eMotorWerks and Share&Charge Deliver North America's First Peer to Peer Electric Vehicle Charging Network with Blockchain Payments
; Date: July 11, 2017
Tags: Electric Car Charging »»»» Blockchain
Encouraging person-to-person sharing of charging stations is one way to expand the electric car charging network. It's clear a key to a successful switch to electric cars is the speed with which the charging network becomes ubiquitous. This isn't the first effort at person-to-person charging station sharing. To my knowledge that honor falls on PlugShare/Recargo/Xatori (Xatori and Recargo merged). In any case, the interesting twist in this case is the use of Blockchain to record payments.
Blockchain? That's the transaction recording technology underly Bitcoin and most other digital currencies. Blockchain is a simpler mechanism to record transactions than the prevailing system of monetary settlements through the ACH banking system. Blockchain-style transactions are as fast as an API call on an Internet service, and are touted as being highly secure due to well-thought-out algorithms and encryption mechanisms. Instead of Bitcoin, the team is instead using Ethereum.
Almost two years ago I had a frenzy of excitement about Bitcoin, and posted
some theorizing that using Bitcoin in charging stations would reduce the need for charging networks. Who knows if that would be the result.
The combination of eMotorWerks smart-charging technology and Share&Charge blockchain transaction platform allows charging station owners to receive payments when their stations are used by other EV drivers.
SAN FRANCISCO, July 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting this summer, California residential and commercial owners of electric vehicle charging stations enabled with eMotorWerks' JuiceNet smart-grid charging technology will have the opportunity to rent out charging time on their stations to EV drivers participating in a new peer to peer (P2P) network powered by MotionWerk's Share&Charge open platform. Share&Charge was founded by the innogy Innovation Hub whose purpose it is to evolve an innovation portfolio for innogy SE, Germany's leading energy company. The Share&Charge mobile app connects EV drivers with available residential and commercial EV charging stations and facilitates blockchain-based payments from visiting EV drivers to station owners. The new sharing platform aims to increase the availability of public charging stations and decrease range anxiety current and prospective EV drivers experience. This partnership marks the first peer to peer charging network to use blockchain technology in North America.
"In today's marketplace, the availability of public EV charging is still of concern to potential EV drivers. However, P2P charging opens the opportunity to break free of infrastructure limitations and gasoline oligopolies to access electricity for their cars," says Dietrich Sümmerman of Share&Charge. "By establishing networks of individuals willing to share their EV charging stations, we are opening up more charging options to EV drivers, while at the same time ensuring station owners are compensated accordingly. As one of the most popular EV charging solutions in the United States and Europe, eMotorWerks is the perfect partner for our debut in the United States. With this new sharing technology we are bringing to North America, we aim to prove how blockchain technology can make sharing and payment easier and more efficient. We are excited to enable anyone, from individual, to small company or large utility to share their charging stations for an accelerated growth of emobility."
Expanding its P2P charging network already established in Germany, Share&Charge leverages decentralized and transparent Ethereum-powered blockchain technology to allow people to interlink with each other to share and bill products and services securely and conveniently. Through the app, residential and commercial owners of JuiceNet enabled stations can share their charging asset with other EV drivers in the network. Meanwhile, any EV driver can download the Share&Charge app to see available charging facilities on a map and navigate to the closest charging station for charging. With a few clicks in the app, the station owners can choose the times to share their service with others and set the price to charge visiting drivers.
California owners of any JuiceNet enabled devices who would like to share their charging stations are eligible to participate in the new P2P network, but initial participation will be limited on a first-come first-serve basis. Currently compatible devices include charging stations such as eMotorWerks JuiceBox Pro, Aerovironment EVSE-RS JuiceNet Edition, Clipper Creek HCS-40 JuiceNet Edition, and Nayax EVMeter. Additionally, the new service is compatible with eMotorWerks' JuicePlug smart-grid charging adapter that allows any charging station by any manufacturer to participate in the program. All drivers of an electric vehicle can sign up to make use of the shared residential charging stations.
"One common issue we see in the growth of EV adoption is 'range anxiety,' which stems from an overall lack of charging stations for some shorter-range EVs currently on the market. To accelerate the EV revolution, we must increase the number of charging options available," says Val Miftakhov, CEO of eMotorWerks. "By allowing individuals and companies both small and large to make their stations accessible to the public, and to be be paid for their use, station owners gain the opportunity to have their station pay for itself over time, while drivers can feel confident in knowing they'll always have enough charge to get where they are going."
The joint pilot program between eMotorWerks and Share&Charge is slated to begin August 1 of 2017. Users can sign up to participate for the program by filling out the registration form on eMotorWerks website or by sending an email to
shareandcharge@emotorwerks.com.
About eMotorWerks
Founded in 2010, and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, eMotorWerks is revolutionizing the electric vehicle (EV) charging market with its JuiceNet-enabled smart grid EV charging solutions. JuiceNet enabled devices, such as the company's connected, high-power JuiceBox charging stations, maximize charging efficiency and speed while providing EV owners intuitive control and visibility. By shifting when and how much electricity JuiceNet-enabled stations draw from the grid, eMotorWerks helps utilities and grid operators reduce electricity costs, ease grid congestion, and maximize the use of solar and wind power. eMotorWerks contracts with grid operators for those services and shares back a portion of proceeds to EV drivers via upfront purchase discounts and ongoing rewards for smart-grid charging. For more information on eMotorWerks, please visit
www.emotorwerks.com. Follow us on Twitter (@eMotorWerks), on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/electric-motor-werks-inc-) and Facebook (
https://www.facebook.com/eMotorWerks).
About Share&Charge
Share&Charge is the first product of MotionWerk, a startup of the innogy Innovation Hub that is part of innogy SE. It is the first global peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace for electric charging enabled by blockchain. Share&Charge enables people and small-to-midsize enterprises (SMEs) to share their charging stations via a freely available app, thereby helping to advance e-mobility and convert personal charging stations into money-generating machines. Share&Charge is part of MotionWerk's vision of a global mobility transaction platform enabling seamless transport everywhere whilst reducing costs for both travellers and transport providers. Learn more at
www.shareandcharge.com/en. Follow us on Twitter (@ShareCharge), on Instagram (@ShareCharge), on LinkedIN (https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/10926031/) and Facebook (@ShareCharge).
