The charging giant, ABB, took advantage of CES in Las Vegas to unveil a brand new home charging station, called Terra Home. Endowed with numerous functionalities, it notably makes it possible to favor 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 objective is far from be achieved. Indeed, according to the Avere site, the territory had 82,107 charging points as of December 31, 2022, while electric cars have accounted for 13% of sales since the start of the year. Suffice to say that we are still far from getting there…
A new generation
Fortunately, many players are developing and setting up everywhere, such as Fastned, Electra, Ionity or TotalEnergies. But if it is therefore increasingly easy to recharge your car in public spaces, a study carried out by Enedis shows that 92% of electric vehicle owners plug in at home. The share of motorists using a public terminal from time to time is only 40%. This is why operators also have every interest in developing their home charging solutions.
Because if it is possible to plug into a standard outlet, it is strongly recommended to use a reinforced grip, or better, a Wallbox. Thus, the charge will be faster, but also more secure. This is precisely a market in which ABB is particularly invested, which has just unveiled at CES in Las Vegas a new generation of terminals for individual and collective dwellings.
Baptized Terra Home, it is distinguished first of all by its customizable style, thanks to a black, white or wood effect trim for optimal integration. This is also facilitated by its compact size, even if its exact dimensions have not been detailed. But this is obviously not its 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 in fact able to choose its source of energy and to give priority to renewable ones. For example, if a house has solar panels, the terminal will first use the electricity from them to recharge the connected vehicle. A real advantage, while recharging can sometimes have a worse carbon footprint than a petrol car depending on the method of energy production.
Safer and more convenient charging
But that’s not all. Because this new generation terminal is also capable ofadapt the power it delivers according to the voltage on the household electrical network. It can in fact modulate its performance if many other electrical appliances are in use, such as the oven or the washing machine, in order to avoid a power cut. 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 the Wallbox Terra Home can limit its power during the hours full for example, to reduce the electricity bill. This solution could also make it possible to limit the tensions on the network and could arrive a little later, when the terminal will be able to benefit from remote updates. It is an easy-to-implement alternative while waiting for 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 to find out which car uses the most energy without having to identify yourself manually each time.
In a collective habitat, as in a condominium, this makes it possible to authorize charging only to certain vehicles belonging to the inhabitants. Thereby, access would be prohibited to simple visitors, which would again make it possible to limit the expenses for the community. Competing in particular with the 3rd generation Tesla wall connector, this Wallbox can be controlled via a dedicated application has not yet revealed a release date.
ABB has not given details on its power at this time. We can imagine that it will be necessary to expect power 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 home charging solution, which allows them to have an almost full battery on a daily basis, without any constraints. To do this, the wallbox…
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