Following ETREL OCEAN software and e-charging station Etrel G5 and G6, comes Etrel INCH in two basic models of e-charging stations, in May 2018. ETREL INCH is currently the best charging station in Slovenia with very advanced features and high competitiveness in the market.
Slovenian developer of e-charging infrastructure management software and manufacturer of electric charging stations ETREL continues the development of innovative e-charging equipment, which in addition to top-notch technical solutions also features an extremely elegant design. In May this year, the company plans to launch the new ETREL INCH model, the first interactive e-charging station in the world. It was made as an upgrade of the previous ETREL G5. ETREL INCH is a wall-mounted e-filling station, which is suitable for garages and public car parks with several charging units due to its size, and it’s also capable to provide to users various information. The charging station can also be fixated on a self-standing post. It is suitable for locations with lower and higher power levels. ETREL INCH is coming to the market in two basic models, Etrel INCH Pro and Etrel INCH Home. Visually, both products look exactly the same, they differ in functionality.
Etrel INCH Pro is intended for public or semi-public installations. In the mentioned locations, when using an e-charging station, user identification is required. Identification is possible with RFID card, PIN, QR code – via mobile application, SMS identification is also enabled. Etrel INCH Pro provides the best possible user experience while reducing the cost of the system for the operator. To achieve cost reduction, the system allows adjusting the charging power based on other chargers at the same location – the latter is called clustering. Using Etrel’s algorithms, charging can be smartly distributed among all related users by user habits, user’s time of departure, priority and required amount of energy. In public locations, charging stations connect to an intelligent group and act together as one charging station. They regulate charging among each other and adjust the total charging power so that the mains power does not exceed. The user enters his departure time into the e-charging station and the e-charging stations then set a priority and thus a higher speed to the e-charging unit of which user will leave the soonest. In the case that INCH Pro is connected to the Load Guard, the same service may be offered to other consumers or production units for the same connection point. Owners of a particular location do not need to make expensive network connection upgrades in order to ensure e-charging of more e-vehicles. Etrel INCH Pro also provides several ways to connect to the Internet (LTE, Ethernet, PLC, Wi-FI) and several display options on the LCD screen such as logo animation, advertisements and other information.
Etrel INCH Home will impress households as it is designed specifically for easy home use. Etrel INCH Home can be connected to Load Guard, helping the charging station to monitor the household electrical consumption, upon which it will be able to automatically and autonomously regulate charging power of an e-vehicle. This way Etrel INCH Home ensures that there is never a power failure due to the possible overload of the system. The power of charging is adapted to the amount of electricity in the network, the reduction in peak demand, and the electricity generation system, e.g. domestic power plants – solar panels, water power plants, wind turbines. Sample learning of the smart system improves charging time and creates an optimum charging plan. Each user is also provided by web interface enabling broader insight on the electricity consumption for the needs of charging e-vehicle, remote managing of charging power and similar. Charging at home Etrel INCH Home e-charging station does not require user identification, but PIN protection can still be applied. The PIN identification can be typed on the LCD monitor by touch. Etrel INCH Home enables connectivity with Ethernet, PLC or Wi-Fi, and some of the display options are available on the LCD screen.
Both models of Etrel INCH e-charging stations are innovative in their artificial intelligence, as they learn from their user how much time the car is charging, when a user stops e-charging a car to go to work, for example, and on the basis of this, gets charged in a more economical and an affordable way. So, as we mentioned earlier, the e-charging station can, for example, wait for e-charging when the electricity price drops or when the power grid is less loaded.
Etrel INCH can be seen live on this year TEN-T day, on April 25th, in Ljubljana, at the eCarTec trade fair on 16th October 2018 in Munich or at the European Utility Week 2018 on November 6th 2018 in Vienna.
