A Simple Curbside EV Charging Solution
Regular access to home or workplace charging makes owning an electric car easy and convenient. The ability to charge overnight or at work eliminates range anxiety, and brings EV ownership within reach of more people. But, there are still millions of drivers in the U.S. live in shared accommodations, and park their cars on the street, which makes it more difficult to own an electric car; charging at public stations can be inconvenient and expensive. Providing these drivers with easy-to-access, affordable on-street charging infrastructure should help even more Americans make the switch.
Itselectric, a Brooklyn, NY-based charging company, has been developing a simple curbside electric car charging solution that can easily integrate into neighborhoods across the U.S. Their compact, durable, and user-friendly Level 2 charging posts don’t have a cord, and instead provide a port for drivers to connect a cable like the one that comes in the trunk of their EV. As such, they are rugged, difficult to damage or vandalize, and ideal for urban use. The charging post is remarkably compact and simple, taking up far less space than a typical Level 2 charger.
Revenue Sharing for Property Owners
As well as offering a simple and elegant solution for drivers to charge, Itselectric also offers a revenue-sharing model for property owners that install its charging posts. The model provides property owners with passive income that make the charging solution easier to adopt in markets across the country. The company says its “behind the meter” approach also results in zero impact on municipal budgets. They partner with cities across the country to install, operate and maintain chargers at no cost to the city or to the host property owner.
In theory, Itselectric’s charging solution can avoid the infrastructure upgrades normally needed to support on-street charging – bringing EV charging to new urban neighborhoods and enabling more people to make the switch to electric vehicles. Easy, inexpensive urban charging could be a powerful democratizer – and indeed, Itselectric was recently named a finalist in the Hyundai Cradle OpenEV Innovation Challenge, which rewards projects based on their potential to expand market access to electric cars, and improve customer charging experiences.
“The United States has high goals for electric vehicle adoption, but the country is not currently prepared for what this means in terms of accessible charging,” said Nathan King, CEO & Co-Founder of Itselectric. “Our technology is specifically built for cities to ensure that every community - no matter the median income or prevalence of driveways and garages - has access to clean transportation.”
Pilot in Partnership with Hyundai
As a finalist in the competition, Itselectric now benefits from a strategic partnership with Hyundai, which will support the installation of its chargers in the company’s native Brooklyn. The pilot program will see six charging posts deployed across two locations: The Brooklyn Army Terminal and Steiner Studios in spring 2023. For two months, all six charging posts will be tested by publicly-recruited EV drivers local to the area, allowing them to validate and inform a for-market product. All six posts will remain operational for an additional four months following the initial pilot.
“Expanding access to EV charging and accelerating the transition to zero-emission vehicles for everyone, regardless of the kind of home or neighborhood in which they live is part of our mission,” said Olabisi Boyle, vice president, product planning and mobility strategy at Hyundai North America. “Itselectric’s modular charging solution brings low-cost, revenue-generating infrastructure to traditionally underserved urban communities around the country. Hyundai is dedicated to a greener future and our partnership with Itselectric will help us achieve our goal of carbon neutrality by 2045.”
