the charging space, says it has a solution for owners to continue using their utility services. See more here.
- Tridens Technology, which works on the software side, has a way to transfer connected services while using the same JuiceBox. "Businesses and commercial charger site hosts using Enel X Way should talk to us immediately for network migration discussions," the company said.
- As Tom described in his video, users can contact ChargeLab today to discuss migration options.
- Here's one more option: Zero Impact Solutions. "Commercial site hosts affected by the discontinuation of Enel X Way's software can immediately migrate to the EVOLV platform and continue regular charging operations at their sites," the company said.
So if you own one of these chargers, know that there are options for you here. And with any luck, this disaster will motivate the industry and regulators to come up with a common set of standards that guarantee long-term support.
Got a tip about Enel X Way and JuiceBox? Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
