JuiceBox (Enel X Way North America) to cease operations effective October 11, 2024

[RickLightning]

Dear Enel X Way USA, LLC Stakeholder,

After careful consideration, Enel X Way North America has decided to close its electric mobility business in the US and Canada, operated by the local subsidiary of Enel X Way USA, effective October 11, 2024. An experienced third-party firm will be appointed to manage the company’s affairs and ensure that the closure is handled with the utmost care and professionalism. The appointed firm will be responsible for managing the remaining obligations and communicating directly with customers and partners regarding the closure.

This decision is in line with the Enel Group’s strategic approach to e-mobility that pursues further growth by providing bundled offers, including private charging solutions, to its electricity customers as well as by developing public charging infrastructure in countries where it has an electricity retail business. By contrast, Enel North America has no retail electricity customer base and was active in the e-mobility segment only through the sale of charging hardware and software.

Additionally, the dynamics of the EV market in the US have changed quite a lot in the last year and, like many other companies, Enel X Way North America has been impacted by high interest rates which have increased the cost of scaling the charging infrastructure business in a framework of sustained uncertainty where EV sales growth expectations have not been met.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Residential charging hardware (JuiceBox) will maintain the physical operating ability to charge vehicles.
• All Enel X Way software will be discontinued. Commercial charging stations will lose functionality in the absence of software continuity.
• The Enel X Way App and all other Enel e-mobility apps in North America will be discontinued and removed from the App Store.
• Enel X Way customer support is no longer available, effective immediately. Any Enel X Way related questions and claims should be directed to juiceboxnorthamerica.com.
• The decision to close Enel X Way USA, LLC and related impacts do not apply to Enel X Way customers in other countries outside of the U.S. and Canada.

Enel X Way North America understands that its decision has implications for those who had chosen its charging solutions. Inquiries regarding any outstanding matters, including customer accounts, orders, or obligations, can be directed to juiceboxnorthamerica.com.

North America remains a core geography for the Enel Group, where it will continue to focus investments in utility-scale renewables and demand response.

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[RickLightning]

For those of us that use load balancing (which they broke recently), it's now gone, so we can't charge two vehicles at the same time. We lose all data also, so we can't see how much power we've used...

Not a big surprise to me, because their support was crap, and they didn't respond to letters from the Michigan Attorney General (twice). I filed a complaint with the NHTSA a few weeks ago.

 

[Ricks Lightning]

Rick, you beat me to it. I was just getting ready to post the same thread. Maybe that’s why we’re both Rick’s

So now on a serious note. Will our ford app take over for simple 1 vehicle charging. Will I be able to see my kWh usage month to month for business write offs or do I need to start charting it myself?

Do I dump my 4 month old Juicebox and buy something that’s here to stay? If so what do you recommend?

The other Rick

 

[MrLoganRoss]

Wallbox does load balancing. Maybe your local utility offers rebates.

 

[RickLightning]

The Ford app doesn't reliably show charging sessions.
The Ford app reports net to the vehicle, after a 7% loss.
The Ford app only keeps a certain number of sessions (45 days) worth.

I want load sharing, so I probably will dump them.

 

[RickLightning]

Wallbox does load balancing. Maybe your local utility offers rebates.

As does Tesla. And some others.

 

[RocketGhost]

I'm sure a company will step in to support the commercial chargers at least. There's money to be made there. Site owners will pay to keep their expensive hardware going as long as it's cheaper than scrapping the charger and installing a new one.

 

[VAF84]

I'm wondering what will happen in some charging deserts. When I took my trip to Durango via Taos, they were the only charging option in Taos. I mean half were vandalized and out of commission, while the remaining were slow and in bad shape, but I was grateful as there weren't other options. I hope they have a backup operator.

 

[adoublee]

I'm sure a company will step in to support the commercial chargers at least. There's money to be made there. Site owners will pay to keep their expensive hardware going as long as it's cheaper than scrapping the charger and installing a new one.

Not sure there is money to be made trying to keep Tritium Veefil chargers up and running.

 

[Aminorjourney]

For what it's worth, we're working on swapping ours out with open-source innards.



I've got the parts sitting on my desk, but need some spare time (and a little more money) to finish and get it ready for review.

 

[jamelski]

Glad I never bought that trash . Hopefully emporia stays good. Amazing charger and no issues since 2021

 

[Aminorjourney]

Glad I never bought that trash . Hopefully emporia stays good. Amazing charger and no issues since 2021

The hardware was great. The forced upgrade? Not so much.

Either way, be careful about schadenfreude… it can bite you in the butt

 

[Runaway Tractor]

If your home EV charger requires a cloud service and app to function, IMO you've made a poor choice to begin with. There is absolutely no reason that a privately owned home EV charger shouldn't operate properly and completely on it's own without a network, WiFi, cloud, app, subscriptions, etc. that should all be "extra" functionality that has no impact on it just working normally.

Load sharing chargers IMO should talk to each other directly. They're in the same damn room. There's no reason a cloud service should be needed for two chargers in the same room on the same circuit to talk to each other.

It's inevitable that companies will sometimes fail and close up shop. That's life and it happens. Everyone needs to be cognizant of what critical systems they have in their house that rely on some cloud service to function. Think long and hard about it and about what you'd do if it failed tomorrow.

 

[Danface]

Sorry folks are losing data but I do love the classic corporate double-speak though.
To paraphrase: " We're bailing but we love you" or maybe "It's me, not you" or even the Seinfeld episode where George's girlfriend loved him more the further away he went.

 

[PrimeRisk]

If your home EV charger requires a cloud service and app to function, IMO you've made a poor choice to begin with. There is absolutely no reason that a privately owned home EV charger shouldn't operate properly and completely on it's own without a network, WiFi, cloud, app, subscriptions, etc. that should all be "extra" functionality that has no impact on it just working normally.

Load sharing chargers IMO should talk to each other directly. They're in the same damn room. There's no reason a cloud service should be needed for two chargers in the same room on the same circuit to talk to each other.

It's inevitable that companies will sometimes fail and close up shop. That's life and it happens. Everyone needs to be cognizant of what critical systems they have in their house that rely on some cloud service to function. Think long and hard about it and about what you'd do if it failed tomorrow.

I bought my JuiceBox Pro 40 in 2015 for $599 when there weren't nearly as many options as there are today. As part of the package purchasing my Nissan Leaf, I got a $500 rebate through Nissan for the hardware and a $250 rebate through my utility for installation. Since my BIL is an electrician, it cost me parts plus dinner (About $400). At about $250 for 9 1/2 years of operation, I think that $2.20/month has been a good deal and do not regret the purchase at all.

The JuiceBox does not require any cloud connectivity to work as a standard EVSE, so it will continue to do so after they close the doors. I'll lose access to analytics and charge records, but IMHO, it's a nice to have, not a must have. If the JuiceBox died today, It owes me nothing after the 3000+ charging sessions it's completed successfully.

Every device has an End of Life, even if the company is still around. How many times have you had to replace a printer because it has outlasted a few generations of Windows? How many cell phones have you replaced not because the hardware has gone bad, but simply because the manufacturer no longer provides updates and eventually the apps you need are no longer supported on the old version of the OS?

No one promised me anything beyond the warranty period of 1 year on the JuiceBox and I've gotten nearly 10x that lifetime. It's disappointing that JuiceBox/Enel X Way USA is about to wink out of existence, but as you point out, it is inevitable.

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