Interview With Pierre Sacre Of Schneider Electric At Formula E (CleanTechnica Exclusive)
Back in February, I was fortunate enough to pin down both Pierre Sacre of Schneider Electric AND Jason Appelbaum of Evercharge to talk about the exciting partnership between the two electric vehicle (EV) charging titans and their plans to level up EV charging in multi-tenant buildings. I was impressed by the partnership, the current technology, and their plans for the future.
Fast forward to April and CleanTechnica was out on tour, roaming around Southern California, and while at the Formula E race in Long Beach, we caught up with Pierre Sacre to get the inside scoop on what Schneider Electric has been working on.
Check out Zach’s interview below or scroll down for the show notes.
Model 3 is blowing up and bringing lots of great attention to EVs. Schneider is working to capitalize on this, primarily through the partnership with Evercharge, as many Model 3 owners will live in multi-tenant buildings and need charging solutions there.
Quick aside to talk the Evercharge / Schneider Electric solution — The solution uses a standard EV charger (Schneider’s expertise) with an intelligent load-balancing power management solution (Evercharge’s Wattson product) to charge multiple EVs in multi-tenant buildings. This is done by intelligently communicating with the existing infrastructure (hey, how much power are you using right now?) and to the other EV chargers in the building (other Evercharge units) to load balance and maximize the charge across all of the connected EVs. This allows a building owner to maximize the number of EV charging stations that can be installed, while at the same time not having to make a massive capital investment in non-value-add electrical infrastructure.
Schneider is interested in driving an open standard for charging and is eagerly watching and participating in the discussions underway by the OCPP and OCA using newly selected standard mediator OASIS. Schneider believes an open charging standard is the best way to drive improvements in EV adoption.
What’s the solution for charging in multi-tenant housing? Launch the Evercharge + Schneider energy management solution as quickly as possible. Schneider assessed the landscape and said that, with Evercharge on board, “we believe they have one of the best technologies out there.”
Do you see the partnership moving into Europe? The MOU between the two leaves that option open. This nebulous confirmation of a future move into Europe (where Schneider is based) for the partnership echos what we heard from an even more enthusiastic Jason Appelbaum, CEO of Evercharge. I’m excited for Europe (yes, the whole continent). The hint of a move by this partnership into Europe bodes well for improved charging in multi-tenant buildings, which abound there (approximately 50% of the population lives in such buildings). It’s an exciting time to watch these companies — who seem to be mostly alone in the fight for (or in business to enable) EV charging in multi-tenant buildings.
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“Schneider is interested in driving an open standard for charging.” Good. You may not have heard of the company, but it’s old (1836!) and big (sales $26 bn). Are GE and ABB also on board for an open standard? I’m doubtful if Tesla can hold out for much longer with a proprietary standard and closed network.
Neither ABB or GE are onboard with the Open Charging Alliance. It is a very euro-centric standard though that’s not the intention.
http://www.openchargealliance.org/participants/
Why do you see Tesla running into trouble?