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

[Warren]

Bought my Juice box a month after I bought my Lightning. My travel charger crapped out, and I bought the JB new on eBay for about $230. It has worked flawlessly from day one. I don't have wifi, so connectivity for me isn't an issue. I use the Ford app to set charging still

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[Al_V]

It looks like there may be a free app solution for residential users from Tridens Technology:

https://tridenstechnology.com/enel-x-way-migration/

Reddit Link

Sounded very promising, but no luck so far.
I followed your first link, made an account, but when I click on free web app for residential customers , I get a blank page with: "No results found. Please refine your search criteria."

On the Reddit link: Sorry, this post has been removed by the moderators of r/evcharging.

 

[Al_V]

Should be fixed now! I suck at Discord, but our mods have fixed it

Yes it is, thanks!

I just tried it out, and it seems like it's not quite ready for prime time yet - I couldn't see any way to officially add our working JuiceBox to it - and had trouble registering.

I registered, but no luck getting the free web app.

 

[Al_V]

Bought my Juice box a month after I bought my Lightning. My travel charger crapped out, and I bought the JB new on eBay for about $230. It has worked flawlessly from day one. I don't have wifi, so connectivity for me isn't an issue. I use the Ford app to set charging still

The travel charger should be covered by your 36 month warranty.
And, your JB should still work fine the way you are using it.

 

[RickLightning]

It looks like there may be a free app solution for residential users from Tridens Technology:

https://tridenstechnology.com/enel-x-way-migration/

Reddit Link

There is zero explanation of this on their site, and if you sign up, there is still no info.

 

[scoobybri]

I think that Enel X may have purposely bricked my charger. I have a 2018 Juicebox 40 (Has eMotorworx as the brand) that has worked great for years. It was connected to Enel X via wifi. The unit was charging my Lightning when the press release came out. When I unplugged, suddenly, it's beeping like crazy. When I plugged it back in to the truck, it would not charge. I shut off the breaker and let it sit for a few minutes. Turned it back on and it still has the alarms on and will not charge. Seems VERY coincidental that as soon as they send the release saying they are out of business and will immediately no longer support any of their products, my Wi-Fi connected Juicebox suddenly bricks. They know there is zero recourse for me and bricking my charger relieves them of any long term liabilities due to its use. If you have a working Juicebox that is not online ATM, I would keep it that way.

 

[Aminorjourney]

I think that Enel X may have purposely bricked my charger. I have a 2018 Juicebox 40 (Has eMotorworx as the brand) that has worked great for years. It was connected to Enel X via wifi. The unit was charging my Lightning when the press release came out. When I unplugged, suddenly, it's beeping like crazy. When I plugged it back in to the truck, it would not charge. I shut off the breaker and let it sit for a few minutes. Turned it back on and it still has the alarms on and will not charge. Seems VERY coincidental that as soon as they send the release saying they are out of business and will immediately no longer support any of their products, my Wi-Fi connected Juicebox suddenly bricks. They know there is zero recourse for me and bricking my charger relieves them of any long term liabilities due to its use. If you have a working Juicebox that is not online ATM, I would keep it that way.

That’s a stuck relay. The alarm is to warn you that the relay has failed in an unsafe position (it happens from time to time).

1) Unplug it (or turn the breaker off)
2)Perform “Percussive maintenance” on it. It usually works best for me with a closed fist bashed on the front part of the case near the top.
3) Plug it back in/turn the breaker on, and hope!

 

[scoobybri]

I just swapped out the Juicebox for the free Ford charger that had been sitting in an unopened box since I bought the truck. The Juicebox worked for over 6.5 years so I got my moneys worth. I would rather not use an unsupported old charger with issues when I have a new charger waiting in the wings.

Holy crap is the Ford charger big! Double the size of the Juicebox or my Tesla level 2 charger.

 

[kayak1]

I just ordered a Tesla Universal Wall connector to replace my Juice box.

 

[EFG]

I have a Juicebox 48A for the last few years and it continues to send me messages when charging starts and ends, The TOD system seems to still be functioning and I can see the history and KWh of each charging session going back months. So I am not sure what happened however this was not working just a few days ago. It also displays profiles for both of my electric cars, I am sure this was not working just a few days ago.

It appears they turned the servers back on and they are working as of yesterday. Not sure how long this will last but the letter I received said the actual cutoff is October 11th.

 

[Aminorjourney]

An update!

We've just finished a livestream with Nate from Juice-Rescue, and Stacey Higginbotham from Consumer Reports.

