[Jan. 21, 2020]

EVs are a paradigm shift on a product that many treat as a commodity, so when it comes to moving the general public from ICE to EVs, well, the new commodity can be confusing – and potentially scary. So how is the mass consumer market to learn the ins and outs of even the simplest task of adding range to an EV? Currently, it’s mostly through hours of online research coupled with trial and error, which is hardly ideal for the average consumer. Fortunately, companies in the private sector are attempting to help consumers overcome the hurdles, ultimately smoothing the transition from ICE to EV.

“The one liner of what Chargeway is: it’s the branding of electric fuel,” explains Portland, Ore., based Chargeway CEO Matt Teske, who we sat down with in order to talk about his company’s goal of smoothing EV adoption for the masses.

The concept of Chargeway was born in 2014, but Teske didn’t have chance to truly develop the idea until 2017. After that, things moved fast, and in 2018, the Chargeway app was released for both Android and iPhone. Now, local dealerships are also on board, and Chargeway’s working with everyone from municipalities to auto manufacturers to help with EV adoption.

Chargeway’s app offers a different approach to charging EVs. Terms like CHAdeMO and J1772 disappear, being replaced by color-coded and numbered icons.

As Teske explains it, drivers have been used to buying cars that run on regular or premium grade gasoline for their entire lives. They understand fuel. “You can buy a Ferrari or a Civic, and in either instance, when you need to fill up your car again, you go to the same place,” Teske points out. “Whereas, if you're trying to do that with a car that runs on electricity, you have to understand how to actually use that new fuel type.”

Volts are volts and amps are amps, but unfortunately, there is not yet a universal charging plug standard for EVs and PHEVs in North America. In addition to the industry “standard” J1772, there’s also the Tesla charger, and when it comes to fast chargers, there are three: CHAdeMO (predominantly Nissan and Mitsubishi), J1772 CCS, and Tesla, which uses the same plug type for both AC Level 1 and 2, and DC “Level 3” charging.

However, the idea that “filling” an EV with electricity is akin to putting gasoline in an ICE vehicle’s fuel tank is incorrect, Teske says. “When consumers find out what goes into understanding electricity for their EV, based on the current terminologies and vernaculars, it scares them,” he says of terms like J1772, CSS, CHAdeMO, Level 2, DC fast charging, and more. “Because of that, you can have auto dealers that just throw their hands in the air and say, if someone wants to buy this electric car, fine, they can buy it, but we're not going to bother trying to figure out how to explain it because it's a nightmare.”

“What we realized was that it’s not because the car is electric, it's because it runs on electric fuel,” Teske says. “If you take the battery and the electric motor out of the equation, it's just a car. Dealers don't need help selling cars; they need help explaining that electricity is fuel in a way that feels as easy as getting regular or premium gas at a gas station.”

For the average consumer with an EV, Teske explains, once they know their connector type, there's currently no transparent way to understand charging power levels because people will generally assume all fast chargers are the same.

“Someone who buys an EV might plug in and think, ‘The last time I fast charged, it took me 40 minutes. Awesome, I'm going to grab lunch.’ They come back, they look at their car and they go, ‘Wait – what the heck? Why do I only have half a charge?’ Then they'll go on social media and start asking questions?” says Teske.

“The explanation you'll hear come from the EV-owning tech-engineer-early-adopter types is, ‘Well, you're at a ‘slow’ fast charger. You should've known that.’ The person inquiring replies, ‘What do you mean, a ‘slow’ fast charger?’ And the response is, ‘Well, that's the CCS combo 24 kW DC fast charger from Bosch,’” says Teske. “If they wanted to actually get a fast charge, they should have found a 50 kW DC fast charger from EVgo or ChargePoint. But how do they know the difference?”

Thus Chargeway was born.

Chargeway is designed to answer all of those questions in a frictionless way, Teske explains. “Whether it's a consumer, an auto dealer, an electric utility, a policymaker, or automotive OEM, Chargeway is designed to create a communication language and strategy that makes it easy for anybody who's never even thought of an electric car to see it for the first time and say, ‘Oh, so my Honda is running on regular gasoline, but this Chevy Bolt EV goes to green stations, and a higher number means a faster charge. That's easy,” says Teske.

To accomplish this, Chargeway’s app breaks down charger types and kW rates into color-coded bubbles on a map, all centered on the specific vehicle entered in the app. The stations may show up green for your car, with a number on the bubble indicating the charging speed. A “1” is slowest, with speeds increasing from there.

“We designed Chargeway’s entire user experience and interface around the vehicle you select,” Teske says. “Instead of forcing people to understand different connector types and how fast charging works, if you download our app, we say, what car do you drive? A brand new Nissan Leaf? Cool. Add in the Nissan Leaf to your account and the map automatically populates the charging stations that work with their specific car.”

“Instead of having to rely on the consumer to want to learn all of the granularity and craziness of charging an EV, we basically say, no,” Teske explains. “If you present it in a confusing manner, they're going to get scared. Instead, let's give them a tool where they basically say, ‘I'm an Audi driver.’ Great. Put in your Audi e-tron – boom, there are all of your Audi e-tron charging stations. All of the colors match to your plug type and the numbers you see on the map show you the maximum power level at that location. If you want a faster charge, you go to a bigger number.”

The Chargeway Beacon resides in dealerships with the goal of aiding both buyers and sales associates in the EV purchasing process.

Chargeway has also moved its app into dealership showrooms via the Chargeway Beacon. The Beacon, as Teske describes, is basically a giant version of the app. “It’s like a gigantic iPhone,” Teske laughs. “Basically, what it creates is a way to introduce the concept of Chargeway and the user experience of how to use Chargeway at the showroom.”

The Beacon also aids dealer sales associates. “The sales team makes money on commission,” Teske says. “If they know it's going to take them four hours – which is what we found through our research – to explain to an uninformed consumer how a Chevrolet Bolt works, and half the time they're guessing, they don't want to go down that path. Basically, it’s a waste of time for them because they may not even sell the car, which means they won't make money.”

The Beacon, Teske explains, is designed to be an electric fuel sales associate. “That's what it is,” Teske agrees. “What it does for the dealership is, instead of having to train the sales staff on CHAdeMO, CCS, J1772, kilowatt, and amps, we use the color and number system of Chargeway in a Beacon that’s tailored to that specific dealership. If you're in a Chevy dealership, it's only going to have the Bolt in it and only show green stations to customers, so everything is going to relate to the Bolt driving experience.”

Chargeway is working with charging stations to label chargers with Chargeway’s icon system.

Currently, Chargeway is working with utilities in Oregon, Washington, and Texas to add Beacons to more dealerships, as well as labeling charging stations in their service territories. Teske is anticipating having more states come online in the first quarter of 2020.

“The industry loves saying that you can put a charging station anywhere,” Teske concludes. “They say you can put it at a motel, winery, B&B, and the mall – it's so great. But then, if you have a question about that charging station and you call the place, can it be easily explained? Is the person behind the counter going to understand J1772, CHAdeMO, AC, and DC? Absolutely not. But if someone calls and asks if they have charging stations, the reply could be, ‘Oh, yes, we have two Green 2s and two Red 2s. Thank you.’”

This, Teske says, is effective branding of electric fuel, and it’s Chargeway’s vision of achieving an easy to understand EV future.

(Images courtesy Chargeway)

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