Charging giant ABB took advantage of CES in Las Vegas to introduce a new charging station for the home, called Terra Home. Equipped with numerous functionalities, it makes it possible in particular to promote green energy to recharge the vehicles connected to it and integrates Plug & Charge.
In May 2020, Emmanuel Macron made a promise: 100,000 public charging stations will be available in France by the end of 2021. One year after the deadline, it is clear that this goal is far from being achieved. In fact, according to Avere’s site, the territory had 82,107 charging points as of December 31, 2022, while electric cars have represented 13% of sales since the beginning of the year. Suffice it to say that we are still far from getting there…
a new generation
Fortunately, many players are developing and configuring everywhere, such as Fastned, Electra, Ionity or TotalEnergies. But if for this reason it is increasingly easier to recharge your car in public spaces, a study carried out by Enedis demonstrates this 92% of EV owners plug in at home. The proportion of motorists who use a public terminal from time to time is only 40%. That is why operators are also very interested in developing their charging solutions for the home.
Because if it is possible to plug it into a standard socket, it is strongly recommended to use a reinforced grip, or better, a Wallbox. Thus, the charge will be faster, but also safer. This is precisely a market in which ABB is particularly committed, having just presented a new generation of terminals at CES in Las Vegas for individual and collective housing.
Called Terra Home, it stands out above all for its customizable style, thanks to a details in black, white or wood effect for optimal integration. This is also facilitated by its compact size, even if its exact dimensions have not been detailed. But obviously this is not his only asset. Indeed, and as explained in the company’s press release, this terminal makes charging an electric car cleaner than a conventional wallbox.
this is indeed able to choose your power source and give priority to renewables. For example, if a house has solar panels, the terminal will first use the electricity from them to recharge the connected vehicle. A real bonus, as recharging can sometimes have a worse carbon footprint than a gasoline car, depending on the method of power production.
Safer and more convenient charging
But that is not all. Because this new generation terminal is also capable ofadapt the power it delivers according to the voltage in the household electrical network. In fact, you can modulate its performance if many other electrical appliances are used, such as the oven or the washing machine, in order to avoid a power outage. This is called load balancing (load balancing) or load shedding.
If this was not specified by ABB in its press release, it could also be that Wallbox Terra Home may limit its power during the hours full for example, to reduce the electricity bill. This solution could also allow to limit the tensions in the network and could come a little later, when the terminal will be able to benefit from remote updates. It is an easy-to-implement alternative pending the development of bidirectional charging, which has similar advantages.
Finally, the ABB Terra Home terminal is also equipped with Plug & Charge technology, which allows you to connect your car without having to identify yourself each time. Today, several manufacturers offer compatible models, including BMW, Cupra, Skoda or even Mercedes and Tesla. But in the case of a domestic terminal, the interest is different than for a fast charging point. In a single-family house, this allows in particular Find out which car consumes more energy. without having to manually log in each time.
In a collective habitat, such as a condominium, this allows authorizing the charge only to certain vehicles belonging to the inhabitants. In this way, access would be prohibited to simple visitors, which would again allow to limit the expenses for the community. Competing in particular with the third-generation Tesla Wall Connector, this Wallbox can be controlled via a dedicated app that has yet to reveal a release date.
ABB has not provided details on its power at this time. We can imagine that we will have to wait for powers between 7.4 and 22 kW, depending on the type of installation (single-phase or three-phase).
Most potential electric car buyers want to have a charging solution at home, which allows them to have a nearly full battery every day, without restrictions. For this, the wallbox…
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