You can see the livestream here:




Consumer Reports has opened up a Google Form for interested parties who would like to co-sign the letter to the FTC on the matter: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dP...YC_opSKJ5HiHMWUw/viewform?edit_requested=true

The letter itself is visible here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vOXDvo8AZWHUOgV7Qk60n_EQ1rl96y4ZpzmJEttEyQM/edit?tab=t.0

 

[RickLightning]

Letter requires access. Their form is pretty rough. Asks twice for email, doesn't have you indicate you're a homeowner, or how many JB you have. I contacted the CPSC before, and they said it's an auto product. I filed a complaint, along with others, with NHTSA, and they are aware of the letter from Enel X.

 

[Aminorjourney]

Letter requires access. Their form is pretty rough. Asks twice for email, doesn't have you indicate you're a homeowner, or how many JB you have. I contacted the CPSC before, and they said it's an auto product. I filed a complaint, along with others, with NHTSA, and they are aware of the letter from Enel X.

They've fixed the double email - that was an error. And you can't edit the email because CR is writing it.

 

[fvineyard]

I think Rick is referring to read access is needed to view the letter. The link provided generates an error that more access is needed. I agree and would also like to see what we are being asked to "sign on to". Open up the read access and I will take another look as a Juice Box owner.

The letter itself is visible here:

 

[RickLightning]

I think Rick is referring to read access is needed to view the letter. The link provided generates an error that more access is needed. I agree and would also like to see what we are being asked to "sign on to". Open up the read access and I will take another look as a Juice Box owner.

October 9, 2024


Samuel Levine
Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580

Dear Director Levine,

Consumer Reports would like to ask the FTC to investigate the behavior of Enel X — an Italian company which has abruptly discontinued sales and support of its JuiceBox EV chargers ranging in price from $600 to $1,600 with less than two weeks notice. The decision to stop supporting the app that thousands of consumers use to control the charger and the complete loss of functionality for the commercial EV chargers represents an egregious example of how companies are controlling the functionality of a product even after the consumer has purchased the device.

Last month, Consumer Reports and16 other groups sent a letter to the FTC asking the agency to set guardrails around the practice of software tethering. This latest example is an especially extreme case, as deprecating software support may actually cause physical harm to consumers in addition to the loss of purchased functionality. Additionally, there is the possibility that the company has stepped away from the North American market to avoid responsibly solving a potential cybersecurity issue discovered in its chargers. Enel X’s sudden decision to revoke support for its products in North America will cause significant harm to consumers, and may well constitute a deceptive or unfair business practice under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

On October 2, Enel X notified customers that Enel X Way North America planned to discontinue operations in Canada and North America on October 11, noting that “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.“

The notice said that consumers could still use the JuiceBox’s physical hardware to charge their EVs, but that the app consumers used to control the charger and any features requiring a server connection would be stopped. However, for consumers, the end of app and server support means that their products would lose substantial functionality, including potentially critical functionality that allows them to adjust the amperage coming into the car from the charger. This means that consumers who are unable to adjust their settings before the October 11 deadline could see their chargers push too much amperage into the vehicle, potentially damaging the EV’s battery, shorting out their breaker box, and posing a risk of fire.

The loss of the app will also limit the consumer’s ability to adjust the time of day that the vehicle chargers, leaving them unable to easily take advantage of lowered rates for charging their vehicle at night or other non-peak hours. The loss of the app and server connection will also mean that all commercial charging stations will lose all functionality. The Enel X JuiceBox Pro 40 Commercial chargers are used by businesses to provide charging for customers and can cost $1,600. These chargers will be rendered useless on Friday.

Of note is that a group of security researchers published an exploit on August 29 that showed how hackers could use the JuiceBox to get the Wi-Fi credentials for a consumer’s or business’ Wi-Fi network using a flaw in the underlying firmware. This particular exploit is one that the developer of the chip and underlying firmware, Silicon Labs, has said it will not patch. Thus, there is not a fix for the vulnerability that is tied to the JuiceBox’s Wi-Fi radio and firmware. As the researchers write:

In theory, the use of a microcontroller combined with an RTOS that has all the essential functionality built-in, with an online platform that can be used to manage and OTA update the devices sounds great. However, the support period becomes limited to how long that platform vendor is willing to keep maintaining the platform. Switching to a different platform or applying patches to a proprietary OS is almost impossible for such devices. This example highlights one of the major issues with IoT security, which is that the support window for software could end much earlier than the expected lifespan of the hardware. And sometimes, as in this case, such an issue is not always due to the device vendor. It can also occur due to third-parties that constitute a critical part of the software supply chain for a piece of equipment.

The possibility that Enel X is abandoning the North American market and rendering thousands of commercial chargers inoperable, while also reducing the functionality of consumers' chargers at such short notice because it has discovered an unpatchable security flaw is concerning. A company should not have the ability to sidestep all responsibility to its customers because one of its vendors has decided not to patch a security flaw in their device.


If you have questions please reach out to me at [email protected].

Respectfully,




Stacey Higginbotham
Policy Fellow
Consumer Reports

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