[ChrisCarde]

This is Chris and Robert from HeyCharge (https://heycharge.io/). We're developing low-cost EV charging for indoor environments like underground parking garages.

Current indoor EV chargers are expensive to buy, install, and operate, especially because they need internet connections and cloud-based backends. They're also unreliable, because even if the charger's internet connection works, the user might not have one on their mobile device while underground.

Our chargers don’t require an internet connection, they don’t require any setup other than an electrician to wire power, and our charger and app work together, even when underground and outside of mobile network coverage. This makes them cheaper and more reliable.

We exchange cryptographically-signed, single-use tokens between the charger and our mobile app. We provide tokens proactively to users whenever they have mobile network coverage, meaning they have a supply to use when underground in front of their charger. The charger doesn't need to connect to the internet, only to the user's phone. It provides a charging session in return for a token. After charging, a token is sent in the reverse direction, where it’s eventually sent to the back end. We only provide a replacement token to the user in return for them bringing a complete charge session report. The user’s app and device is an untrusted intermediary in this design, making the system resistant to abuse.

I (Chris) got my career start at UC Davis working on EVs in a graduate research group under the inventor of the modern plug-in hybrid, Dr. Andy Frank, followed by experience at Google, Mercedes-Benz R&D, and E.ON Energy. I finally brought my first plug-in car home to a Munich city-center apartment in late 2017 and realized just how difficult and expensive installing EV chargers in these buildings was. We started HeyCharge to bring EV charging to users like me, living in apartment buildings. We are deploying hardware to our first pilot sites now. Looking forward to your thoughts, questions, and comments!

[michaelbuckbee]

The idea of using tokens is very clever and I can see how that could really reduce the complexity of getting a charger implemented. I'm curious about the overall business model here, do the sites hosting the chargers make money from this or is it more like an amenity?

[ChrisCarde]

Thanks! :) We're really excited about how our token system results in a nearly "plug and play" charger -- just add power!

We have two models:

In a few markets, we operate a "full service" model where we're invited in by a building owner to install infrastructure at our cost, and charge a subscription fee to users to access it in addition to charging for energy consumed. Building owners love this because it's a natural way to transfer costs for the infrastructure to tenants, and -- as "full service" implies -- it takes all the administrative overhead of managing the infrastructure, billing tenants for power, etc. off their plate.

We also offer our technology as a platform for other companies to use as a part of their product or service. With a combination of our SDK and API, they can enable their own app to access HeyCharge devices. This means we can offer the low cost of hardware, low cost and high scalability of setup, and low operating costs to their product/service. We're piloting this with several energy utilities, mobility operators, and a few more that I can't talk about yet. In this case, we operate on a hardware sales + SaaS model.

[slownews45]

EV charging in shared use / multi-family housing is still one of the harder areas to solve. So great to see more options coming - I wish you the best of luck.

One side is also regulatory. At least where I was because the building feed was not up to code, and to get charging in would hit meters, the upgrade costs were too high. Hopefully solutions can show up there as well. Love not having to have network connectivity just local.

[ChrisCarde]

We aren't able to fix every wiring or capacity issue in every building, but we have a neat combination of low-power hardware options and load management. The net effect is that often our infrastructure will work where other options struggle. And thank you for the kind wordsa

[beingflo]

> We only provide a replacement token to the user in return for them bringing a complete charge session report.

What prevents the user from reusing the token? Does the charger keep some state about previously seen tokens?

[ChrisCarde]

Exactly. This is something we can do because we operate semi-private (as opposed to public) infrastructure, and over its lifetime each charger will see a (relatively) small number of users.

[beingflo]

I see. Then the expectation is that the user charges only at one charger, as otherwise a token might be reused at a different charger. Thanks, sounds interesting!

[ChrisCarde]

More or less. We expect our users to charge at a relatively small number of chargers (you might have, say, 10 shared chargers in some buildings), and likewise for chargers to see a relative small number of users over their lifetime. Hope you'll get a chance to use it in a building near you soon!

[jacobn]

If you want to create a user-friendly experience, how about making it so that I just plug my car in and it charges?

No phones, no apps, no access cards. The charger recognizes my car, the car has the billing info, done.

Sigh.

It was such a massive ball drop when the plug standard insisted on having the plug + car detection of the plug being inserted work in all conditions, but then failed to account for the simple fact that billing also needs to be solved.

It's like they thought of it as someone inserting a gas nozzle, or that the electricity would be free.

And now we've rolled out how many of these?

[ChrisCarde]

We agree. :)

So far, only Tesla really supports this at scale (and unfortunately it's proprietary so we can't really use it).

However, the coming wave of EVs will finally support ISO15118, which is a global standard that brings this experience to any EV. We'll support it as soon as there's a meaningful population of vehicles out there with the car-side support. Come to our labs in a month or two for a preview ;)

[saraQOA]

I love the idea! Cannot wait to have one here, as the the few charging stations are in the center of the small village where I live, so always have to park there, and pick up the charged car later...

[ChrisCarde]

Exactly the problem we want to solve!

[FounderBurr]

Why not just use a laundry card type system? Seems like a solution looking for a problem.

[ChrisCarde]

Replacing the RFID card is just one (small) benefit of our approach. The bigger ones are:

1. Eliminating the internet connection lowers both installation cost and setup complexity for the charger. The RFID card doesn't save you from having to take these (expensive) steps when setting up a site, and to pay for the connection on an ongoing basis.

2. Once you eliminate the external variable of configuring a charger to use an internet connection and a backend, the setup flow becomes virtually a plug and play. This substantially improves scalability as we don't have to train dedicated installers. Any electrician who can read a wiring diagram can bring up a site. And, of course, this translates into lower costs for the user.

Of course you could have a disconnected charger using statically-configured RFID cars that doesn't require #1 and #2 above, but then you can't bill people for what they consume or centrally manage access. This is OK for some small sites, but isn't really a scalable solution.

[danvoell]

Great idea. Good Luck!

[sahaskatta]

Hi Chris and Robert. I'm the cofounder of Smartcar.com. We're an API for EVs. We're backed by a16z and NEA. (I also went to UC Davis too!)

I'm excited about what you folks are doing and would love to connect. We've been helping many companies in this space better integrate with electric cars.

Can you shoot me an email? [e-mail]

[ChrisCarde]

Will certainly drop you a line! Thanks for reaching out!